Karnataka
Karnataka mixes city travel, temple architecture, Vijayanagara ruins, Hoysala heritage, coffee estates, Western Ghats forests, tiger reserves and a long Arabian Sea coast. Roampedia organizes it by district, then destination base, then famous places. Roampedia is building Karnataka district by district — the deeply mapped districts below have full place-by-place guides, and the rest open to guidebook district pages.
Explore Karnataka by district
One card per district: the live town guides, famous tourist places, treks, beaches, temples, waterfalls and backwater bases are grouped together so the page reads like a visual guidebook instead of repeated lists.
Bengaluru Urban
Karnataka's capital and main gateway — a Deccan-plateau metro at ~920 m known for its garden-city parks, royal palaces, old temples and, on its southern edge, the Bannerghatta wildlife reserve.
Mysuru
The royal city district of the Wodeyar dynasty on the Cauvery-side plains — the lit Mysore Palace, the Chamundi hill temple, sandalwood and silk, the grand Dasara festival, and the UNESCO Hoysala temple at Somanathapura to its east.
Kodagu
Coorg — a Western Ghats coffee highland of misty hills, spice and coffee estates and the Kaveri’s source, centred on the hill town of Madikeri, with the Tibetan settlement of Bylakuppe and the Dubare elephant camp on its plains edge.
Vijayanagara
The Tungabhadra-river district built around Hampi — the vast UNESCO World Heritage capital of the Vijayanagara empire, a boulder-strewn landscape of temples, royal ruins, bazaars and the Tungabhadra dam.
Hassan
The Hoysala heartland of southern Karnataka — the star-shaped temples of Belur and Halebidu, the towering Jain colossus at Shravanabelagola, quieter Hoysala shrines around Hassan town, and the Western Ghats coffee country and forts around Sakleshpur.
Mandya
The Cauvery sugar country between Mysuru and Bengaluru — the fortified river-island of Srirangapatna with its temples and Tipu-era monuments, the KRS dam and Brindavan Gardens, the Ranganathittu birds, the Melukote hill temple and the Shivanasamudra falls.
Chikkamagaluru
The birthplace of Indian coffee and a Western Ghats highland — Mullayanagiri, Karnataka's highest peak, the sacred Baba Budan range, the Kemmanagundi hill station, the Sringeri Sharada Peetham on the Tunga, the Kudremukh range and a scatter of waterfalls and Hoysala temples.
Dakshina Kannada
The Tulu-Nadu coast at the foot of the Western Ghats — the port city of Mangaluru with its Kadri, Kudroli and Mangaladevi temples, the frescoed St Aloysius chapel and the Panambur and Tannirbhavi beaches, plus the great inland pilgrimage temples of Dharmasthala and Kukke Subramanya.
Udupi
The Tulu-Nadu temple-and-beach coast north of Mangaluru — the Sri Krishna Matha and the home of Udupi cuisine, the Malpe beach and the basalt St Mary’s Islands, the Mookambika temple at Kollur and the scenic Maravanthe belt.
Uttara Kannada
The forested Kanara coast where the Western Ghats meet the Arabian Sea — the temple town and beaches of Gokarna, the giant Shiva of Murudeshwara, the Yana rock spires, the Sahyadri waterfalls around Sirsi and Yellapur, and the Dandeli forests and Kali-river rafting.
Shivamogga
The Malnad heartland in the central Western Ghats — Jog Falls where the Sharavathi plunges some 250 m, the Kodachadri and Kundadri peaks, the Agumbe rainforest, the Keladi-Nayaka temples and forts around Sagara, and the elephant, tiger and bird camps along the Tunga near Shivamogga.
Vijayapura
The Adil Shahi sultanate capital on the north-Karnataka Deccan — a walled city of vast domed tombs and mosques, from the colossal Gol Gumbaz and the jewel-like Ibrahim Rauza to the Malik-e-Maidan cannon and the Gagan Mahal durbar hall, with the birthplace of the reformer Basavanna at Basavana Bagewadi and the Almatti dam on the Krishna nearby.
