Folk art trail in Bangalore
Description
Meet and interact with makers of wooden toys, visit Asia’s largest silk cocoon auction market, a centre dedicated to promote village folk art and a studio showcasing a selection of handcrafted works from across India. This culture tour is an all-inclusive day trip from Bangalore where we take care of transport, lunch, activities and the services of a full-time tour guide.
Tour Options
Itinerary
8AM- Our guide will meet and pick you up from your hotel for this Bangalore culture tour. We will head to Ramnagara, a small town located 50 KMs from Bangalore. Ramnagar is famous for its silk industry and receives 50 tons of silk cocoons every day making it Asia’s largest silk cocoon market. After breakfast, we visit the Government Silk Cocoon Market and witness an auction.
We visit the famous toy town of Channapatna, home to the legendary makers of wooden toys. The skilled artisans of this town follow a unique process perfected by generations over time to make these eco friendly and child safe toys. They begin by procuring ivory wood, seasoning, cutting pruning, carving and finally applying vegetable dye for coloring. We visit a factory where guests can see these master craftsmen in action. Guests get to interact with the artisans and get a first hand experience of their trade and way of life.
Next in our Bangalore culture tour itinerary is a visit to a centre for promoting village folk art of the State of Karnataka. Guests get to see more than 5000 folk artifacts depicting folk literature, music, dance, festivals, sculpture and lifestyle in the different sections of this centre spread over 15 acres. Some of the incredible artifacts include 500 year old shadow puppets, Doddamane a replica of a large traditional village house, paintings from tribal homes, a sculpture yard which has exhibits from AD 800 and live demonstration of craft like Pottery.
Explore the timeless crafts like • Tholu Bommalata shadow puppetry from Andhra Pradesh • Dhokra metal casting from the forests of Jharkhand • Gond art from the tribal heartlands of Madhya Pradesh • Naga wood carving and textiles from Northeast India • Alongside stone sculptures, antique restorations, and textile collectives • Engage with workers, understand their process of material sourcing, and learn how traditional techniques are being adapted into modern design.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Pick up from all hotels in Bangalore
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Reviews(8)
The folk art tour was excellent. 5 senses tours arranged for a hotel pick up in a nice car. Our guide was lovely and took us to meet wooden toy makers , a silk cocoon auction market, and a centre for tribal art and craft. It was a memorable day out learning about the folk culture of this region of India.
I am glad you enjoyed the Folk art. Thanks for taking the time to review this tour. It was our pleasure hosting you.
I had an amazing day in the folks arts tour. We visited a silk cocoon auction market, a handmade wooden toy factory, a folks museum and then we saw a centre for folks artifacts. What an incredible day. It's really a unique opportunity to see the art and craft of this area. Our guide was amazing and the company had arranged pick and drop from my hotel. Very highly recommended to get out of the city and get a glimpse of India.
I am glad you enjoyed Bangalore folk art tour. Thanks for taking the time to review this tour. It was our pleasure hosting you.
This tour requires some driving time. The highlight for me was the silk pod market. It is a fascinating place and learning how the pods are sold was very interesting. From there we visited a toy factory. That was somewhat interesting and may have been made better if more in the history or significance of the place was shared. The toy store we stopped at had a lot of variety. We also went to a recreation of historic times and villages where artifacts and relics were housed. This was okay and was made a little confounding by having a grounds person, perhaps docent follow us through. He was speaking over the guide and was hard to understand. The place was still under some construction but it was not obtrusive. There was some signage in English that provided historical perspective and that could have been enhanced. Our lunch stop was excellent. We ate with our hand off a banana leaf in traditional fashion. Final stop was the 400+ year old banyan tree. Some historical background on the tree would have been more interesting than pointing out the obvious way in which the tree grows and expands. More about the tree origins in India would have been of interest. My guide Vignesh spoke excellent English, communicated well regarding pickup details and was very accommodating. I am not sure I would call this a folk art tour, but some of the sites were of interest to me.
The guide and driver CHANDRASHEKAR and Mohan were excellent. They were punctual, friendly and full of information. They also were very attentive to my needs. The places we visited were interesting and informative.
It was a great adventure! The cocoon auction was striking. I would have loved to see where the cocoons are grown, if possible.
Don't go on a Sunday. It shows as an available day but the places of interest advertised are closed.
I really enjoyed my day out with Harish my guide, and Manju the driver. The day was longer than planned allowing time to enjoy the sites and not rush. The toy factory was my favourite part and the factory owner was such an interesting man! The Banyan tree was also fascinating, and a lovely peaceful place. I’d like to have heard more about its life cycle and history though
Narayanan from Five Senses Tours was very helpful in switching the dates of two tours, one of which was this tour, because the toy factory is closed on Sundays. (That should be in the tour description.)It took two hours to drive from my hotel to where we picked up the guide, due to traffic. Not the fault of the tour company or the tour guide or the driver - traffic in Bengaluru is ridiculous.Satish, my guide, could not have been more helpful. He stopped at a roadside stand to give me the chance to taste tender coconut (before the outer shell hardens; you drink the liquid inside). He chose very interesting foods for lunch. I appreciated his help.The silk cocoon auction house was very interesting. It is the second largest in Asia. I saw more cocoons there than I ever imagined.The toy factory was disappointing. It was small. The electric power was out, so I could not see anything being made. The workers pressured me to buy their toys.The crafts museum was better, but the docent (museum's guide, not Satish) had such a thick accent that I had difficulty understanding him.
