Jan 18, 2016 12:29 PM
54509 Views
(Updated Jan 18, 2016 12:35 PM)
During last Christmas we went to Bangalore for a vacation. I had not planned the trip in advance, however had googled and listed some places of tourist attraction to be visited.
Just as I was leaving, a friend, who had lived in Bangalore earlier suggested about KSTDC day tours. I thought, this was a good option as I did not wanted to spend time and energy exploring the city on my own, seeking directions etc, especially because I was with my parents. However, I was a little doubtful as to what would be the quality of these tours, considering it is run by the state government. Nevertheless, I decided to try them.
The friend had also suggested about their office in a building called Badami House, near Corporation circle. Fortunately (and unknowingly), we booked a hotel next to this building at Pai Vihar. (Read my review about the hotel, separately here: https://mouthshut.com/review/Pai-Vihar-Lodging-Boarding-Hotel-Nagarathpete-Bang
alore-review-pttmuplsmu)
After checking in the hotel, we just enquired about the KSTDC tours at the reception and he pointed outside saying, Badami House is just next door. He also mentioned that the office remains open until late and that I can walk-in and book for next day. We walked into the office beyond 9 PM for our bookings.(This was quite surprising).
Customer Service & Booking Experience: This was a pleasant experience! The guy at the counter answered all our queries patiently and we did the booking. He handed over to us a pamplet of the other tours operated by them. We were unaware that they ran tours and packages to other parts of state like Mysore and even outside state like Shirdi, Tirupati, Kerala and so on. The rates were pretty competitive. Overall I would give 5 on 5 for the booking & enquiry experience! Highly unexpected at a govt run office. They also explained to us about the Senior Citizen discounts (which I was not aware of). I even asked for a city map, which they were happy to give me at no extra cost.
Tour: They have 2 kinds of city tours:
A full day city tour which includes: ISKCON Temple, Anjaneya Temple, Rajarajeshwari Temple, Bannerghatta biological Park, National Gallery of Modern Art, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Chitrakala Parishat Art Gallery, Indira Gandhi Musical fountain
and a half day city tour which includes: Vidhana Soudha, Bull Temple, Gavi Gangadhareshwara Temple, Tippu Palace, Lalbagh, Archaeological Govt. Museum & Visvesvaraya Museum (There are two half day city tours that run, both in the morning and noon halves).
Bus: AC volvo coach with excellent condition.
Guide: The same guy with whom we had booked with in the previous night, was our guide. I would say, his knowledge about the places that we visited was excellent and up-to-date. He explained importance of each place and most astonishing part was he provided accurate information like historical dates, figures, personalities, their details etc. The info was provided in both Hindi and English languages (though English accent wasn't that great but acceptable).
The morning tour starts at 07:30 am and ends at 13:30, while the evening one starts at 14:00 and ends at 19:30. All tours starts at the Badami House and ends at the same place. Tours are well organised and there is enough time at each place. I would highly recommend those visiting the city for site seeing to try them.
Note: I have not taken their outside overnight state tours, which includes hotel stays - so cannot comment on those.
