Plan your visit
Everything for the trip on one page — itineraries for a day, three days or the whole festival; trains, buses and parking; verified rooms; where to eat and what to see beyond the city. When you are ready, book your seats.
Three ready-made itineraries
Three ready-made itineraries — a day, three days and the full festival — with what to see, where to eat and how to get between them. Or ask Gajju to build one for you.
Dasara in a day
If you can only come once, come on 21 October — or on any evening for the illumination.
Chamundi Hill
Beat the heat and the queues. The temple, the Nandi on the way down, and the whole city laid out below.
The Palace
Two hours inside — the Durbar Hall, the Kalyana Mantapa, the paintings of past Dasaras.
Lunch on Sayyaji Rao Road
Mysore Masala Dosa at one of the old hotels, then Devaraja Market for flowers and sandalwood.
Dasara Exhibition
Doddakere Maidana, opposite the Palace — pavilions, crafts and the rides.
Palace stage concert
The evening’s headline programme on the Palace forecourt stage.
The illumination
A lakh of bulbs come on at once. Watch from the forecourt, then walk the lit streets.
A long weekend
The city
Chamundi Hill at dawn, the Palace, the Exhibition, an evening concert and the illumination.
See the one-day plan
The festival
Flower Show at Kuppanna Park, Food Mela lunch, the Zoo and Karanji Lake, Yuva Dasara or Kalamandira in the evening.
All events
Beyond the city
Srirangapatna and Ranganathittu in the morning, or Brindavan Gardens at dusk for the fountains.
In & around Mysuru
The full festival
Stay for all of it and the festival changes character: the quiet ritual of the first days, the crowds building through the middle weekend, Yuva Dasara’s nights, and then the last day when the whole state seems to arrive at once. A Premium gallery ticket covers every ticketed venue for the eleven days.
- Book accommodation by early September
- Base yourself within the ring road
- Keep 21 October entirely free
Good to know
Getting around
Free festival shuttles, metered autos, tongas, and where the roads close.
Read more
Where to stay
Government-verified hotels, homestays and the Dasara camps.
Read more
Food & shopping
The Food Mela, the old hotels, Devaraja Market and the silk showrooms.
Read more
Help & emergencies
Helplines, medical camps, police posts and lost & found.
Read moreGetting here, getting around
Mysuru is 140 kilometres from Bengaluru — three hours by road, under two by the Vande Bharat. Once here, the festival runs free shuttles from twelve parking hubs, and the city centre closes to private cars on procession day.
By rail, road & air
By train
Mysuru Junction is the main station, with daily services from Bengaluru, Chennai, Mangaluru, Hassan and beyond. The Vande Bharat and Shatabdi are the fastest from Bengaluru. Book early for festival dates.
Book on IRCTCBy bus or car
KSRTC runs a bus every five minutes from Bengaluru, A/C and non-A/C, into the Central Bus Stand. By car, take the Bengaluru–Mysuru Expressway (NH-275); expect queues at the city entry on procession day.
Book on KSRTC
By air
Mysuru Airport (MYQ) has limited daily flights. Kempegowda International, Bengaluru, has the connections; KSRTC Flybus coaches run direct from the terminal to Mysuru.
In the city
Festival shuttles
From every parking hub to the Palace, Bannimantap, the Exhibition and Kuppanna Park, 9 AM to 11 PM through the festival. Free with any ticket; ₹20 otherwise.
Parking hubs
Auto-rickshaws
Usually on the meter; pre-paid counters at the railway station and Central Bus Stand set the fare. Ola and Uber operate across the city.
Tongas
Horse-drawn tongas — one of the last vestiges of the old city — wait at the Palace and the Zoo. Agree the fare before you board.
KSRTC city services
A fleet of about a thousand buses covers every part of the city and the surrounding villages. Route 201 circles the ring road.
The twelve hubs
Private vehicles are held outside the city centre through the festival. Park at a hub and take the shuttle.
| Hub | Location | Serves | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maharaja College Grounds | JLB Road | Palace, Exhibition, Kuppanna Park | ₹50 car · ₹20 two-wheeler |
| Oval Grounds | Near the Palace north | Palace, Sayyaji Rao Road | ₹50 · ₹20 |
| Bannimantap | Parade grounds | Torchlight Parade, Bannimantap stands | ₹50 · ₹20 |
| Chamundi Vihar Stadium | Nazarbad | Palace, Doddakere | ₹50 · ₹20 |
| Race Course | Lalitha Mahal Road | Palace east, Kite festival | ₹50 · ₹20 |
| J K Grounds | Hunsur Road | Raitha Dasara, Palace west | ₹50 · ₹20 |
| Kalamandira | Hunsur Road | Kalamandira, Kuppanna Park | ₹50 · ₹20 |
| Scouts & Guides Ground | Chamaraja Road | Food Mela, Town Hall | ₹50 · ₹20 |
| Mysuru University | Manasagangotri | West of the city, KRS road | Free |
| Nazarbad Sports Complex | Nazarbad | Palace, Zoo | ₹50 · ₹20 |
| Central Bus Stand | B N Road | Palace, Devaraja Market | ₹50 · ₹20 |
| Ring Road hub, Bogadi | Bogadi Road | Southern entry | Free |
Procession day
On 21 October the following close to private vehicles from 11 AM. Live diversions are posted here and on the Dasara app from 1 October.
