Ramnagar Hills

If you're looking to get away from Bangalore for half a day, Ramnagar Hills is the best place for you. Located 45 kilometers away from Bangalore, you can reach Ramnagar within an hour’s journey on the Mysore-Bangalore Highway (State Highway 17). A sighting of bizarre shaped rocky structures all around, welcomes you into this district.

You will find an arched entrance on the highway, leading inside the suburbs of the city. This road eventually ends at the foot of the hills. Here you’ll find a petty shop selling cigarettes and junk food which I’d suggest you to stock up, to relish with the surreal atmosphere while you’re at the top. There’s lot of parking space here and the guard took down our names and vehicle registration numbers for safety reasons.

The Granite monoliths of Ramnagar, which expand beyond the horizon, have been a picturesque location for many film shoots. You might also be trespassing on Gabbar Singh’s lair! (Yes, SHOLAY was shot here!)

The hike begins with a climb of 200 odd steps which lead to the Ramadevara Temple. The rocky terrain in the midst of cacti begins after you've done your warm-up. The village of Ramnagar is scattered with huge rocks but only a few of them are hike-able.

You’re thrust upon an undulating, winding path as you’re entering the rocky wastelands! The gradient hits harder further ahead. It was a gripping experience to mount vertically up to the highest point by means of railings and steps carved into the rocks. There were a few in the group who were apprehensive to climb up this last part. But, with a little motivation and encouragement, we made sure no one fell behind.

The calmness and the cool breeze at the top urges us to lie down and relax, staring at the blue sky! Surrounded by many cactus shrubs, there is a pond formed out of the rain water which adds to the ambiance! Intermittent showers of rain from the moving clouds made the weather more pleasant and also drenched us slightly.

As we're a group of adventurers who have few or more constraints, chiefly we aim only in completing the trek than exploring and trying different routes. Hence, we trekked down the same way, ignoring the rumored alternative route. The overall trek was moderately demanding and must have taken us about an hour and a half, one way. As this was our first big trek, many of us found the downward climb quite strenuous.

A trip to Ramnagar Hills helps you relive those Kannada and Hindi film moments which were shot here! You could also try night-trekking and camping! Bears can be sighted here after dark. The serenity and beauty of Ramnagar Hills undoubtedly calls its trekkers for another visit!