maps

at Mysore Bed and Breakfast we have commercial maps of the city and further afield in India for guests to use for reference and planning. We’ve also created our own maps of our two fave places Mysore City

Mysore City Map
Mysore City Map

and Srirangapatnam. image

If you come and stay with us, at the Mysore bed and Breakfast we’ll provide a simple map, personalised with details of the attractions that interest you.

A guest of Mysore Bed and Breakfast, Paul Johanson has kindly provided a map drawn after visiting Bylakuppe with Vets Beyond Borders.

Bylakuppe map

Why Mysore?

Wonderful people of Mysore

I’m often asked by guests of the Bed and Breakfast or friends back home, why Mysore or for that matter, why India? The answer is not at all straightforward but it’s found here on our web site or our story on wwww.meandmycycle.com one of the simplest answers that is true for many of us.. It’s the people that make the place. India being the rich tapestry that it is has such a wonderful mix of people, places , ideas and experiences. This link introduces you to some of our local characters. Why not come find out for yourself?

Please check the links at the top and bottom of this entry for a great article and radio series.

See the history of India through these people

Flowers and Gardens
Mysore is known, in Indian terms, as a tier two city, with around a million residents It feels, however, more like a town than a busy metropolis. One of the reasons it has this human-scale is its gardens, tree lined avenues and lakes. Where we’re based in Siddartha Nagar (or layout), a residential area just ten minutes in auto rickshaw from the Palace, at the centre of the city, we’re fortunate to have a series of gardens with one just opposite our house.

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We’ve also put some effort in to creating our own garden on the roof and ensured you’re welcomed by greenery at the front gate.

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Our potted plant roof garden, at its best over the winter, is a great asset for the guests. For a drink in the evening, place to meet our other guests, watching the fruit bats fly over in the evening, and generally chilling out, its one of our communal sit-out areas

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part of our team is our gardener: Narainappa here assisted by his nephew Venkatesh

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Mysore is also easily accessible to gorgeous rural areas with fields and rivers close by and national parks a little further away. Our most popular cycle tour is on Srirangaptnam where you can get a good feel for rural life.

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STOP PRESS Just last night, at midnight, we were so pleased to have caught our … appears-only-once-and-at-night flower

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its a Brahmakamal and coincidentally is used as part of my logo for the UK business: flourish training and consultancy

http://www.indianbotanists.com/2013/04/epiphyllum-oxypetallum-brahmakamal.html

So who does stay at Mysore BnB?

The numbers are in for the last year. We’ve counted how many guests have visited the BnB from the various countries. Fact is….. What matters, above all, of course it’s been a rich mix of wonderful people who have helped create great conversations and happy times. We are so lucky! Thank you for making it happen. image The countries that the largest numbers of our guests come from are the UK, India, Australia, France and Germany. In that order. This year both the numbers of people from India and France and how long they’ve stayed has significantly increased. These are closely followed by the numbers of guests from US and Italy. The mix is absolutely amazing with guests also from Belgium, Taiwan, China, (and Hong Kong), Ireland, Holland, Spain, Canada, S Africa, Switzerland, Israel, Russia, Sweden, New Zealand and Austria. And we have a special mention ….. (You know who you are) ….. for our trailblazing guests from …. Moldova, Estonia, Russia, Greece (my fave island of Crete), Japan, Turkey, South Korea, Finland, Argentina, Nigeria and Nepal. The ages of our guests are from young babies through to elders that are even older than Stephen.

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What an amazing spread. The total number of guests is 400 and we like that. Not too busy and not too quiet. It’s good to get balance in life. As many of you will know I often describe it as sitting on the beach with waves varying from gentle tickling of the toes to sudden surges. As at the BnB it goes from gently quiet to hectic. But thankfully we’re never quite overcome. Just as I like it. Manj on the other hand prefers constant busy busy busy 😉 forget it 🙂 for me the concept of ‘slow business’ is where it’s at. For me that means we can provide a better quality experience and service. Our busiest period is late December, January and February, our quietest is April, May, June and for some reason September.
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Most guests now come through recommendations from friends and people they meet whilst travelling or Trip Advisor. A fair number return more than once. Our record is held by two people (separately) who have been here for over four return trips! We’re thinking of a loyalty scheme….;-) P1010716People are staying longer generally 3 or more nights. It’s now relatively rare for people to stay one night and they are usually Indian guests enroute to somewhere else. Others will use the BnB as a base and maybe stay 7-10 days. We now have some cyclists basing themselves here for half of their holiday and doing daily circular tours.

