Once a sleepy regional capital, Bengaluru (previously Bangalore) is the go-ahead, trend-setting capital of Karnataka state. As the home of India’s own Silicon Valley, the city has been at the forefront of the country’s IT revolution for the past two decades or more, and has a noticeably upbeat feel, with a hi-rise skyline of glass-sided towers to match.  Traces of Bengaluru’s pre-colonial past include a scattering of splendid medieval temples, among them the 800-year-old Dharmarayaswamy near the centre.

Part of the world-famous Nilgiri Biosphere, Bandipur National Park covers an area of forested mountains bordering Nagarhole. The reserve is a prime spot for sighting elephant, which roam in large herds here. The tiger population has also revived well over the past decade, thanks to a concerted effort on the part of local conservation bodies, with an estimated 220 animals living within the confines of Nagarhole and Bandipur combined. The odds of a sighting have never been greater here since the inauguration of the park in 1973!

Mysore, the former capital of the Wadiyar Rajas, is by far Karnataka’s most popular visitor attraction. Unlike Bengaluru, the city seems to have been largely bypassed by the dotcom revolution and retains plenty of traditional charm, particularly in its markets, which serve as important centres for the trade in sandalwood, incense and hand-woven silk. The stand-out sight here, though, is the Maharaja’s Palace – a lavish, fairytale confection in the quintessentially Raj-era Indo-Saracenic style. Clad in 18-carat gold, hundreds of Mughal-style domes and Rajasthani cupolas crown the complex, which is illuminated every Sunday with 100,000 electric bulbs. It was built in 1912 on the site of an old wooden palace and boasts a sumptuous interior, including the famous ‘Thousand Pillar Hall’.

Much of its interiors were imported from different parts of the world, including England, which provided the vast brass gates that lead directly into the central courtyard from the gardens.  

A landscape of surreal beauty provides the setting for the ruins of Vijayanagar, the once-glittering capital of southern India, which was laid to waste in 1565 by invading armies from the Sultanates of the northern Deccan. Only the city’s temples survived the onslaught, although with one notable exception they now lie deserted, their pyramidal gateway towers and weed-infested walls rising against a backdrop of red-brown granite boulder hills and banana groves.

It’s impossible to imagine how this once glorious capital would have looked in its prime, though the palace complex on the south side of the archeological site hints at the wealth and grandeur that so dazzled European visitors in the 16th century.

Known as ‘The Garden City’ in British times, Bengaluru also has some pleasant parks where you can escape the traffic. Created in 1760 by Sultan Haider Ali and later enlarged by experts from Kew, the Mughal-inspired Lalbagh Botanical Gardens hosts regular flower shows in its giant glass house, modelled on London’s Crystal Palace.