Bangalore in 3 days

Bangalore Palace (the palace built in 1887 by the Wadiyar dynasty of Mysore — the family that ruled Karnataka (then Mysore State) from 1399 to 1950 (one of the longest continuous royal dynasties in Indian history): the building is a deliberate imitation of the Windsor Castle Tudor architecture (the Chamundi Wadiyar saw a photograph of Windsor Castle and commissioned a replica in Bangalore). The result: a Gothic-Tudor fantasy in Bangalore with stone towers, turrets, battlements, and the interior decorated with the hunting trophies, silk carpets and gilded furniture of the Mysore court. The 454-acre gardens surrounding the palace.

Cubbon Park (the 300-acre public park in the center of Bangalore, designed by Major General Richard Sankey (the chief engineer of Mysore) in 1864: the park contains the Victorian High Court of Karnataka (the red Gothic building of 1884 — the most prominent red-brick Gothic building in South India), the Bangalore Aquarium (the largest aquarium in Karnataka), and the State Central Library. The park is the lung of Bangalore — surrounded by the glass and steel of the tech city, the 300 acres of tropical trees provide a remarkable urban counterweight. Walking, jogging and family picnic culture every Sunday morning.

MG Road and Brigade Road (the twin commercial streets at the heart of central Bangalore: the most cosmopolitan shopping district in South India, with bookshops (Blossoms Book House — the most beloved second-hand bookshop in Bangalore, a 3-story warren of used English-language books in Church Street, considered the finest used bookshop in India), international brands, cafes and the Bangalore "pub street" (Church Street — the most concentrated restaurant and bar district in Bangalore, where the outdoor café culture meets the craft beer bars and the Bangalore weekend crowd spills onto the pavement).

Karavalli Restaurant (Gateway Hotel, Residency Road — the finest South Indian coastal restaurant in Bangalore, focusing specifically on the Karavalli (coastal Karnataka) cuisine: the thali (the traditional complete meal served on a banana leaf or a large round tray with multiple small bowls) featuring the specific dishes of the Karnataka coast: the prawn gassi (the Mangalorean prawn curry in a coconut-and-red-chilli paste), the kori rotti (the Tulu Nadu dish of chicken curry served with dried rice wafers that are broken into the curry to absorb the broth), the neer dosa (the thin, lacy rice crepe — "neer" means "water" in Tulu — made from rice batter without fermentation, served in overlapping rolls).

ISKCON Bangalore (Rajajinagar — the International Society for Krishna Consciousness temple, opened 1997: the largest ISKCON temple in the world (the temple complex of 7 acres with the main temple building in the Rajasthani and South Indian temple architectural style, 54m high at the central tower). The complex includes the Vedic library, the prasadam hall (where free meals made with ingredients grown at the ISKCON farms are served to 25,000 people daily), the multimedia museum of the Bhagavad Gita (the Gita Experience — an interactive explanation of Vaishnava philosophy for non-Hindu visitors), and the most spectacular daily aarti (the lamp ceremony at 6:30am, 12:15pm and 8:15pm — the 8:15pm aarti with 5,000+ worshippers is the most dramatic prayer ceremony in Bangalore).

Chettinad cuisine (the cuisine of the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu — considered the most complex and aromatic regional Indian cuisine: the Chettiars (the Tamil merchant community) developed this cuisine over centuries of trade with Southeast Asia, bringing back spices (kalpasi — the lichen (stone flower) unique to Chettinad cooking, marathi mokku (dried flower pods), kababchini (cubeb pepper)) not used in any other Indian regional cuisine. The signature dishes: the Chettinad chicken curry (the "Chettinad masala" of 24 spices, slow-cooked), the kavuni arisi (the black glutinous rice kheer), the urundai curry (the kofta (minced meat ball) in a spiced gravy). Anjappar Chettinad Restaurant is the most accessible in Bangalore.

The Devanahalli Fort (the birthplace of Hyder Ali (1721–1782), the military genius and Sultan of Mysore who fought the British East India Company to a standstill and was the greatest threat to British power in India before his son Tipu Sultan continued the resistance): the 16th-century Devanahalli Fort (the fort where Hyder Ali was born and which he later recaptured from the Marathas in 1749) is 40km north of Bangalore city center (near the airport) — the walls and bastions of the fort are substantially intact, the mosque and the temple within the walls, and the view of the Deccan plateau from the ramparts.

Koshy's Restaurant (39 St. Marks Road — the 1940 restaurant (originally named "Jewel Box" by the Armenian owner, renamed Koshy's by the Koshy family in 1952) that has been the most important social institution in Bangalore for 80 years: the meeting place of Bangalore's writers, journalists, professors, politicians and artists for decades. The menu: British-Indian Anglo-Indian food (the menu unchanged since the 1950s) — the mutton chops, the prawn curry, the caramel custard, the club sandwich, the draught beer from the in-house bar. A time capsule of colonial-era Bangalore that has survived the tech boom intact.