So, to those of our previous guests reading this…

we thank you for visiting and spending your precious holiday time with us. We know from your feedback you have a great time and want to come back and that’s all that we ask.

for those who have yet to visit and become friends we hope to see you soon and look forward to our future adventures together.

More to help you have a great stay in Mysore

A few suggestions for places to eat and to find your way around Mysore.

Places to Eat

Hannah Moss of the UK has provided three great guides to eating out in Mysore. These are available on the Brighton Astanga blog.

http://www.ashtangabrighton.com/ashtanga_blog/food-for-thought-in-mysore-city

I’d also rate RRR for a leaf meal lunch and add two city centre roof top restaurants:

Roopa Hotel, opposite the Woodlands Theatre on BN Road,

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g304553-d1186837-Reviews-Hotel_Roopa-Mysore_Karnataka.html

and

Shilpashri, Bar and Restaurant On Ghandi square next to the horrible advertising hoardings

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g304553-d2457921-Reviews-Hotel_new_shilpashri_bar_and_restaurant-Mysore_Karnataka.html

and

Kamat Madhuvan a bit further out on the Nanjangud road and sometimes has live music

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g304553-d3195505-Reviews-Kamat_Madhuvan-Mysore_Karnataka.html

close to the BnB are Ramani, Lalith Mahal (a great experience but can be a it hit and miss on service and food)

Finding your way around Mysore

Mysore BnB in addition to it’s MYCycle tours and Fare’s Fair Auto Rickshaw Tours has bicycles for hire.

To help you find your own way around Mysore, Srirangaptnam and Bylakuppe Stephen and previous guests have drawn maps. Contact the BnB for more info tours@mycycle.co

with a wonderful range of guests visiting from India and around the world staying at the BnB, celebrating Christmas, New Year and Stephen’s Birthday and often joining our cycle tours in Srirangaptnam and Mysore. Please check the link below for your photos if you’re one of our guests who joined us in December or one of the months before.. (other photos will be posted later) https://www.flickr.com/photos/manjulasmysore/sets/
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our first young Indian family on a MyCycle Srirangapatnam Tour

Priya kindly reviews our MYCycle Tours to the Club Mahindra community. Her family, from Mumbai, that’s Priya, her husband Hashin and son Tarun, joined us on Srirangaptnam tour. We’ve had many families join our tours but this was the very first  young Indian family and whilst they are trail blazers and cycling is becoming more of a leisure thing in India amongst young people, we hope we will see more Indian families trying out cycling.

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we cater for groups too

Giacomo from Centro Yoga Belluno brought a lovely group of Italian guests to stay with us.

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They all practice yoga at the centre in Italy and visited the BnB at the end of their tour of India.

They couldn’t fit in one of our MYcycle tours but Vasanth arranged a Fare’s Fair Rickshaw Ride covering Mysore City, Palace and parts of the amazing Srirangaptnam. Another example of the team working together to meet the needs of our wonderfully diverse guests.

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So we’re happy to cater for groups even at the BnB. As we’re so small it has to be arranged in advance and usually out of our main season (that’s the winter months).

Photos of our guests

We’ve just completed yet another busy winter period with a rich variety of guests from around the world coming to experience the wonderful Mysore. Joining stimulating conversations at the relaxing BnB, meandering on our cycles through lush countryside, visiting interesting communities and learning about the magic of Mysore and the sensational Srirangaptnam. Photos of the guests and some of their experiences are now posted on https://www.flickr.com/photos/manjulasmysore/sets If you are looking for the photos taken while you visited, they are organised in sets according to the months youth stayed. Happy hunting, there’s lots 🙂 Stephen, Manjula and Lucy.

 

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