Kolar

Kolar sits toward the eastern edge of Karnataka, roughly two hours from Bangalore, and carries a reputation built on two very different things: gold and temples. The district gave its name to the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) — once among the deepest gold mines on Earth, worked for over a century before closing in the early 2000s, and the namesake behind the blockbuster Kannada film franchise that introduced the region to audiences far beyond Karnataka.

Long before KGF became a household name through cinema, this belt of Karnataka was already known for something else entirely: a dense cluster of ancient temples around Mulbagal, several of them well over a thousand years old.

The district is also one of Karnataka's leading milk-producing regions, feeding into the state's cooperative dairy network — a quieter but equally significant part of the local economy. For travellers, though, it's the Mulbagal temple cluster that makes Kolar worth the drive: four distinct, centuries-old shrines — dedicated to Garuda, Ganesha, Shiva and Anjaneya — all within a short distance of each other, each with its own detailed legend.