Nandi Hills, Botanical Gardens & Themed Pubs in Bangalore, India

I’m really excited to interview Rahuldev Rajguru of Turuhi.com about Bangalore, India. Rahul’s tips for the best things to do in Bangalore are awesome because he moved to the city to pursue his dreams. Bangalore is known as India’s “Silicon Valley” and he’s a software professional, so it was a perfect fit.

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Bangalore, India

Bangalore is the capital of India’s southern Karnataka state. It is also commonly referred to as Bengaluru. The city is the center of India’s high-tech industry and is known as India’s Silicon Valley. Locals also love the city for its abundance of parks and surrounding nature. Rahul says that the city boasts 52 different weekend getaways so that you can go on a new adventure every weekend without repeating yourself.

The city is situated 1,000 meters above sea level and the weather is very pleasant throughout the year with temperatures ranging from 60* to 80* most days. It does have monsoon rains for about 6 to 8 months a year. This results in the lush greenery and beautiful flowers that you can find in and around the city and leads to its nickname as “Garden City.”

Bangalore is a melting pot for concerts, fairs, and festivals. Major festivals like Ugadi, Pongal, Onam, and Ganesha are popular for locals and visitors. During your visit, you should also plan on exploring Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens and Cubbon Park. The heritage buildings of Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace and the Bangalore Palace are beautiful to see in person. Nature lovers can explore Nandi Hills and Shivasamudram Falls.

We share a lot of resources and local suggestions in today’s podcast, but you should also check out Tourism of India, the local visitor’s bureau. They are a wealth of information and can help you plan an itinerary based on your time, budget, and interests.

If you’d like to learn how to travel for free using airline miles and hotel points, check out my free 7-day email course.

Getting around Bangalore

The local airport is Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (BLR), which is about a 45-minute drive to the city. Use our Expedia tool below to find flight, hotel, and rental car options.

Rahul says that most people will not need to rent a car when visiting Bangalore. The traffic is bad and parking is not very accessible. You are better off taking the Namma Metro or the BMTC buses because they are quick, economical, and convenient. Visitors can also rent a cycle or electric scooter (EVO or Bounce) to explore the city. Uber and Lyft are excellent ways to get around.

If you need to rent a car, they are not available at the airport. For the most part, major names like Avis, Budget, or Hertz are too expensive. Instead, look for local services like Drivezy and Mylescars.

Places we talked about on the podcast

Here is a map of all of the places we talked about on the podcast episode with Rahul Rajguru about Bangalore, India. You can zoom into the map and click on each dot to explore the city.

• Red dots = best places to eat in Bangalore, India
• Green dots = best things to do in Bangalore, India
• Yellow dots = best places to stay in Bangalore, India

Who is Rahul Rajguru?

Rahul is the Co-Founder & CEO of Turuhi, a resource for verified travel content. An avid traveler, he has been traveling across the world for the past 20 years and has 62 countries across 6 continents stamped on his passport. He has also lived in 6 countries. An insatiable thirst for adventure, the discovery of the unknown, and passion for local culture have taken him to offbeat destinations and led him to discover hidden gems. He is a road tripper with 250,000 kilometers (150,000 miles) of worldwide road-tripping under his belt.

He is part of several travel communities and he shares his travel experiences on platforms like TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Quora, etc., and has more than a million happy readers. One of his many accolades is that he is the Travel Community Ambassador for Booking.com. Besides that, he is Top 1% contributor with Level 6 (highest) on TripAdvisor for the past 5 years. He strongly believes in building and nurturing communities as it is the best way for travelers to connect. It is the most sustainable way of sharing real travel stories and helping fellow travelers.

Here are a few articles that he’s written:

• Western Ghats as Never Seen Before
• An Impromptu Day Trip from Bangalore
• The French Riviera of the East

You can connect with Rahul on his website, on his Travel Massive profile, and on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.

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Thanks to our sponsor, Cirque du Soleil, you have the opportunity to win a pair of tickets to “O” at the Bellagio, Las Vegas. Between August 23, 2021, and October 31, 2021, you can enter in three different ways with a valid email address:

• Rate and review our podcast on iTunes. Submit your review and email us a screenshot. Limit one (1) entry per person.
• Comment on any episode’s show notes where Cirque du Soleil is a sponsor. Limit one (1) entry per person per episode. There will be six episodes to comment on between now and the end of the sweepstakes. Eligible episodes include Washington, D.C. (8/23/21), Bangalore (8/30/21), Tulum (9/6/21), Los Angeles (9/13/21), San Francisco (9/20/21), and Cincinnati (9/27/21).
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Stay tuned for our next episode

Listen to the next episode when Luke Hajdukiewicz of the Bunji app shares the best things to do in Tulum, Mexico. In this episode, Luke and I talk about swimming at the Gran Cenote, day-tripping at Xel Ha, and hanging out at the Papaya Playa beach club. We hope you’ll join us when We Travel There.

What’s your favorite part of Bangalore? Send us a Tweet, let us know in the comment section below, or continue the discussion in our Facebook group!

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To see which cities we’ve interviewed and scheduled, please visit WeTravelThere.com/map. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, please submit an application at WeTravelThere.com/guest.

Related episodes

To learn more about India, please listen to our other guest interviews about this amazing country:

• Exploring the Taj Mahal Hotel and Watching Cricket in Mumbai, India