What to expect
Highlights
- A historic 1894 reservoir on the Arkavathi river.
- Grasslands and wetland birding near the city.
- Quiet cycling and photography routes around the lake.
Hesaraghatta Lake
Hesaraghatta Lake is a large reservoir built in 1894 across the Arkavathi river about 25 km north-west of the city. It was once one of Bengaluru’s main sources of drinking water and remains ringed by open grasslands that are among the best birding areas near the city.
Practical guide
Plan Hesaraghatta Lake
Who's going?Tailor Hesaraghatta Lake to your trip
Typeheritage
Nearest baseCentral Bengaluru
DistrictBengaluru Urban
Best timeNovember to February, at dawn, for birds…
Time needed2 to 3 hours including the drive
EntryFree
Places to visit24→Listed businesses49→The lake and its grasslands draw water birds, raptors and grassland species and are a favourite for birdwatching, cycling and photography, though the water level swings sharply with the monsoon and can fall very low in dry years.
Getting there
How to visit
- About 25 km north-west of the centre; best reached by car, as public transport is sparse on the approach.
- Go at dawn for the best birdlife; the shoreline can be marshy or dry depending on the season.
Distance by road
- Mysuru145 km
- Chennai350 km
- Hyderabad570 km
- Mangaluru350 km
- Coimbatore365 km
Road km to Bengaluru Urban; ghat roads and traffic vary — allow extra.
Timing
Best time
November to February, at dawn, for birds and cooler air.
Weather in Hesaraghatta LakeSeasonal guide
Live forecast loads in your browser.
Today at Hesaraghatta Lake
Sunrise6:09 am
Sunset6:32 pm
Golden hour best light5:32 pm–6:32 pm
Blue hour after sunset6:32 pm–6:57 pm
Sun sets toward compass bearingW · 279°
Moon tonight🌖 Waning gibbous · 77%
South-west monsoon. June to September is the south-west monsoon in Karnataka. Expect heavy showers, mostly in bursts rather than all day — carry rain cover, allow extra time for getting around, and note that ferries and open-air sites are the first things affected.
Sun and moon are calculated for this location and shown in IST. Photography windows are the hour around sunrise and sunset; the sunset bearing is degrees clockwise from true north. Moon phase is accurate to about half a day.
Visitor notes
- Open access with no formal entry; carry water and take litter back — there are few facilities, and water levels vary sharply by season.
Stay · eat · do · rent · see · shop
Stays, food & things to do near Hesaraghatta Lake
Verified hotels, homestays, restaurants, experiences, sights, shops and rentals around Hesaraghatta Lake — commission-free, with direct contact. Filter by what you need.
1 place to stay near Hesaraghatta Lake
45 places to eat near Hesaraghatta Lake
1 sight to see near Hesaraghatta Lake
3 places to shop near Hesaraghatta Lake
D
Dass Suites
Place to stay
Hotel
Dass SuitesHotel on Vasvani Layout, Challaghatta Road, Next to Embassy Golf Link Business Park, Behind Hilton Hotel, Domlur in Central Bengaluru.
Book with the place itself. India’s cyber-crime coordination centre warned in April 2025 that convincing copies of hotel and pilgrimage booking sites are being pushed through sponsored search and social ads, taking payment for rooms the property never hears about. Every listing here links to the business’s own contact details and its own Google or Bing profile — we take no commission and sit in nobody’s payment path. If a booking page reached you through an ad, check the address bar against the property’s own site before you pay. Fraud can be reported on cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930.
Ranked
The best of Central Bengaluru, ranked
Hesaraghatta Lake sits in Central Bengaluru, and these rank everything verified across the town rather than this one spot — built from the same listings shown above, ordered by the strength of the source evidence behind each entry rather than by anyone's star score. Every card shows how many places are really on it. Nobody pays to appear.
Across the whole of Central Bengaluru
Ranked guides
Top experiences around Central Bengaluru
10 more places around Central Bengaluru, each worth a day of its own.
heritageCubbon Park
28.4 km · 36 min drive
A 300-acre landscaped green lung in the city centre, laid out in 1870, ringed by the red-brick Attara Kacheri (High Court), State Central Library and Government Museum.
heritageVidhana Soudha
28.3 km · 34 min drive
Karnataka's monumental granite state legislature building, completed in 1956 in a Neo-Dravidian style; floodlit on Sunday evenings and viewed from outside.
heritageBangalore Palace
26.2 km · 33 min drive
A Tudor-revival palace built in 1878 by the Wodeyar royal family, with fortified towers, arches and interiors of Wodeyar-era portraits and furniture.
