Bengaluru

Begun in the 18th century by Hyder Ali and enlarged by his son Tipu Sultan. Its glasshouse, modelled on London's Crystal Palace, holds flower shows around Republic Day in January and Independence Day in August, when queues reach back beyond the gates.

The Mysore royal family built it in Tudor style after Windsor Castle, and its turrets and battlements look nothing like an Indian building. The rooms are toured with an audio guide, and taking photos means paying a camera fee on top of the entry ticket.

A city-centre park laid out in 1870, with the red-walled State Central Library standing among its trees. On Sundays cars are kept off the park roads and the space fills with runners and walkers.

Karnataka's legislature, completed in 1956, carries Dravidian temple ornament on a granite frame. Visitors cannot go inside, so it is viewed from the High Court side of the road. Sunday and holiday evenings see the whole building lit.

A two-storey palace finished in 1791, its pillars and balconies all of teak and its walls painted with flowers. It sits within walking distance of Krishna Rajendra Market, so the two are seen together.

A hilltop temple in Basavanagudi housing a huge Nandi carved from a single black rock. When the Kadalekai Parishe groundnut fair comes round in November or December, both sides of the temple road fill with peanut stalls.

A Shiva temple set into a cave in the rock. On the evening of Makara Sankranti in mid-January, sunlight passes between the horns of the Nandi in the courtyard and falls on the linga deep inside, and queues run out past the gate that day.

The wholesale market also called City Market, with flower traders taking up a whole floor. Jasmine and marigold change hands by the sack from dawn and the trade thins out as the sun climbs, so an early-morning visit pays.

Hills about 60 kilometres to the north, where people set out before dawn to watch cloud settle below at sunrise. At weekends the summit car park fills early and some leave the car lower down and walk up.

A biological park inside a national park about 22 kilometres south of the centre, where a safari bus with meshed windows drives through the lion and tiger enclosures. Tuesday is its day off.

A Krishna temple opened in 1997 on a Rajajinagar hilltop, its golden flagstaff and glass roof visible from afar. On the climb up, each landing invites you to chant the Hare Krishna mantra. On weekend evenings worshippers and onlookers pack the stairs.

A short street just behind MG Road, its stone paving lined with used bookshops, pubs and cafes. Blossom Book House, crammed with books over several floors, is its old fixture. Come Friday and Saturday nights, crowds outside the pubs block the pavement.

A gallery that opened in 2009 in an old mansion, Manikyavelu House. The walls run from Raja Ravi Varma's oils to contemporary Indian artists. The garden cafe is quiet, good for a pause after viewing.

A science museum on Kasturba Road beside Cubbon Park, full of hands-on exhibits. A Wright Flyer replica and old steam engines sit on the ground floor. On weekday afternoons school groups make it loud.

Known as Thindi Beedi, a single lane near Basavanagudi lined with vegetarian stalls and tiny shops. Hop stall to stall for dosa, obbattu and crisp fritters. By day most shutters are down; the lane comes alive after dark.

An old residential quarter laid out after the 1898 plague, where low houses and market lanes survive under big trees. The 17th-century Kadu Malleshwara temple gave the area its name. Walk it in the morning via the flower market and an old breakfast canteen.

A museum by the old airport road run by the aircraft maker HAL, with real fighter jets and helicopters parked outside. Models of India's first locally built aircraft and cutaway engines are on show. Some cockpits can be sat in, which draws plenty of children.

Twin rock domes 60km west of Bengaluru, counted among the largest monolithic hills in Asia. You scramble up smooth slabs using your hands, and old fort walls trace the summit. The rock bakes by midday, so climbers start at dawn.