Jain Basadis, Halebidu

The great twin-shrined Shiva temple of Halebidu, the former Hoysala capital Dwarasamudra, begun around 1121; its walls carry an unbroken band of intricate carving and two large monolithic Nandi pavilions face the shrines.

An early Hoysala temple of 1114 CE near Hassan, unusual for its four-shrine (chatushkuta) plan around a common hall, its stone-lattice screens and a fierce Kali shrine at one corner.

A reservoir on the Yagachi river 3.5 km north of the Chennakeshava temple at Belur, backed by low hills, popular for boating, kayaking and other water sports and as a quiet sunset picnic spot.

The temple of the goddess Hasanamba, from whom Hassan takes its name — unusually opened to devotees only once a year around Deepavali (in the month of Ashwayuja), when vast queues form; a lamp is said to keep burning through the year the shrine stays shut.

A twin-shrined (dvikuta) Hoysala Shiva temple of 1173 CE at Koravangala about 10 km from Hassan, with two well-preserved towers and detailed carving — a quiet alternative to the crowded Belur and Halebidu temples.

The Hoysala masterpiece begun in 1117 by King Vishnuvardhana to mark a victory over the Cholas — a star-platform Vishnu temple worked for over a century, covered in soapstone friezes, madanika bracket figures and pierced stone windows, and still in active worship.

A Gothic-style church built by French missionaries around 1860 on the Hemavathi river, partly submerged each monsoon when the Gorur reservoir fills and re-emerging in summer — a striking, roofless "floating church" ruin popular with photographers.

A star-shaped hilltop fort built by Tipu Sultan in 1792 near Sakleshpur to an eight-pointed Vauban-style plan, with a central rainwater cistern and wide views over the Western Ghats — best appreciated from above.

A three-shrined (trikuta) Hoysala temple of 1246 CE at Nuggehalli in Channarayapatna taluk, built by a Hoysala general, admired for its finely carved Keshava and Narasimha images and star-shaped plan.

The 17.5 m monolithic statue of Bahubali (Gommateshwara) atop Vindhyagiri hill at Shravanabelagola, carved about 983 CE — one of the world’s tallest free-standing monolithic statues and a great Digambara Jain pilgrimage site, anointed at the twelve-yearly Mahamastakabhisheka.

The smaller of Shravanabelagola’s two hills, opposite Vindhyagiri, holding a group of early Jain basadis and inscriptions and traditionally linked to the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta’s final penance under the Jain saint Bhadrabahu.

A panoramic viewpoint on the ghat road between Sakleshpur and Kukke Subramanya, overlooking a vast sea of Western Ghats rainforest in the Bisle reserve forest, with distant peaks such as Pushpagiri and Kumara Parvatha on a clear day.