[sen2693]

Fellow seasoned travelers,

Looking some advice on which National park and jungle stay is better (and affordable ) of the 2 options.

I plan to drive from Bangalore sometime in June for a 2 night stay and am confused a little which one of these is a better place to visit. Quick Google search would recommend Nagarhole but wanted to get an opinion of folks who might have been to both or either places.

I understand Nagarhole is much more lush green than Bandipur, which would be my preference. Is that true? I am also looking for a jungle stay and wanted to check which place would have more affordable options. Would not count the famous Jungle Lodges as exactly cheap but they are anyways sold out on my preferred dates. Any other good suggestions in either places?

Any other tips on visiting the place or what to do (other than the safari of course) would help.

As for the route, I plan to avoid the under construction Mysore expressway and take the othe rroute via Nagamangala.

[Rajeevraj]

I recently visited Nagarhole and have been to Bandipur a few times. My vote is for Nagarhole purely because of the Kabini River. Most resorts in the area have access to the Kabini River bank and grasslands which is a beautiful place to be. In addition Jungle Lodges runs the boat safari's also in addition to the regular land safari which is also very good. Also, I may be wrong, but the bird life in Nagarhole seemed to be much higher than what I have seen elsewhere.

On the downside, most places in Nagarhole area are very expensive as compared to Bandipur primarily because of the location. You have Jungle Lodges, Serai and Waterwoods in a line next to each other. Evolve Back is on the other bank opposite these 3. Then you have others like Red Earth, Bison Resort and Kaav Safari Lodge. All of these places will set you back by 25-30k a night all inclusive.