Intro Illuminated Mysore Palace  Vidhan Souda, Bengaluru We went for long overdue family vacation to Mysore and Bengaluru in first week of June (2016). There was uncertainty/doubt whether we would be able to get this break as well but finally we could make this memorable trip. After consulting friends and going through reviews, we decided to use KSRTC’s Diamond Class Airavat service to travel to Bengaluru and back. |
Travel Waiting for the bus @Swargate Bus Station While travel in Scania bus was comfortable, it took more than 15 hours to reach Bengaluru from Pune. It was expected to reach at 8:30AM instead it reached at 11:30AM. Although bus is capable of doing more than 85 kmph, there is a governor on the engine which limits the max speed to 85 kmph. Part of the reason for delay was this controlled speed. After getting down at Bengaluru, we realized that we will need to travel to satellite bus stand by shuttle bus to catch a bus to Mysore. It was simple enough but additional step that was not planned. There were plenty of options to reach Mysore from satellite bus stand. We took the KSRTC Saarige express bus to Mysore that reached destination in about 3.5 hrs. |
Hotel Suhashini Palace, Mysore Hotel Suhashini Palace, Mysore We had requested pickup at Mysore bus stand to our hotel Suhashini Palace. It was provided promptly and with smile by desk manager. Hotel is in good locality and is definitely family friendly. We stayed in family room which had 4 independent beds. Room was quite spacious and AC worked quite well. Staff was friendly and gave all the information that I asked for. In fact our Bengaluru hotel was finalized after desk manager Prasad told me about Sheetal Residency Hotel in Majestic area of Bengaluru. Although hotel does not have any restaurant of its own. There is a modest but very nice vegetarian hotel named Hotel Santhosh. All the food items that we ate in the hotel were tasty and priced quite reasonably. One real good item that you can try there is Ghee Roast Masala Dosa! Filter Coffee was also excellent. In the evening, we visited Laxmivilas or Mysore Palace. Now a days, it is lighted for 30 minutes on Sunday between 7 and 7:30PM. It is quite a spectacle to see illuminated palace and other surrounding monuments. |
Mysore Darshan Vrindavan Garden – North Garden On next day, we took Mysore Darshan Tour and covered following attractions –
It was very nice tour and we enjoyed Mysore scenery/attractions. Mysore is still nice n clean city and not as heavily congested with vehicles as Bengaluru. On next day, we checked out of Suhashini and were once again provided with a drop in nice Etios AC car to bus stand. |
Bengaluru Hotel Sheetal Residency, Majestic, Bengaluru We once again took Saarige bus of KSRTC. This time it was nonstop with no conductor inside. It took only one stop and reached satellite bus stand in Bengaluru in approximately 3 hour 10 mins. We once again took shuttle to reach Majestic bus stand and then walked to Hotel Sheetal Residency from there. It is slightly difficult to locate but it is very very near to railway station – perfectly walkable distance to be frank – and Anandrao Circle is another landmark nearby. We got cottage on top floor courtesy Kiran – manager at the hotel. I had talked to him while in Mysore and met him while checking in. Although, there was one double bed and another recliner bed, we four could sleep okay in this. We were on top floor and hence got excellent view of Bengaluru skyline. When we stayed in Bengaluru, weather was nice. We had to use umbrella as there was good amount of rain on one of the days. On the day of our arrival, we visited Mantri Mall which is quite big. We had lunch in Pizza Hut located inside the sprawling mall. Once again, there was no restaurant attached to this hotel but there is very nice Sheetal Cafe restaurant (same owner) about half kilometer near Anandrao Circle. For breakfast, hotel has made makeshift arrangement in the basement where BF items are made by same Sheetal Cafe cook from 6:30 to 10AM. As it was 12:30PM when we checked in, we walked to Sheetal Cafe and had sumptuous North Indian meal at very reasonable cost. We met couple of Marathi speaking Mangalorean staff in the hotel. |
Bengaluru Darshan Vishvesaraiyya Science and Technology Museum Our next day program was Bengaluru Darshan. To be honest, it was not up to the mark and I felt we wasted our money as we wasted lot of time in picking up other tourists plus there was full one hour stop at some silk shop plus not to mention famous Bengaluru traffic. We covered following attractions –
We came out of this Bengaluru Darshan tour feeling disappointed. Our 2 days in Bengaluru were over but we had time till 4PM on next day as our return bus was at 4PM. So on last day, we decided to take Namma Metro ride from Majestic till Baiyappanahalli and back. There was quite a bit of crowd already in the train when we wanted to get in the train so we left one train as Eesha and Tanvi were reluctant but decided to get in next train which was equally crowded. After 2-3 stations however many got out and we could get place to seat and enjoy metro ride that sometimes goes underground and other times it goes overhead. Our return trip in Metro was pleasant as there was less crowd. |
Return Journey KSRTC – Scania – Diamond Class at Majestic Bus Depot – Return ride We relaxed in our hotel for a bit and then checked out at 1:50PM. We walked to Sheetal Cafe and had great meal once again and then on way gulped buttermilk to digest it. We had to wait for almost an hour at Majestic bus stand for our KSRTC Scania bus to arrive. It came little late – by about 15 minutes late. The bus was almost half empty so all of us got full seat for ourselves. Tanvi slept crouched on one seat which became cause of anxiety for us as she complained of upset stomach at the dinner stop. Gauri gave her Eno and thankfully our journey remained uneventful and we reached Swargate only 25-30 mins late at 6:30AM. We took rickshaw and came back to Sweet Home by 6:45AM. So we came back to our daily grind but came back recharged and refreshed! |
Our Mysore-Bengaluru Family Outing
Posted by rajendra
on June 17, 2016
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