- Sayyaji Rao Road — K R Circle to Bannimantap, the full procession route
- Albert Victor Road and the Palace ring roads
- Ashoka Road and Dhanwantri Road around Devaraja Market
- B N Road between the Central Bus Stand and K R Circle
Emergency vehicles, festival shuttles and residents with passes are exempt. Two-wheelers are stopped at the same points.
Where to stay
More than four hundred government-verified hotels, homestays and resorts, plus the Dasara camps for budget travellers. Palace-area rooms sell out first — book by early September.
By category
Every property below is registered with the Department of Tourism and inspected before each festival.
Luxury & heritage
The palace hotels and the five-star properties — Lalitha Mahal, the Lokaranjan Mahal, the Radisson and the Grand Mercure among them.
Intermediate hotels
Three-star and boutique hotels within a kilometre of the Palace — the largest category, and the first to fill.
Budget hotels
Clean, inspected lodges and budget hotels around the railway station, the Central Bus Stand and Kuvempunagar.
Homestays
The Department of Tourism’s M-HOME scheme registers and inspects private homestays across the city. Expect a family kitchen, a garden, and a host who will tell you which hotel on Sayyaji Rao Road still makes the dosa the old way.
- Registered and inspected annually
- From ₹1,200 a night
- Book through the official listing only
Resorts around Mysuru
Within an hour of the city are the Kabini and Bandipur forest lodges, the KRS backwater resorts and the coffee-estate stays of Kodagu. Good for a base if you have a car and are combining the festival with the countryside.
- Kabini and Bandipur — wildlife lodges
- KRS — backwater resorts
- Kodagu — estate stays, 2 hours
The Dasara camps
For the festival the District Administration runs tented camps with beds, lockers, hot water and security at three grounds within the ring road, served by the free shuttles. The affordable way to be in the city for the last three days.
- Three sites · from ₹500 a night
- Beds, lockers, hot water, 24×7 security
- On the free shuttle network
The 2026 listing of verified properties is published on this page in August. Book only through the official listing or the property directly; the Department does not use agents.
Food & shopping
Mysuru eats well and always has. The Food Mela runs through the festival, but the city’s old hotels, the covered market and the silk and sandalwood showrooms are open all year — and they are the real reason to linger.
The Food Mela
A hundred-odd stalls on the Scouts & Guides Ground on Chamaraja Road, open from late morning to ten at night through the festival. Every district of Karnataka sends a kitchen — Kodagu pandi curry, Mangaluru fish, Bidar’s sweets, the North Karnataka jolada rotti meal — beside the city’s own dosas and Mysore Pak. Free entry; pay at the stall.
- Scouts & Guides Ground, Chamaraja Road
- 11 AM – 10 PM, all eleven days
- Free entry · card and UPI at every stall
Five things to eat
Mysore Pak
Gram flour, ghee and sugar, invented in the Palace kitchen for Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV. The porous, crumbling kind is the original; the fudge-like kind is the export. Buy it warm, the day it is made.
Mylari dosa
A soft, thick, ghee-roasted dosa served with coconut chutney and a spoon of sagu — no potato, no crispness, and none needed. The queue at seven in the morning is part of it.
Masala dosa & filter coffee
The Mysuru masala dosa is redder and softer than the Bengaluru one, with a chutney spread inside. Filter coffee in a steel tumbler finishes it.
Bisi bele bath & the Mysuru meal
Rice, lentils and vegetables cooked together with a spice blend the Palace is credited with. On a banana leaf, with a papad and a spoon of ghee, it is the city’s comfort food.
Mysore bonda & chiroti
Bonda — round, fluffy, fried lentil batter — for the evening; chiroti, the layered, sugar-dusted pastry, for a festival.
The old hotels
“Hotel” in Mysuru means a restaurant. These have been open for generations; go early, share a table, pay at the counter.
| Place | Known for | Where | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mylari (Vinayaka Mylari & Hotel Mylari) | The dosa | Nazarbad Main Road | Breakfast & evening |
| Hotel RRR | Military hotel — mutton pulao, chicken on a leaf | Gandhi Square | Lunch, dinner |
| Hotel Dasaprakash | South Indian thali, the 1950s dining hall | Gandhi Square | All day |
| Guru Sweet Mart | Mysore Pak, since 1935 | Sayyaji Rao Road | Morning to night |
| Malgudi Cafe | Filter coffee in a heritage setting | Green Hotel, Hunsur Road | Afternoons |
| Hanumanthu Pulao | Mutton pulao, one dish only | Akbar Road, Mandi Mohalla | Lunch |
| Devaraja Market stalls | Fruit, fresh juice, bonda | Dhanwantri Road | Daytime |
Silk, sandalwood & the market
Devaraja Market
The covered bazaar of the 1890s — flowers by the kilo, kumkum in every colour, fruit, incense, sandalwood and Mysore Pak. The flower lane at dawn during Dasara is unmissable.
