Thousands of years of heritage packed into four days

An abundance of stories hiding just off the highways of Mysuru and Bengaluru

Looking out from Melkote hill, where temple and countryside sit within a single frame

This run started as a simple family visit. As visits go, they are rarely simple. My maternal uncle and aunt visited us from Chennai, with a packed itinerary stitched together by my nephew. It wasn’t a pilgrimage of faith. I said yes because I’m increasingly curious about how much history and heritage sit quietly off regular tourism circuits. This trip happened to be between Mysuru and Bengaluru.

We began with Chamundi on Thursday evening, just before Aashada preparations turn the hill into a controlled zone of barricades, security, the works. Ended the day with a stroll through Sand Art Museum and along Devraj Urs Road.

A note on distances: this wasn’t a linear route, so instead of exact kilometres for each stop, here’s a rough sense of range—most of Thursday and Friday sat within a 50 km radius of Mysuru, while Saturday and Sunday moved within roughly 60–70 km of Bengaluru.

Instead of narrating each one, here's the full list — worth clicking through on your own time. The links shared below are only a starting point.

Srikanteshwara Temple, Nanjangud — twin gopurams rising over what is referred to as the Dakshina Kashi

Temples visited (in order):

Thursday:

• Chamundeshwari Temple, Chamundi Hill, Mysuru

Friday:

• Cheluvanarayanaswamy Temple, Melkote

• Yoga Narasimha Temple, Melkote

• Nambi Narayana Temple, Thondanur

• Venugopalaswamy Temple, Thondanur

• Nimishamba Temple, Srirangapatna

• Srikanteshwara (Nanjundeshwara) Temple, Nanjangud

• Agastyeshwara Temple, T. Narasipura

• Gunja Narasimha Swamy Temple, T. Narasipura

Saturday:

• Ranganatha Swamy Temple, Magadi

• Someshwara Temple, Magadi

• Old Madiwala Someshwara Temple, Bengaluru

• Kodanda Rama Swamy Temple (108-ft Vishwaroopam), Ejipura

Sunday:

• Bhoga Nandishwara Temple, Nandi village

• Rangasthala Moksha Ranganatha Swamy Temple, Chikkaballapur

Map of temple stops along the Mysuru–Bengaluru corridor, colour-coded by day. View the interactive map here.

While the weather stayed merciful—no harsh sun, no punishing rain—the itinerary didn’t fully account for driver fatigue. Though I was the only one behind the wheel, I was grateful the queue was short in most temples.

I came back from this run more struck by how densely layered this region is. The real discovery happens when you realise that abundance has been there all along, just off your regular route.

Mysuru’s Sand Sculpture Museum — a modern detour on an ancient-heritage trail

All images in this post are mine.