Mysore Dasara: A Visitor's Travel Guide
For ten days each autumn Mysore becomes the most spectacular city in the south. It is also the hardest time to visit — here is how to plan around it.
What Dasara is
Mysore Dasara — Nadahabba, the state festival of Karnataka — has been celebrated by the city for over four centuries, since the Vijayanagara and Wadiyar eras. It runs for ten days in September or October (the dates follow the lunar calendar, so they shift each year), culminating on Vijayadashami. The Amba Vilas Palace is lit with around 100,000 bulbs every evening through the festival, which alone is worth the trip.
The Jamboo Savari procession
The climax on Vijayadashami is the Jamboo Savari — a grand procession from the palace to Bannimantap, led by caparisoned elephants carrying the golden howdah with the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari. It draws enormous crowds, and grandstand tickets near the palace are released in advance through the district administration. The evening ends with the Panjina Kavayat torchlight parade.
Planning around the crowds
This is the single busiest time to be in Mysore. Accommodation books out weeks ahead and prices rise sharply; roads around the palace close on procession day and traffic across the city tightens throughout the festival. If you want to experience Dasara, book everything — stay and vehicle — well in advance and build extra time into every transfer.
A base outside the immediate palace zone, with a vehicle to move you in and out, is far less stressful than trying to stay and drive in the centre on procession day.
Beyond the palace
The wider Dasara includes an exhibition at the Doddakere grounds, cultural programmes across the city, and the Chamundi Hills temple lit and busy above town. Regular Mysore sights — the palace interior, Chamundi Hills, St Philomena's and Brindavan Gardens — are all open, though busier than usual.