Bengaluru

Bengaluru is India's craft beer capital — Toit (the best pint in India), Arbor Brewing, Windmills Craftworks, and Bigfoot Brewery are all exceptional. Start at 5pm, eat well between pints.

A 240-acre 18th-century garden with the oldest trees in Bengaluru, a Victorian glasshouse inspired by London's Crystal Palace, and remarkable biodiversity within the city.

The beautiful Indo-Islamic teakwood palace of Tipu Sultan (18th century) — carved wooden columns and balconies that rival Delhi's finest Mughal architecture.

South India's most famous dish in its home territory — masala dosa at CTR in Malleshwaram (5am opening), benne dosa (butter dosa) at Vidyarthi Bhavan, and ragi mudde at local homes.

The largest ISKCON temple complex in the world — a startling modern blend of Dravidian architecture and devotion that draws thousands daily. The evening aarti at 8pm is genuinely moving.

A 300-acre colonial-era green lung at the heart of the city — shaded avenues of rain trees, a bandstand, aquarium, and the High Court all coexist in remarkable tranquillity. The best place in Bengaluru to watch the city breathe, particularly magical at dawn when joggers and monks share the same paths.

The 1956 granite seat of Karnataka's state government is an architectural marvel — a 60-acre Indo-Saracenic palace of democracy whose neo-Dravidian columns glow magnificently on Sunday evenings when illuminated. The forecourt makes for the most striking civic photograph in South India.

The 1887 Tudor-Gothic palace of the Wadiyar royal family — turreted towers, carved wooden ceilings, and oil portraits of maharajas in a setting that feels improbably Elizabethan in the heart of a tech metropolis. The contrast with modern Bengaluru outside the gates is genuinely delightful.

UB City is India's glossiest luxury mall — designer boutiques, rooftop restaurants, and jazz evenings in Bengaluru's answer to Mayfair. Pair it with a food crawl down 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar for the most cosmopolitan eating experience in South India.