Mysuru (Mysore)

Every Sunday and public holiday, 97,000 light bulbs illuminate the Indo-Saracenic palace — visible for miles. Join the thousands of locals who come every week as if seeing it for the first time.

Mysore silk (Mysore crepe) is India's finest — the state silk weaving factory on Mananthody Road allows factory visits. Buy silk at the government Cauvery showroom for guaranteed authenticity.

The most photogenic market in Karnataka — towers of marigolds, jasmine gajras (garlands), bananas, and sandalwood in a 100-year-old market hall that has barely changed.

The hilltop temple above Mysuru dedicated to the Goddess Chamundi — 1,000 steps or a short drive, with views over the entire city and Maharaja's Palace below.

Mysuru's 10-day Dussehra is India's most spectacular — the Maharaja rides a caparisoned elephant, the palace blazes with 97,000 lights, and a golden-idol procession winds through the city.

The terraced gardens below the KRS Dam (19km from Mysuru) are India's most romantic formal gardens — laid out in a horseshoe across 60 acres with fountains, rose beds, and a topiary section. The evening coloured fountain show synced to Kannada film music is impossibly kitsch and completely wonderful.

The towering neo-Gothic cathedral built in 1933 is claimed to be Asia's second-tallest church — twin 54-metre spires soar over the city, and the stained glass interior filters evening light into something genuinely transcendent. The crypt below contains relics of Saint Philomena.

The island fortress of Tipu Sultan just 16km away — his summer palace Dariya Daulat, his mausoleum, and the bullet-scarred walls of the fort where he died in 1799 defending against the British. The most dramatic historical site in Karnataka outside Hampi.