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Visa permitting, I'm going to be off to Bangalore soon for work. Due to the way airline pricing works, I'm going to be spending a weekend there as part of the trip (it's a hard life...). Armed with a guidebook, I've been trying to work out what's best to do, and a visit to the Palace of Mysore is looking high up the list.

For those who haven't heard of Mysore (which included myself until yesterday...), here are a few cc-by photos from Flickr to give you an idea:

MySore Palace, by Ahmed Mahin Fayaz MySore Palace by Night, by Hrishikesh Premkumar

What I'm wondering is if it's possible to visit Mysore as a daytrip from Bangalore by train? Not, I should point out, is it possible to physically get there and back in a day (that does look possible). More, can you take a sensibly times train down, have time to look around the Palace, to see it lit up at night, and make it back to Bangalore? Or does it really need an overnight stay in Mysore to Work?

(Having read up on the roads and the traffic, it sounds to me like a relaxed journey by train seeing the views will be much more pleasant than many hours in a bus/taxi in heavy traffic)

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As far as I can tell the second-last train to Bangalore from Mysore leaves at 8:30 PM (Mysore-Chennai Kaveri Express #16221, ~3 hours). The palace itself closes at 5:30 PM. The illumination timings are only on weekends and public holidays, and begin at 7 PM (and end at 7:30 on Saturday and 8 on Sunday anyway). That should leave you plenty of time to reach the train station after (it's just a little bit over one mile (or a little bit under 2 km)).

There is another train back at 12:30 AM (Mysore-Howrah Express #22818 (Monday morning only) ~2.5hrs).

If you decide you want to stick around for the night, you can take a 5:30 AM train back to Bangalore the next morning (Mysore-Sainagar Shirdi Express (Mondays only) #16217 ~3 hrs). If that's too early, there's another one leaving at 6:45 AM (Mysore-Bangalore Chamundi Express #16215 ~3hrs)

As for getting there you have plenty of options, from a 4 AM train (Ajmer-Mysore Express (Sundays only) #16209 ~3 hrs) from Bangalore to 8:15 AM (Bangalore-Mysore Rajya Rani Express #16558 ~3 hrs) to 11 AM (Chennai-Mysore Shatabdi #12007 ~2 hrs).

Book your tickets on the Indian Railways website in advance to avoid nasty last-minute surprises.

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You can easily visit Mysore Palace in one day and travel back to Bangalore.

When I was working in Bangalore, we started early in the morning by state transport bus avoiding the traffic. You can find several buses plying regularly between Bangalore and Mysore. One can get a bus for Mysore from the main city bus stand (Majestic).

The most economical option to travel to Mysore from Bangalore is to board an air-conditioned Volvo Bus that departs from the Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) City Bus Stand. The buses depart from here at regular 20 minute intervals to the Mysore Bus Station, which is just 1 km from the Mysore Palace.

KSRTC City Bus Reservation Number: 0821 - 2425819/9980915215

Mysore City Bus Stand Number: +(91)-(821)-2425819

Mysore Suburban Bus Station Number: 0821 – 2520853

It is best to visit on weekends and time your visit so that you do not miss the illumination timings.

You can also visit the Brindavan Gardens while in Mysore. Be sure to catch the musical fountains while there.

Musical Fountain Show Timings

All Week Days 06.30 pm - 07.30 pm

Saturdays & Sunday 06.30 pm - 08.30 pm

Brindavan Gardens Wiki

Here are some of the images of the garden.

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