Bidar
The far-northeastern Deccan city that was capital first of the Bahmani and then the Barid Shahi sultanates — a hilltop fort of tiled palaces, the Persian-blue Mahmud Gawan madrasa, the royal Bahmani tombs at Ashtur and the Barid Shahi tombs, the Guru Nanak Jhira Sahib gurudwara and the Narasimha Jharni water-cave shrine, with Basavakalyan — where the reformer Basavanna lived and taught — to its south-west.
Ballari
The Tungabhadra-plateau district of dry Deccan plains and iron-ore hills — the great hill fort of Ballari, the prehistoric Kupgal rock-art, the Daroji sloth-bear sanctuary in the scrub near Hampi, and the cool green valley of Sandur. (Hampi itself now lies in the neighbouring Vijayanagara district, carved out in 2021.)
Chamarajanagar
The forested southern frontier of Karnataka where the Western Ghats fall away to the Tamil Nadu and Kerala borders — the Biligiri Rangaswamy (BR) hills and tiger reserve, the Male Mahadeshwara (MM) hills temple, the tigers and elephants of Bandipur, the misty Himavad Gopalaswamy peak, and the Kaveri’s Bharachukki cascade of the Shivanasamudra falls.
Bagalkot
The Chalukyan heartland on the Malaprabha and Krishna rivers of north Karnataka — the red-sandstone rock-cut caves and cliff forts of Badami (ancient Vatapi), the riverside "cradle of Indian temple architecture" at Aihole, the UNESCO royal temples of Pattadakal, the Mahakuta and Banashankari shrines, and the Krishna–Malaprabha confluence at Kudalasangama where Basavanna, founder of the Lingayat movement, attained samadhi.
Kalaburagi
The Bahmani sultanate’s first capital in the Kalyana-Karnataka region — the moated Gulbarga Fort with its Córdoba-inspired Jama Masjid, the seven royal Haft Gumbaz tombs and the echoing Chor Gumbad, the revered Khwaja Bande Nawaz dargah and the Sharana Basaveshwara temple, the ~2,000-year-old Buddhist stupa at Kanaganahalli near Sannati, the Rashtrakuta capital of Malkhed, the Dattatreya pilgrimage town of Ganagapur, and the dry-land Chincholi wildlife sanctuary.
Belagavi
The Kannada–Marathi frontier district of north-west Karnataka — the water-girt oval Kote fort of Belagavi with its Jain basti and old mosques, the "Dakshina Kashi" temples and colonial cantonment of the city, the thundering Gokak and Godachinamalki falls on the Ghataprabha and Markandeya, the Ghataprabha dam at Hidkal, the Renuka-Yellamma pilgrim hill of Saundatti, the Kittur fort of Rani Chennamma, the Kadamba temple town of Halasi and the Bhimgad forests and Vajrapoha falls on the Goa border.
Koppal
The Tungabhadra-valley district of the ancient Kishkindha country — the "impregnable" Koppal hill fort and the 3rd-century-BCE Ashokan rock edicts at Gavimath and Palkigundu, the Chalukyan "Emperor among temples" at Itagi and the nine-shrine Navalinga temples at Kukanoor, the Nayaka temple-town of Kanakagiri, and, on the north bank opposite Hampi, the Anegundi–Kishkindha cluster with Anjanadri Hill (a claimed birthplace of Hanuman), Pampa Sarovar and the Hire Benakal megaliths.
Gadag
The Chalukyan temple-heartland of the north-Karnataka Deccan — the twin-shrine Kasivisvesvara temple and ornate stepwells of the old capital of Lakkundi, the Trikuteshwara and Veeranarayana temples of Gadag town, the rare 24-point star temple at Dambal, the Jain basadis and Someshwara temple of ancient Puligere (Lakshmeshwar), the twin-tower Naganatha temple at Sudi, the reclaimed Gajendragad hill fort, and the bird-thronged Magadi wetland and Kappatagudda biodiversity hills.
Raichur
The doab district between the Krishna and Tungabhadra in the Kalyana-Karnataka Deccan — the great Kakatiya hill fort of Raichur with its inscribed gateways and the Ek Minar mosque, the island fort of Jaladurga in the Krishna, the rock forts of Mudgal, Manvi and Maliabad, the Chalukya temple-town of Gabbur, the Panchamukhi Anjaneya cave of Ganadhal, the working Hutti gold mines, and the Ashokan edict at Maski that first named "Ashoka".
