Srirangapatna & Mysore

This was my 3rd tour with Unhurried, and it was great! Although they offer overnight tours for Srirangapatna & Mysore, we elected to do it in one day, and Unhurried made it work for us. They arranged for car service to pick us up right at our hotel and then we picked up our guide, Poornima, along the way. Poornima is a pro historian, who was able to tailor the tour towards my interests, which was on the history and battles of the area. She was always quick to step in and be our agent for negotiations with vendors, officials at the temples, and cafe operators. If you try to DIY these tourist spots without a guide, you won't get as good a result than with a professional, bilingual guide. One example: Poornima knew of a great location to visit in Srirangapatna that no one really knows about, but it was definitely a highlight of the visit. Unhurried arranged for breakfast and lunch stops along the route, and then on our way back they even helped arrange for airport transport that evening. 10 out 10 recommend Unhurried!

I had a fantastic experience on the Srirangapatna–Mysore tour with Unhurried. The day was very well organized from start to finish — I was picked up directly from my accommodation in Bangalore, which made everything smooth and stress-free. What I really appreciated about this tour was the balance. It included the must-see landmarks, but also took us to some lesser-known spots that I wouldn’t have discovered on my own. It felt thoughtfully curated rather than rushed or overly touristy. I did the tour with Poornima, who was an excellent guide. She was warm, friendly, and incredibly knowledgeable. Throughout the day, she shared a wealth of interesting information and historical anecdotes that really brought the places to life. I especially valued her ability to provide nuanced context — particularly when explaining the historical paintings we saw. Overall, this was a rich and engaging experience, and I would highly recommend this tour to anyone looking to explore the Mysore region in a meaningful and unhurried way.

I cannot recommend this tour company highly enough! Thank you so much for such a rich, fascinating and inspiring experience. It is not difficult to find special, beautiful places to visit in Karnataka, but our guide, Vidya, has such a wealth of knowledge about history and culture and her insight into architecture, religion, art and social history enriched our experience of these incredible temples, fortifications and palaces. This is a richly packed tour covering so many interesting sites between Bangalore and Mysoru, as well as amazing places to stop and eat. The ethos behind Unhurried makes this tour company unique, drawing together all the many layers of history across this diverse landscape to give you a deeper understanding of history and change, and an appreciation of the uniqueness of the region and state. I wish I knew of more tour companies just like this everwhere I went. Thank you Vidya for your patience with our questions and for sharing your passion for South Indian history with us!

+4

Super two-day trip with Poornima who certainly knows her stuff and has a seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of the places we visited. The highlight for me was Srirangapatna and the chance to walk around the fort ruins and look out across the Cauvery river from where Wellington's troops had attacked Tipu Sultan's defences in 1799. That scene has barely changed in over 200 years and it was certainly untroubled by pasty European tourists like me when I was there. I would never have known to visit these sites, or even known they existed, had it not been for Poornima, and I am grateful to her for digging out these gems for me. During my time in Mysore we visited Chamundi Hills and I also purchased, on impulse, some beautiful parquetry from local craftsmen. My trip was tailor-made and it fitted like a glove. After a couple of weeks in India on business it was really nice to have an unhurried journey from Bangalore to Srirangapatna/Mysore which also took in a silk farm, silk auction and a factory where silk saris were crafted on machinery which looked as if dated to the mid-twentieth century (or earlier). A really great experience, and I can't wait to book onto another unhurried trip the next time I am in this part of India. Thank you Poornima!