Essentials: Bengaluru

Bengaluru, City of Pubs

Work's done for the day? Hit the pub! With over 800 pubs, Bangalore has the highest density of pubs in India. Many of them brew their own beer in microbreweries.

Here, Air Taxis Are Already a Reality

Bangalore is India's first city with helicopter cabs. Instead of two hours from airport to Electronic City, it takes 15 minutes by helicopter. Cost: about 50 euros.

Winston Churchill's Unpaid Tab

Big personality, small debt: Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill († January 24, 1965) reportedly still owes the Bangalore Club 13 Indian rupees, making him one of the 17 debtors of one of India's oldest clubs.

Perhaps the Oldest Rock in the World

The Lalbagh Rock in the Bengalore Botanical Garden is about three billion years old, making it one of the oldest rocks in the world. A geological wonder!

India's Silicon Valley

Bangalore, also known as the Silicon Valley of India, has always played a pioneering role in technology and development: in the early 20th century, electric lights lit the streets of Bangalore for the first time in India - not in Delhi or Mumbai.