Haveri
The Chalukya-and-Kadamba temple heartland of the central Deccan, carved out of old Dharwad in 1997 — the great Tarakeshwara temple and Kadamba fort of Hangal, the west-facing Siddheshwara temple of Haveri town, the riverside Chalukya shrines of Galaganatha and Chaudayyadanapura on the Tungabhadra, the sixty-pillar Nagareshwara temple and multi-dynasty fort of Bankapura with its peacock sanctuary, the sculpture park of Gotagodi, the trikuta Kadambeshwara temple of Rattihalli, the Ekantada-Ramayya temples of Abalur, the Kanakadasa peetha of Kaginele, the blackbuck plains of Ranebennur and the chilli town of Byadgi.
Yadgir
The Kalyana-Karnataka reclaim district carved out of Gulbarga in 2010, between the Krishna and Bhima in the far north — the monolithic hill fort of Yadgir, the Nayaka palegar capital of Shorapur with its fort and Venkatappa Nayaka palace, the bird wetland of Bonal, the reclining-hill silhouette of the Sleeping Buddha at Shahapur, the forest forts of Vanadurga and the border fort of Gurmitkal, the Adil Shahi dargah and tombs of Gogi, the rare megalithic stone alignment of Vibhutihalli and the Acheulian prehistoric valley of Hunasagi — among the densest Lower-Palaeolithic landscapes in South Asia.
Dharwad
The twin-city cultural hub of Hubballi–Dharwad on the Deccan plateau — the black-granite Chandramouleshwara temple of Unkal and the Chalukya Banashankari temple of Amargol, the boating lake of Unkal and the gardens of Sadhanakeri and Hubballi, the great Siddharoodha math and the Navagraha Jain shrine, the Someshwara temple and old fort town of Dharwad with its university and research museum, the star-plan Shambhulingeshwara temple of Kundgol, the seminal Amruteshwara temple of Annigeri and the durrie-weaving town of Navalgund.
Chitradurga
The fort-and-boulder country of the central Maidan plateau — the vast seven-walled hill fort of Chitradurga with the legend of Onake Obavva, the Satavahana-era Chandravalli caves and valley, the Adumalleshwara cave-shrine and its Nandi spring, the Jogimatti forest heights, the 1907 Vani Vilasa Sagara dam and the Teru Malleshwara temple on the Vedavathi, the great mathas of Sirigere and Murugharajendra, the pilgrim temple of Nayakanahatti, and the Ashokan rock edicts and silk-weaving town of Molakalmuru.
Kolar
The gold-and-temple country of the Bayaluseeme plateau south-east of Bengaluru — the historic Kolar Gold Fields, the Ganga-Chola Kolaramma and Vijayanagara Someshwara temples of Kolar town, the boulder caves and spring of Antara Gange, the vast Kotilingeshwara lingam field, the monolithic Kurudumale Ganesha and the temple town of Mulbagal, the Ramachandra legends of Avani, Hyder Ali’s birthplace fort at Budikote and the stone-carving village of Shivarapatna.
Tumakuru
The fort-and-temple plateau north-west of Bengaluru, one of Karnataka’s richest heritage districts — the monolithic hill fort of Madhugiri and the trekking forts of Channarayana Durga, Midigeshi, Hutridurga and Pavagada, the Narasimha hill temples of Devarayanadurga and the Namada Chilume spring, the great Siddaganga math, the Hoysala temple belt of Turuvekere and Aralaguppe, the Jakanachari shrine of Kaidala, the Deccan-Islamic fort of Sira, the blackbuck grasslands of Maidenahalli and the Mahalakshmi pilgrimage of Goravanahalli.
Chikkaballapur
The hill-and-temple country north-east of Bengaluru, carved out of Kolar in 2007 — the sunrise hill station of Nandi Hills with the great Bhoga Nandeeshwara temple at its base, the night-trek hill of Skandagiri, the Byraweshwara fort of Gudibande and the hanging-rock viewpoint of Avalabetta, the Visvesvaraya birthplace of Muddenahalli, the freedom-struggle memorial of Vidurashwatha, the Pandava-legend temples and caves of Kaivara, the Murugamalla dargah and the silk town of Sidlaghatta.
