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Majestic places to visit in mysore

Mysore-palace-cover-photo

The Heritage of Mysuru (or Mysore) lies in its long history of its princely status for almost six centuries. Far different from its neighboring IT city, Bangalore, Mysore has its own unique way of preserving the tradition. Though one of the IT giants of India, Infosys has its biggest infrastructure near Mysore and many industrial units towards the city’s outskirts, the city chose to keep its charm in its old fashion.

Cleanest City of India

Being the topper in the list of cleanest city in india for the second year in a row is a proud moment for Mysuru and its people. Mysuru scored well on all the sanitation parameters. This included making adequate provisions for individual, community and public toilets, a good track record in door- to- door garbage collection, overall cleanliness level of the city, proper processing and disposal of garbage, an effective communication strategy to bring about behavior change and engaging citizens in cleanliness drive.

Located in the base of Chamundi Hills, Mysore is easily accessible through road and the century old south western railway network.The city itself is known for the numerous gardens, historical buildings and pleasant climate.

The time we chose to explore the city with our limited time was during the spring season. The night temperatures goes down till 16 degrees while the day time will have around 30 degrees in Celsius scale during that time. The Karnataka State road transport corporation (KSRTC) which has a good number of all types of long distance buses and short distance ones has a well established and accessible central stand at the heart of Mysore city. Numerous hotels and guest houses are around the central bus stand with a wide variety of budget levels.

Its always best to arrange the accommodation close to the bus stand as the accessibility to the other places are much better there. Always be wise when choosing auto rickshaws as transport means since they will easily charge you higher rates for a very small distance. Additionally, there are online cab services which will give you the exact charge and distance to the place you want to go.

Rail Museum Mysore

Rail Museum MysoreRail Museum Mysore

The first of its kind in the country, the railway museum Mysore is located on Krishnaraja Sagar Road near to the Mysore railway station and opposite to the Central Food Technology and Research Institute. From the first narrow gauge steam engine to the recently decommissioned meter gauge diesel engine, the museum offers you amazing history of the Indian railways.

The entry ticket which costs just INR 15 from Brake Van built by Stable Ford & Co Ltd, England in 1923, invites you to the museum. The narrow gauge steam locomotive and its narrow gauge coaches are the first exhibits. You will be surprised to find something which is still similar in design inside the coach. Although the seat structure and the dimensions of coaches have changed with years, the design of the fans inside coaches are still the same.

meter gaugeMeter gauge rail bus

The Meter Gauge Rail bus is another popular exhibit of the museum. One of the few trains with conductors, the rail bus ran between the Shimoga and Talaguppa sections. With cushion seats, it could accommodate 52 passengers, the last run of the Rail bus was on 07-08-2007. With an average speed of 21 Km/hr, the rail bus took 3 hours and 45 minutes to cover its 85 KM journey.

The powerful YP 2511 is another cool exhibit. With the help of the 700 HP super heated boiler, it could achieve a maximum speed of 75 Kmph, one of the best of its time. Equally powerful to haul 14 coaches at a time, this was built by the TELCO TATAs in the year 1963.

Rail MuseumMaharani’s Saloon

The Museum has a royal pavilion called the Sri Ranga Pavilion. It has the place’s most popular attractions which is the Mysore Maharani’s Saloon. Built on the year 1899 at a cost of Rs 29508, quite a huge sum at the time, the saloon is fitted with a bedroom with  delicately gilded ceilings replete with chandeliers and fans. It has an attached bathroom and an exclusive kitchen cum dining unit. The Maharani’s Saloon can easily explain the status and wealth of this princely state once.

The Museum also hosts a toy train ride which is another attraction intended for the kids. At a marginal ticket rate, the kids can enjoy a small ride in a battery operated toy train.

Chamundi Hills

This is one of the most common tourist and pilgrim centre of Mysore. At a distance of around 13 KM east of Mysore, the Hill top is at an average elevation of 1000 meters. Named after the goddess Chamundi, the Chamundeshwari temple sits atop the main hill.

Chamundeshwari templeChamundeshwari temple

Chamundi hills temple timings is till 2 PM in the day time, the remaining timings are from 3 30 PM to 6 PM and from 7 30 PM till 9 PM after that the temple will be closed. The architecture and the aura inside the temple is fascinating. Besides the Chamundi temple, there are two more temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna.

As the temple is quite famous, long queues can be seen most of the days and particularly when the temple opens after the pooja timings. There are paid queues available which will have less rush.

Nandi at Chamundi HillsNandi at Chamundi Hills

You can see the magnificent views of the Mysore city and its palaces en-route the hill top. Evenings are the best time to freshen up yourself with some cool breeze. At 7 PM on Sundays and Public Holidays, the Mysore palace will be illuminated for 45 minutes and the view is mind blowing from the Chamundi hills view point.

Buses ply frequently from the City Bus Stand of Mysore towards the Chamundi Temple when the temple is open. The buses are the cheapest mode of transport. You can also book for a taxi service, but its likely that they will ask for a return trip as well which will include waiting charges also.

The road condition is quite good and the ride towards the hill top will be a quite memorable one as well.

The Mysore Palace

Mysore Palace Architecural BeautyThe architectural beauty of Mysore Palace

Grandest of all, the Mysore Palace is the most common place in any Mysore trip itinerary. The most famous tourist attraction in India after the Taj Mahal, it is the official residence and the seat of the Wodeyars- the Maharajas of Mysore, who ruled from 1399 to 1950. You can easily guess how grand the palace would be if the Maharani had her own private and expensive rail caravan a century back.

The palace has 2 durbar halls and beautiful courtyards and gardens all around. It is built by the Maharaja Rajarshi His Highness Krishnarajendra Wadiyar IV.  The architectural style domes of the palace is commonly described as Indo Sarcenic and blends the Hindu, Muslim, Rajput and Gothic styles. The palace is a three stored one with marble domes and a 145 feet five-story tower. It is a stunning man made beauty which is not to be missed in Mysore.

Every autumn, usually during the September and October months, the palace is the venue for the famous Mysore Dasara festival. During those time, a stage will be setup on the palace grounds and special events takes place as part of the celebrations.

mysore palaceMysore Palace

The palace is ten minutes from the city central railway station and from the suburb bus-stand; right behind city bus-stand, and twenty minutes (less four miles) from Mysore Airport. Photography is prohibited inside the Palace complex which has numerous artifacts used during the old times.

Mysore palace timings are from 10 AM to 5 30 PM on all days. Audio kit is available for visitors at a marginal rate which covers all the details about the palace. The Mysore palace history is very interesting. More details about the palace and the mysore palace history are available in the official website of the Mysore palace www.mysorepalace.gov.in .

The above 3 places are only a few of what Mysore offers for its visitors. The other popular places around Mysore includes the Mysore zoo, Brindavan Gardens, Mysore Sand sculpture Museum and Srirangapatnam. We did not get the luxury to visit all the places which adds to the reasons to visit Mysore again.

 

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