Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Hills (B R Hills) - Eco-tourism and Wildlife holiday spot

Biligirirangana Hills (BR Hills)  belongs to Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka state. Situated in southern part of Karnataka, BR hills (also called Biligirirangana Betta in local language, Kannada) is famous for hill area with beautiful scenery. Lord Biligiri Ranganatha temple is situated at the hill top. You can get a fantastic view for its valley. Recommended visiting period is from October to March. 

Reaching BR Hills

BR Hills is about 100 Kilometers from Mysore and about 190 ms from Bangalore. You take buses from either of these cities or hire a private taxi to reach here. Read the detailed guide about reaching BR Hills

Where is it located and what it is known for

This place is located in Western Ghats hill range starting from Kerala and ending in Tamilnadu. MM Hills also extends beyond B.R.Hills.

In between these two hills there is a dam called Gundal dam which is a picnic spot. During February-March, there will be a Temple Car festival in B.R. Hills and attracts lot of devotees from South India.  

This place is also a tribal settlement area.  On top of the hill there are several picnic spots which are worth seeing. This place is also known for wild life.

Photo: musicapa

BR Hills Sightseeing & Trekking

You can take a trek down the hill range accompnaying MM Hills or just enjoy the greenery and nature's other gifts here.

The hills are in the Yelandur and Kollegal Taluks of Chamarajanagar District of Karnataka. The hills are contiguous with the Satyamangalam range southwards, in the Erode District of Tamilnadu.

The hills that give the range its name are situated 90 km from Mysore and 180 km from Bangalore (Bengaluru). BR Hills may be reached either from Yelandur or via Chamarajanagar. 

BR hills links the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats allowing animals to move between them and facilitating gene flow between populations of species in these areas. Thus this sanctuary serves as an important biological bridge for the biota of the entire Deccan plateau.

BR hills along with the Male Madeshwara (MM Hills) range forms a distinctly unusual ridge running north-south amidst the plains of Bangalore (Bengaluru), Mysore and Krishnagiri.

The peaks of these lofty range rise as high as 1800 m (BR hills 1400 to 1800 m; MM Hills 1000 to 1200 m). The highest hill is Kattari Betta, at 1800m above sea level. Various observations point to a possible bio-geographic relation between BR hills and Nilagiri ranges.

The forests form an important wildlife corridor between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, linking the largest populations of Asian Elephants and tigers in southern India. The most conspicuous mammals are the herds of wild elephants.

(photo: biligiri)

Staying, Accommodation and additional information.

Guest house is available at the top of B.R.Hills. At the temple premises, free meal is served. There is another good hotel at a distance of 1 Km from the temple. Excellent quality honey is available at B.R.Hills. Pooja is done at the temple up to 12.00 noon. People traveling by bus should reach back the bus station before 1.30pm as the last bus is at 2.00pm from B.R.Hills towards Mysore. 

Go back to Chamarajanagar tour guide or find more Karnataka travel places