Ramanagara
The rocky hill-and-silk country south-west of Bengaluru, carved out of Bengaluru Rural in 2007 and officially renamed Bengaluru South in 2025 — the Sholay boulder hill and vulture sanctuary of Ramadevara Betta, the giant granite monolith of Savandurga, the folk-art museum of Janapada Loka, the toy town of Channapatna, the Cauvery gorge of Mekedatu and the Arkavathi confluence of Sangama, the Chunchi falls and the highest peak of Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta, the Maitreya meditation pyramid of Pyramid Valley and the Kempegowda fort-and-temple town of Magadi.
Davanagere
The central-Karnataka district of the benne-dosa city, formed in 1997 — the 13th-century Hoysala Harihareshwara temple on the Tungabhadra at Harihar, the vast Sulekere (Shanti Sagara) tank and the Keladi-era hill fort of Channagiri, the ornate Santhebennur stepped tank and the Shahaji Bhonsale memorial of Hodigere, the island Rameshwara temple of Kuruva and the rare Brahma shrine of Belagutti, the city lakes of Kunduvada and Kondajji, the Bathi hill viewpoint and the four-horned-antelope sanctuary of Rangayyanadurga.
Bengaluru Rural
The fragmented rural belt wrapping the north, west and east of Bengaluru city — the airport-side Devanahalli fort where Tipu Sultan was born, the twin-deity pilgrimage of Ghati Subramanya and the railway-line trek fort of Makalidurga, the "Dakshina Kashi" cliff temples of Shivagange, the Western Ganga capital of Manne, and the birding tanks of Gundamagere and Hoskote.
Bagalkote
Chalukyan heritage district around Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal.
Find Karnataka by what you love
Karnataka travel guides
Places to Visit in Mysore: The Royal City, Sight by Sight
9 min readThings to Do in Coorg (Kodagu): A Local Guide
9 min readThings to Do in Hampi: A Complete Guide to the Vijayanagara Ruins
9 min readThings to Do in Chikmagalur: Peaks, Coffee and Falls
9 min readThings to Do in Gokarna
9 min readThings to Do in Nandi Hills
7 min readSavandurga Trek: Climbing One of Asia's Largest Monoliths
7 min readKodachadri Trek: The Western Ghats Peak Above Kollur
7 min readKudremukh Trek: Karnataka's Horse-Face Peak
7 min readMullayanagiri Trek: Karnataka's Highest Peak
6 min readPlaces to Visit in Sakleshpur
7 min readChikmagalur in 2 Days: A Weekend Itinerary
7 min readCoorg in 2 Days: A Weekend Itinerary
7 min readMysore in 2 Days: A Weekend Itinerary
7 min readHampi in 2 Days: A Complete Itinerary
7 min readGokarna in 2 Days: Beaches & Temple Town
7 min readCoorg in 3 Days: The Complete Itinerary
8 min readSkandagiri Trek: The Dawn Climb Above the Clouds
7 min readPlaces to Visit in Udupi
8 min readThings to Do in Mangalore (Mangaluru)
8 min readKarnataka stories
The Coastal Karnataka Road Trip: Gokarna to Mangaluru
9 min readThe Malnad Waterfalls of Karnataka
9 min readThe Hoysala Temple Trail: Belur, Halebidu & Somanathapura
9 min readCoffee Country: Coorg & Chikmagalur
8 min readA Short History of Hampi: The Rise and Fall of Vijayanagara
7 min readMysore Palace: The Story of Amba Vilas
7 min readJog Falls: The Sharavathi's Great Plunge
6 min readKarnataka FAQs
How is Roampedia organizing Karnataka?
Roampedia organizes Karnataka by district, then town or destination base, then famous tourist places. Business listings are added only after source or owner verification.
Where should I start in Karnataka?
Start with Badami or use the district cards to choose the region that matches your trip.
Are the hotel and restaurant listings complete?
No. These are editorial guidebook pages first. Hotels, homestays, restaurants, shops, guides and rentals appear only after they are verified or owner-claimed.