heritageTipu Sultan's Summer Palace
An ornate two-storey teak palace completed in 1791 for Tipu Sultan, richly carved and painted, now an ASI-protected monument beside the KR Market fort area.
templeISKCON Temple Bangalore
21.8 km · 26 min drive
A large hilltop Krishna-Balaram temple at Rajajinagar, one of the biggest ISKCON temples in the world, known for its gopuram, glass-and-gold shrine and multimedia halls.
heritageUlsoor Lake
One of the largest and oldest lakes in the city, in the Ulsoor (Halasuru) neighbourhood near MG Road, dotted with small islands and offering boating, a lakeside promenade and a Ganesha temple on its bank.
museumVisvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum
A hands-on science and technology museum on Kasturba Road beside Cubbon Park, opened in 1965 in memory of engineer-statesman Sir M. Visvesvaraya, with interactive galleries on engines, electronics and space and a full-scale Wright Flyer replica.
museumHAL Aerospace Museum
India's first aerospace museum, opened in 2001 by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited near the old HAL airport, displaying vintage fighter aircraft, helicopters, aero-engines, a flight simulator and the story of Indian aviation.
museumJawaharlal Nehru Planetarium
27.4 km · 33 min drive
A sky-theatre and science centre at the High Grounds run by the Bangalore Association for Science Education, with domed astronomy shows, a science park of interactive exhibits and a public telescope programme.
heritageSankey Tank
23.0 km · 27 min drive
A scenic man-made lake created in 1882 by Colonel Richard Sankey between Malleswaram and Sadashivanagar, ringed by a popular walking and jogging track, with boating and plentiful water birds.
Roampedia is commission-free — own or know a stay, eatery, guide or shop near Hesaraghatta Lake? List it and it appears here once verified.
Add a nearby businessBefore you go
Hesaraghatta Lake — at a glance
TimingsBest at dawn; open area
Best timeNovember to February at dawn
Entry: Free (open access)
Getting here
How to reach Hesaraghatta Lake
~25 km north-west; best reached by car
Getting back
Work out your return before you settle in for the sunset. Public transport here thins out sharply in the evening, and Hesaraghatta Lake is easier to reach than to leave. We do not publish departure times: there is no official live feed we are permitted to republish, and a wrong time here would strand you. Check the operator directly on the day.
- KSRTC — the Karnataka state bus operator; route and schedule enquiries. Online booking.
- Indian Railways — live running and seat availability for the nearest railhead, named under “Getting here” above.
Ask at the bus stand for the time of the last service back, not the next one. If you miss it, an auto or app cab is the fallback — agree the fare before you get in.
Getting around Hesaraghatta Lake
We have not assessed physical access at this place yet. Across India, step-free routes, handrails and accessible toilets are the exception rather than the rule, and pavements are often interrupted — if step-free access matters to you, contact the site or a local operator before committing to the trip.
If you need help at Hesaraghatta Lake
112All emergencies (police · fire · medical)The single number to call in any emergency (ERSS).100Police101Fire108Ambulance (emergency / EMS)1091Women’s helpline (distress)1098Child helpline1363Tourist helpline (India, 24×7, multilingual)
Emergency numbers are verified against official government and state tourism sources. 112 works anywhere in India.
Nearby
What’s near Hesaraghatta Lake
Walking and driving times are real routed distances, except the few marked “straight line”, which are direct-line estimates and will read short. Routing: © openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT | Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
On the map
Where Hesaraghatta Lake is
Good to know
Hesaraghatta Lake — frequently asked
When is the best time to visit Hesaraghatta Lake?
November to February, at dawn, for birds and cooler air.
What are the entry fee and timings at Hesaraghatta Lake?
Entry: Free (open access). Timings: Best at dawn; open area.
How do I reach Hesaraghatta Lake?
About 25 km north-west of the centre; best reached by car, as public transport is sparse on the approach. Go at dawn for the best birdlife; the shoreline can be marshy or dry depending on the season.
How much time do I need for Hesaraghatta Lake?
2 to 3 hours including the drive.
What else is near Hesaraghatta Lake?
Nearby you can pair ISKCON Temple Bangalore (21.8 km), St. Mary's Basilica (22.2 km), Sankey Tank (23.0 km), Bangalore Palace (26.2 km).
Read before you go
Hesaraghatta Lake guides, stories & itineraries
We have not published a story about Hesaraghatta Lake itself yet. These cover Central Bengaluru, the town it sits in, and the wider district.
Karnataka-wide guides & itineraries
Route-level itineraries and practical guides for the rest of Karnataka.
Image credits
- Hesaraghatta Lake:Mike Prince from Bangalore, India, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0