If you’re visiting Bangalore (now known as Bengaluru), you might be passing through on business or just flying into the city before moving on. That was my situation when I spent a day in Bangalore in January on my way to visit a charity project I support. Despite having only a half-day for sightseeing and shopping at the beginning and end of my trip, I found plenty of things to do in Bangalore in a day.

For my first and last night in India, I looked for a boutique-style hotel that was reasonably priced. I chose Escape Hotel & Spa in the Indira Nagar district, which turned out to be one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Bengaluru. This area is popular with expats and the young, affluent crowd of Bangalore, featuring restaurants and bars that wouldn’t be out of place in any major European city.

My room on the 3rd floor of Escape Hotel was spacious with modern décor in black, white, and grey, accented by a couple of red chairs. The room had a kettle for making tea and a safe that could fit my laptop. My only complaint was the angular wooden base of the bed, which was easy to bump into.

The hotel’s roof terrace was a nice feature, offering indoor and outdoor seating for drinks and the Brick Lane Grill restaurant overlooking a narrow rooftop swimming pool. The restaurant had a continental European style with a vaguely French touch, featuring distressed painted white-wood furniture and daisies on the tables. The food was a mix of European and Anglo-Indian, well-cooked and pleasant, though not extraordinary.

The relaxed atmosphere was slightly disturbed by the loud club music from the DJ on Friday and Saturday evenings. Despite this, I would recommend Escape Hotel as a great place to stay in Bangalore if you’re looking for designer style at a reasonable price. After a week in basic accommodation, I was thrilled to return for a second night at the end of my trip.

After dinner, we explored the side streets around the hotel, which had interesting kiosk shops selling street food. We watched rice flour dosas being made and sold wrapped in newspaper with dipping sauces in small plastic bags. Another kiosk sold Chinese-style dumplings with chili dipping sauce, so we decided to return the next day for lunch.

Just a block away from the main road, the atmosphere became more local and residential, with people chatting on balconies or hanging around by the roadside. Although we didn’t see any other western tourists, no one looked at us curiously, as Bangalore is a cosmopolitan city. The lack of tourists also meant less hassle, hustle, and begging in the areas we visited.

We decided to stay close to the hotel for lunch and ate at the Black Rabbit on the ground floor of the Escape Hotel. This was a younger version of the Brick Lane Grill, offering great burgers, small plates, cocktails, and a DJ in the evening. I enjoyed my papaya noodle salad and fresh-pressed mango juice, and we sat in the outdoor area, which was enclosed from the street.

In the evening, we tried a pan-Asian restaurant called The Fatty Bao, close to the hotel and above Monkey Bar. Initially, we were seated on the 4th floor, which was fully enclosed and air-conditioned, but we asked to move to the 5th-floor terrace to enjoy the night air. The Fatty Bao serves small plates of Asian fusion food in a setting with greenery, fairy lights, and slightly kitsch surroundings. My plate of pork belly was slow-cooked and crispy on top, and the mango and papaya salad was like a fruity coleslaw. The desserts, like the ginger and fig cake, were okay but not exceptional. We enjoyed the ambiance, and the drinks bumped up the otherwise moderate bill to around 3500 rupees (about £35) for two.

We had planned to spend the first morning sightseeing but got sidetracked with shopping in the Indira Nagar neighborhood around the hotel. We visited the Soma shop, which sold hand-printed textiles, and I bought sarongs, tablecloths, and napkins for my family. By the time I finished, I had a year’s worth of birthday presents. We also visited the FabIndia store, which sold various Indian handicrafts, clothes, and household goods. By the time we returned to the hotel, the morning was gone, so we saved sightseeing for the end of our trip.

Determined to see more of Bangalore, we visited the Tipu Sultan Palace, which is small but interesting. We took a tuk-tuk from our hotel, costing around 130 rupees (£1.30). It’s best to check with your hotel about the approximate cost of tuk-tuk journeys, as drivers often ignore the meter. At the palace, we paid 100 rupees (£1) to enter and a little extra for a camera license. We decided to use a guide who approached us inside, and by the end of his detailed tour, we knew practically every fact and date in the palace’s history.

Upstairs, we wandered through rooms painted in Mughal patterns and took photos on the balconies. Some ground-floor rooms have been made into a museum with information about Tipu Sultan in English. It was only at the end, when I saw a small model of the famous mechanical tiger eating a soldier, that I connected it with the life-size one in the V&A Museum in London.

We were told that the City Market was right opposite the Tipu Sultan Palace, but “right opposite” is a relative term in India. We set off in what we hoped was the right direction and were immediately approached by a persistent tuk-tuk driver who offered to guide us. Although we didn’t want more guiding, we eventually accepted, and it turned out to be a good decision. He took us directly to the market and walked us through the main areas.

The market was bustling, with cows wandering around and vegetable stalls outside. Inside was the flower market, where rose heads were piled high in baskets. The flower industry here is for making garlands used on special occasions. Men sat cross-legged, threading roses and marigolds into thick ropes and winding them with silver thread for extra glitter.

The market was a photographer’s dream, and everyone was good-humored, although it gets very busy, especially on weekends. If you have long hair, I recommend buying a jasmine string for your hair to enjoy a cloud of floral perfume, which helps mask the less appealing smells of the market.

Our last stop was the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, about 20 minutes from the market by tuk-tuk. The large gardens are a good place to escape the city’s noise and traffic, although everything was dusty. We walked up earth paths lined with different trees and botanical specimens to reach a floral clock with a Snow White theme. A man with a whistle enforced rules, although we couldn’t tell what the misdemeanors were.

The gardens were popular with young couples and groups of friends having picnics. We were disappointed that many water features were empty, and the rose garden was fully enclosed, so we had to view the roses from a distance. We found the Victorian glasshouse, which was more ornamental than functional, and returned to the main entrance as the park was closing. We found our tuk-tuk driver and returned to the hotel through heavy traffic and fumes.

Bangalore is a busy, vibrant city with plenty to do and see in a day or two. It’s more of a place to hang out than to tick off tourist sites, but there are worthwhile places to visit. If I return, I would try to connect with locals to see beyond the traffic and dust, as there’s a thriving entrepreneurial spirit with trendy bars and restaurants.