drive-outs · bangalore
drive-outs in bangalore
10 places from the bangalore list.
outside · hesaraghatta
Hesarughatta Lake
A 1000-acre drive-out lake with grassland edges. Bird photographers' favourite, 30km from the city and worth it.
Migratory bird counts run into the thousands here in winter. Carry a long lens or borrow one; you'll regret your phone camera.
outside · bannerghatta
Bannerghatta
South Bangalore's day-out park with bus safaris through tiger and lion enclosures and a 7-acre butterfly garden.
The guided bus runs a 6km safari road through enclosures with 33 tigers (seven of them white) and a lion section. It's still a zoo, not a wild park; manage expectations.
drive out · nandi hills
Nandi Hills
Leave Bangalore by 4am, hit the ghat road at 5:30, watch the cloud line break from the summit by sunrise.
Carry a light jacket; the wind at the top is the part nobody tells you about.
drive out · skandagiri
Skandagiri
Pre-dawn 4am trek to a 70km hill where the clouds sit below the summit. Permit-only, book ahead.
Karnataka Forest Department permit is mandatory and online-only. No walk-ins.
drive out · savandurga
Savandurga
One of Asia's largest single monoliths, fifty kilometres west. Four kilometres up the granite, three hours round trip.
Start from Sri Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy Temple at the base. The trail starts at the steps.
drive out · anthargange
Anthargange
Boulder caves in the Kolar hills, 65km out. Squeeze through narrow rock, climb out into a temple yard.
Dry cave and water cave. The water one is tight; not everyone fits through.
drive out · mysore road
Channapatna
An hour down Mysore Road, a town where lacquered wooden toys are still turned by hand on home lathes.
Stop at the Channapatna Crafts Park or the KSHDCL Lacquerware Crafts Complex. Both let you watch a lathe at work.
drive out · mekedatu
Mekedatu
A 150-metre-wide Kaveri squeezed into a ten-metre granite gorge. 95km from Bangalore via Kanakapura.
Sangama is where Arkavathi joins the Kaveri. Mekedatu is four kilometres downstream where the river narrows.
drive out · coorg
Coorg
Six hours southwest into the Western Ghats. Coffee plantations, mist, a fireplace at night.
Stay on a coffee estate, not in Madikeri town. The plantation walks are the actual experience.
drive out · hampi
Hampi
Three days, 340km north, into a Vijayanagara ruin field strewn through balancing boulders. Climb Matanga at dawn.
Vitthala temple, the stone chariot, Lotus Mahal, Elephant Stables. Hire a moped; do the south bank slowly.