Mysuru & Kabini — The Palace City and Two Nights on the Edge of Nagarhole

South-west from Bengaluru on the expressway, about 145 km, with Srirangapatna as the stop — Tipu Sultan's island capital until 1799, with the painted summer palace at Daria Daulat Bagh and the Gumbaz where he is buried. Into Mysuru by early afternoon and straight to the palace, which is open 10:00 to 17:30 through the Varaha gate: the Durbar Hall, the marriage pavilion under its stained glass and the armoury. Devaraja Market before it closes, and the palace illumination at seven if it is a Sunday or a public holiday.

Chamundi Hill at opening, before the temple queue builds, and the five-metre Nandi cut from a single boulder on the way down. Then south-west out of the city, about 60 km and an hour and a half, the fields giving way to scrub and then to the teak and bamboo of the Nagarhole edge. The Kabini stay sits on the reservoir. Lunch, and the first jeep safari in the afternoon slot the forest department fixes — roughly three to five — into the park with a naturalist, back at the water as the light goes.

The morning jeep safari leaves at first light, when the forest is coolest and the animals are moving — the slot runs from around six and the naturalist decides the route from the previous evening's tracks. Back for breakfast and the middle of the day off, which is when the forest itself rests. The boat safari in the late afternoon works the reservoir shore: the dead trees standing in the water, cormorants and fish eagles, gaur and elephant coming down to drink, and in the dry months of February to May the herds that make Kabini famous. Dinner by the water.

A last early morning by the reservoir — the birds are at their best before eight — and then the road back to Bengaluru, about 205 km and four and a half hours by Mysuru, for an afternoon or evening flight. Your Live Traveller journey ends at the airport. If your dates allow a fourth night, Bandipur is across the reservoir and we can turn the trip into a two-park circuit.