Find on mapMysore silk — KSIC
The Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation’s factory, founded by the Maharaja in 1912, weaves the pure-zari Mysore silk saree. Buy at the factory outlet or the showrooms, and look for the hologram.
Find on mapCauvery Emporium
The state handicrafts emporium — sandalwood carvings, rosewood inlay, Mysore paintings, Channapatna toys, Bidriware and the Mysore Sandal soap in every size, at fixed prices.
Find on map
Rosewood inlay & Ganjifa
Rosewood furniture and panels inlaid with ivory-white plastic and other woods, a Mysuru craft since the Wadiyars; Ganjifa, the painted playing cards, survives in a handful of studios.
Agarbathi & sandal oil
Mysuru is the incense capital of the country; the Government Sandalwood Oil Factory on Ashoka Road sells oil and soap at the gate.
The Dasara Exhibition
Since 1880, the Exhibition on Doddakere Maidana opposite the Palace has been the festival’s bazaar — government pavilions, a few hundred commercial stalls, a funfair and food, open from Dasara into December. Entry is with the Dasara Ticket or a gate ticket.
- Doddakere Maidana, opposite the Palace
- Dasara to mid-December, 11 AM – 10 PM
- Included in every Dasara Ticket
In & around Mysuru
The city rewards a slow walk, and the country around it — the Kaveri, the forests, the hills of Kodagu — rewards a day trip. Everything here is within two hours of the Palace.
Mysuru itself
Mysuru Palace
The Amba Vilas Palace of 1912 — the Durbar Hall, the Kalyana Mantapa and the paintings of Dasara past.
Show on mapChamundeshwari Temple
The temple of the city’s goddess, by road or the thousand stone steps.
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Nandi, Chamundi Hill
The 4.8-metre monolithic bull of 1659.
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Mysuru Zoo
Founded 1892; one of the country’s best-kept zoos.
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Karanji Lake
A lake, an aviary and a walk-through butterfly park.
Show on mapJaganmohan Palace
The Wadiyars’ first residence, now the art gallery.
Show on mapSt Philomena’s Cathedral
Twin 53-metre Neo-Gothic spires.
Show on mapDevaraja Market
The covered flower, fruit and sandalwood bazaar of the 1890s.
Show on mapRail Museum
Royal saloons and vintage locomotives.
Show on mapLalitha Mahal Palace
The guest palace of 1921, now a heritage hotel.
Show on mapKukkarahalli Lake
A five-kilometre walking track around a bird-rich lake.
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Regional Museum of Natural History
Galleries of the Western Ghats’ ecology.
Find on mapWithin two hours
Srirangapatna
Tipu Sultan’s island capital — the fort, the Ranganathaswamy temple, Daria Daulat Bagh and the Gumbaz.
Find on mapRanganathittu Bird Sanctuary
Riverine islets on the Kaveri; painted storks, spoonbills and river terns from a boat.
Show on mapBrindavan Gardens, KRS
Terraced gardens below the Krishna Raja Sagara dam, with musical fountains after dark.
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Somnathpur
The Keshava temple of 1268, the finest surviving Hoysala shrine.
Find on mapNanjangud
The Srikanteshwara temple on the Kabini — the “Dakshina Kashi”.
Find on mapTalakadu
Temples emerging from the sand dunes of the Kaveri bend.
Find on mapMelukote
The hill-top Cheluvanarayana temple and the Yoga Narasimha shrine above it.
Find on mapBandipur National Park
Tiger reserve on the Nilgiri foothills; safaris at dawn and dusk.
Find on mapKabini
The backwater and the Nagarhole forest beyond it — the elephants’ own country.
Find on mapHimavad Gopalaswamy Betta
A cloud-wrapped hill temple inside Bandipur.
Find on mapBylakuppe
The Namdroling Monastery and the Tibetan settlement’s Golden Temple.
Find on mapMadikeri, Kodagu
Coffee estates, Raja’s Seat, Abbey Falls and the Talakaveri source of the river.
Find on mapShivanasamudra
The twin falls of the Kaveri — Gaganachukki and Bharachukki — at their fullest after the monsoon.
Find on mapB R Hills
The Biligiriranga temple on a wildlife-sanctuary ridge.
Find on mapShravanabelagola
The 17-metre Gommateshwara monolith on Vindhyagiri hill.
Find on mapWhile you’re here · Mysuru Attractions
Book your seats
Numbered gallery seats at the Palace and the Bannimantap stands — Gold, Premium and Standard — with a QR e-ticket by email and WhatsApp within a minute.
