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Bangalore at a Glance

Bangalore: Housing and Residential Areas

Rural life in Karnataka - housing in the hilltown of Madikeri.

Where to Live?

The immense commute times in a city like Bangalore and the stress caused by traveling from one end of the city to another have led to veritable “expat clusters” developing in several areas around Bangalore. Expat families with children in particular look for accommodation that is not only close to work but also close to school.

It thus happens that some eastern, northern and increasingly southern suburbs of Bangalore have come to be “expat hotspots”, with plenty of gated communities and serviced apartment buildings. While they offer the obvious convenience of living close to work and close to school, they are often in rather remote suburbs with limited access to the city center, culture and entertainment.

Single expats or young families with preschool children prefer individual accommodation closer to the center of town, of which there is also plenty available catering to all budgets.

Popular Neighborhoods

The most well-established and also most expensive suburb is Whitefield in the east. Exclusive villa communities such as Palm Meadows, Prestige Ozone, Total Environment, Chaithanya Armadale or Sobha Lotus offer safety and luxury galore, but with facilities such as playgrounds, club houses, swimming pools, tennis courts, and yoga classes, they come at a certain price!

Sarjapur Road, also in the eastern part of Bangalore, but slightly more central, has several apartment options as well as villa communities such as Rainbow Drive and Lakeshore Homes. Southeastern Koramangala, the most central of these suburbs with good shops and restaurants, also offers luxury apartment accommodation. However, general volumes of traffic and noise are already higher than in the outer suburbs.

Yelahanka, in northern Bangalore, is another popular, yet very remote area. Sobha Malachite Row Houses and Prestige Monte Carlo Apartments offer good expat accommodation, and the area is close to some international schools and the new international airport of Bangalore. Electronic City in the south of Bangalore is a magnet for expats working in the technology sector. Jayanagar and J.P. Nagar are two exclusive residential areas in this part of the city.

Finding the Right Place

The summer is the best time to look for accommodation in Bangalore. At this time, most expat assignments come to an end, the school year finishes, and many families return to their home countries or move on.

Most expats posted to Bangalore will have a relocation agent at their disposal to assist them with the apartment hunt. In addition, a lot of multinational companies circulate internal lists of accommodation becoming available. It is not uncommon for new arrivals to take over houses and trusted domestic staff from departing expat families within one company, but nobody is obliged to do so.

If you are looking for accommodation on your own, the Internet is often the best resource. There are plenty of property markets or small ads websites specifically catering to the Bangalore expat community.

Hiring Household Staff

You’ll soon find that employing domestic staff, e.g. a housekeeper, a nanny, a maid, or at least a driver, is a popular choice among expats in Bangalore. It is recommended to ask potential domestic employees for a health check, especially if they will be working in the kitchen or with your children. HIV, TB and hepatitis B checks are standard, but you should pay for any tests you request.

It is also common that employers pay for the costs of smaller medical treatment for their staff and offer them lodgings in the servant quarters, if available. Personnel should be given one day per week off, and they are entitled to four weeks of annual leave, in addition to India’s public holidays as well as the major religious holidays of their faith.