At the heart of Bangalore city lies the beautiful and elegant Bangalore Palace. Built in the year 1887, the Bangalore palace is located in Palace grounds – a beautiful 400 acre space untouched by the urban development.

 

It sometimes comes as a surprise that you roam around the world exploring places and visiting famous monuments, only to end up not exploring the places which are in your backyard. As a traveler I have always made it a point to visit monuments of historical significance to get a better understanding of the culture and history of the cities that I have visited. Having lived in Bangalore for a good 7 years now, it was indeed high time I visited the beautiful Bangalore place.

Finally made up my mind and headed to visit in palace on a overcast Saturday – a perfect weather to explore the palace without getting drained out by the heat ( to be very fair, Bangalore is blessed with perfect weather all throughout the year). The palace was a 20 kilometer drive from my home and took us an hour to reach, thanks to the city traffic that we had to wade through.

As we entered the palace grounds, we couldn’t believe that we were still in Bangalore. In a mere couple of minutes, we were transported magically from the hustle and bustle of Bangalore city life, to a serene environment amidst nature.

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The road leading to the Palace. There are very few places in Bangalore which have not been touched by urbanization. Palace grounds has to be one of the few such areas left in Bangalore.

 

The palace is around 500 meters from the entrance and has ample car parking – something that has become a luxury these days in Bangalore. As we parked the car, we could not help but notice the grandeur of the palace. The design of the palace seems to be inspired by the architecture of the medieval castles that were built in Normandy and England. In-fact during the tour of the palace, we got to know that Chamaraja Wodeyar of Wodeyar dynasty was inspired by the Windsor Castle of London during one of his visits and thus built this palace based on Tudor style architecture.

 

 

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The facade of the palace inspired by the Windsor Castle of London and built based on Tudor style architecture.

 

Details on Timing and Ticket Price

Timings: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM (All days)

Ticket Price:

  • Rs 230/person for Indians
  • Rs 460/person for Foreign Tourists
  • Rs 285 for mobile camera
  • Rs 685 for still camera
  • Rs 1485 for Video camera

Tickets were a bit on the higher side and to our surprise we had to buy a ticket even if one was going to take few snaps using the mobile phones. Had read many tourists complaining about them being asked not to take snaps using their mobile phones by guards. To be honest, none of the guards during our entire trip inside the palace came and checked the tickets, but since I have this habit of taking many photos of the places I visit,  I got a ticket to avoid any unnecessary issues.

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The closer look of the facade. The entrance to the palace is through the arch that you can find at the bottom left of the photo

 

Note:

  • Ensure that you are carrying enough cash with you. They do not accept credit cards or any other form of payment
  • Have a valid identity proof. Since they would be handing you the guided tour headsets, you need to give them the ID proof which can be collected back after you return the device to them.

The guided tour with the head sets come in handy as you do not have to depend on any guides. The tour which is for about an hour is available in English, Kannada, Hindi, French, Spanish, German, Italian and is very informative. There are around 20 recorded messages that you can play at the designated spots to understand in detail about the palace.

Below are the photos that I captured as we went through the guided tour.

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The grand stairways which leads us to the tour. You will find many photos and custom made furniture that neatly fit on the stairways.

 

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The Durbar Hall – Durbar Hall was used to address the assembly. The hall is located on the first floor and is decorated beautifully with various paintings.

 

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Vintage lift – the palace had a lift which would take the royals from the ground floor to the first floor just outside the Durbar hall

 

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The grand ballroom which was used by the King for his private parties

 

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Another view of the ball room which during its hay days should have hosted many royal get together

 

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An old dressing table which is in such good condition that it could put to shame the dressers that are currently available in market.

 

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The huge Open Square on the ground floor of the palace

 

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The Open square is beautifully designed and is very well ventilated. This should have been a perfect place to relax during summers.

 

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Another view of the open square. You will find many photographs on the walls around the open square.

 

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The granite seats which are decorated with ceramic tiles of fluorescent blue color.

 

 

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The view of the palace from the gardens

 

It took us around couple of hours to explore the palace and the adjacent gardens in detail. Though the palace might not be as big as the Mysore palace, there is loads of history to be explored. If you are in Bangalore and looking to explore the heritage of Bangalore, a visit to Bangalore palace is highly recommended.

 

 

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For any other queries, contact me at planettrekkerblog@outlook.com

 

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