Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace

Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace is a two-storey Indo-Islamic palace on Albert Victor Road in Chamarajpet, in the old city of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Construction began under Hyder Ali and was completed in 1791 during the reign of his son Tipu Sultan, who used it as a summer retreat. The palace is built largely of teak and is admired for its carved wooden pillars, scalloped arches, balconies and faded floral murals in the upper-storey Durbar Hall. It is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India, and a small museum inside explains the history of the Mysore rulers, with displays of paintings, photographs and information on Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan and Bengaluru's old fort area. Visitors walk through the ground-floor rooms and up the staircase to the open balconies and the upper hall. Outside, a small garden with lawns surrounds the palace and provides the best photo angles, particularly the view of the arched facade and the balcony in soft morning light. Most visits take forty-five minutes to an hour. Mornings on weekdays are quietest; weekends and school holidays bring more families, though it rarely feels overcrowded. Tickets are inexpensive, with a higher rate for foreign nationals and free entry for children under fifteen. The palace is open daily from 8:30AM to 5:30PM. City Market metro station on the Green Line is about one kilometre away and the KR Market bus stand is roughly 700 metres away, so many visitors combine the palace with a walk through the busy market district. The nearby Bangalore Fort remains and the Venkataramana Swamy Temple are also within walking distance. Visitors should expect steep, narrow stairs and some worn floors.