Ramanagara, known as the Silk City of Karnataka is situated at around 60 kms from Bangalore. It is a small town between Bangalore and Mysore but has many attractions. Some of the main attractions are Asia’s largest raw silk market, Vulture Sanctuary and the Sholay hills where famous ‘Sholay’ movie was shot.
Click here to read all our blogs for backpacking in India
You should start from Bangalore early in the morning to enjoy the cool morning breeze and definitely to avoid the notorious Bangalore traffic. Once you leave the highway, the rural scenery of the place is mesmerizing. Here are top things to do in Ramanagara, a perfect weekend getaway from Bangalore.
Sholay Hill in Ramanagara
We started our day with a small trek on the Ramadevarabetta hills or famously known as Sholay hills – Ramgarh of movie Sholay is actually Ramanagara ЁЯЩВ .
Bird Watching
This place is a paradise for Bird watching as you see a lot of exotic bird species.
Sri Rama Temple
The Sri Rama temple is located on top of the hill and near a pond. You can view other neighbouring hills and complete Ramanagara from top of the hill.
The hill is also home to two of the endangered vulture species in south India and hence is declared as a Vulture sanctuary and VSZ (Vulture safe Zone). This implies in 100 km radius of the village no Diclofenac should be found in cattles (Diclofenac is a veterinary drug which is fatal to vultures. If a vulture eats from the carcass of an animal that has been treated with this drug during its lifetime then probability of survival becomes zero). Local people helped us in spotting Long billed vulture and Egyptian vulture. The size and flight on these birds is breathtaking.
Silk Market in Ramanagara
Next we visited Cocoon market or Raw silk market, the largest of its kind in Asia. There is not much to do here but to see the initial stage of silk production and the magnitude of the business. We got a chance to speak to a silk businessman who had recently bought tons of cocoons to process silk out of it. 6 -7 Kgs of cocoons (priced about Rs. 450/Kg) yields 1 kg of raw silk threads, which is then dyed and processed. The merchant was kind enough to let us carry a cocoon souvenir (which still has live silkworm inside the shell :-O)
Night Trek at Ramanagara
In past, we had also gone for a Night Trek to Ramanagara. It is a short trail that you walk up and then on the way, camp with bonfire. You hike to the top of the hill in the morning as sun rises in front of you with a panoramic view of Bangalore. Bangalore Mountaineering Club organizes regular treks to Ramanagara (along with Rappelling). You may check their trek schedule on their website here.
We were all exhausted and wished to head straight back home but the trip would have been incomplete without a sumptuous meal at Kamath on our way. Hope this helps to plan you your trip to Ramanagara from Bangalore. Please write to us in comments below in case you need any additional details.
How to reach Ramanagara from Bangalore
Ramanagara is around 50 kilometers from Bangalore and it would take around an hour or so drive for you to reach here. We will suggest if you have your own car/bike as it would be easy to roam around inside the village.
Happy Exploration !!
About Author: This article is contributed by our friend, Archit Shrivasta. Archit has an avid interest in bird watching, and photography. He has developed ‘Birds of India’ App, a useful 4.4 Rating App for people interested in bird-watching (Android Version – Download Here) .┬аYou can check more of Archit’s work at his blog here┬аor follow him on instagram here.