Shivarapatna

A boulder-strewn hill of the Shatashrunga range about 3 km from Kolar town, known for its perennial Basavanna spring that feeds a stone tank, its volcanic cave passages and monkeys, and the steps up to the Kashi Visweswara shrine — a popular cave-trek and rappelling spot.

A large 14th-century Vijayanagara Shiva temple near the old fort of Kolar town, an ASI Monument of National Importance with a soaring gopura, a deep temple tank and richly carved yali pillars. (Distinct from the Someshwara temples of Dharwad and Ulsoor.)

The Ganga-and-Chola Shakti temple in Kolar town after which the district is named — a Dravida vimana of about the 10th–11th century with twin shrines to Kolaramma and the Saptamatrikas, and fine Chola-era bronzes and inscriptions.

A ruined hill fort and heritage village about 15 km from Bangarapet, best known as the birthplace of Hyder Ali, the 18th-century ruler of Mysore — the earthwork-and-stone fort and its old temples anchor the village.

The historic gold-mining town about 30 km from Kolar, whose Bharat Gold Mines shafts — including Champion Reef, once among the deepest mines on earth — made it India’s gold capital and one of the first Indian towns to be electrified, in 1902; a landscape of colonial bungalows, clubs and deep-shaft heritage.

A large historic reservoir of about 500 acres in the Mulbagal country, a scenic and bird-rich picnic lake fed by the plateau’s seasonal streams.

A temple complex at Kammasandra near KGF famous for its colossal ~33 m Shivalinga and ~11 m Nandi — among the tallest in the world — surrounded by fields of lakhs of small Shivalingas donated by devotees, with eleven subsidiary shrines.

A heritage temple village about 13 km from Mulbagal, called the "Gaya of the South" — the 10th-century Nolamba Ramalingeshwara group of ASI-protected Shiva temples (their lingas named for Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna) below the Avani Betta hill, whose Sita temple is linked to the Valmiki-ashram and Lava–Kusha legend.

A reservoir and dam on the Palar built in the early 1900s to supply water to the Kolar Gold Fields, once home to a British sailing club and now a quiet bird-watching and picnic lake in the KGF–Bangarapet country.

A hilltop Sri Venkataramana Swamy temple at Guttahalli in Bangarapet taluk, said to resemble the great Tirupati shrine, with adjoining Varaha, Vinayaka and Anjaneya shrines — a busy Vishnu pilgrimage of the district. (Distinct from Andhra’s Tirupati and from Ghati Subramanya.)

A famous temple at Kurudumale about 10 km north of Mulbagal, housing a ~4 m monolithic Ganesha said to be swayambhu, set in a finely carved Vijayanagara pillared mantapa — one of the largest Ganesha idols in Karnataka.

A finely carved Shiva temple near Mulbagal with a Simha-vahini Durga shrine and an ornamental temple tank — a lesser-known heritage temple of the eastern plateau. (Distinct from the Virupaksha temple of Hampi.)