Agara Lake: timings, walking track, size and gates

What are Agara Lake's timings?

Every source we found has Agara Lake open from 6 am to 10 am and from 4 pm to 6.30 pm, so those are the safe hours to plan around. Beyond that the published timetables disagree widely, mostly about whether the lake shuts in the middle of the day and how late it stays open.

The two civic rules do not settle it. The BBMP's 5 am to 10 pm order of June 2024 covered its neighbourhood parks, and in January 2026 the Bengaluru South City Corporation, one of the five corporations that replaced the BBMP, said parks in its area would open only from 5 am to 11 am and 4 pm to 8 pm; its commissioner said he would review that if the public asked. Neither report names Agara Lake, and it is not clear from any primary source which body now has charge of the lake (see who looks after Agara Lake), so we do not treat either rule as the lake's timetable.

Is there an entry fee at Agara Lake?

No. Every visitor listing we checked says entry to Agara Lake is free. Inside the park, OpenStreetMap maps 3 toilets, 8 benches, 4 gazebos, 4 outdoor fitness stations, 2 playgrounds near the north-eastern Gate 3 and a site map board at the south-western gate. A small car park is mapped just outside Gate 4, and the pay-and-use toilets mapped nearby are all outside the fence. Fishing on the lake has been leased to fishing cooperatives through the state Fisheries Department, according to a 2010 Citizen Matters report.

How long is the Agara Lake walking track?

One lap of the Agara Lake Trail is 2.4 km on OpenStreetMap: a lit, compacted path about 2 m wide on which bicycles are not allowed. A separate one-way cycle track of about 2.5 km, paved and lit, runs beside it, and a 0.6 km spur of the trail branches off at the eastern end.

The water's edge itself is 2.85 km long on OpenStreetMap (Wikipedia gives 2.8 km), and the fenced park boundary 3.2 km, so no single loop inside the park can reach 4 km; a 4 km figure most likely adds the walking trail and the cycle track together, or a lap plus a spur. For runners, the trail and the rest of the layout's routes — including the 370 m asphalt track in Sector 2 — are compared on our guide to gyms, parks and running routes in HSR Layout.

How big is Agara Lake?

Agara Lake has about 26.8 hectares (66 acres) of open water on OpenStreetMap, in a fenced lake park of 38.6 hectares (95 acres). The figures quoted elsewhere — 80, 90, 98 and 100 acres — are close to the size of the whole park, not the water, because they count the bunds, the island and the constructed wetland at the southern end.

On OpenStreetMap the water measures about 0.81 km north to south and 0.70 km east to west. Wikipedia gives its average depth as 2 to 3 m and records one island. Agara Lake is part of the Varthur lake series: it takes overflow from Madiwala Lake upstream and its surplus has traditionally drained to Bellandur Lake downstream.

Where is Agara Lake, and which gate should you use?

Agara Lake sits on the northern edge of HSR Layout, at about 12.919°N, 77.641°E: the Outer Ring Road wraps around its southern and eastern sides, 14th Main Road runs along its western side, and Sarjapur Road meets its north-eastern corner. OpenStreetMap maps 7 gates on the park boundary. Two are signed by number, and which gates are unlocked at a given hour is not mapped.

Walking from the centre of each sector to the nearest mapped gate, by OpenStreetMap walking routes measured on 27 October 2026:

Can you get to Agara Lake by metro?

Not yet. The nearest station, Agara, is on the Blue Line, which is under construction, and is about 0.6 km on foot from the lake's eastern gates. The HSR Layout station site, one stop west, is about 0.7 km on foot from the south-western gate. Passenger service on this stretch of the Blue Line is now reported for 2027, and Agara is also planned as an interchange with the proposed Red Line.

The nearest metro station open today is Central Silk Board on the Yellow Line, about 2.0 km in a straight line from the south-western gate. The dates, the stations and what each one changes are on our guide to the HSR Layout metro station, and bus routes along the Outer Ring Road are on getting around HSR Layout without a car.

Who looks after Agara Lake?

Responsibility for Agara Lake has passed between at least four public bodies since 2004 — the BDA, the lake development authority, the forest department and the BBMP — and we found no primary source naming its custodian today. The record, as reported:

That last change is why the timetable question has no clean answer: the park-hours rules above were made by civic bodies, and it is not settled from a primary source which body, or which of the five corporations, now runs the lake. The Greater Bengaluru Authority's own lake listing is the place to check.

Where does Agara Lake's water come from?

Agara Lake is fed by overflow from Madiwala Lake, its own catchment and several storm-water drains, and a 2017 field survey by the BIOME Trust counted 17 inlet points and one outlet. The same survey described an 8.5-acre constructed wetland at the southern end, divided into five zones by rock bunds; of the 17 inlets, two entered the lake through the wetland and fifteen discharged into it directly. Wikipedia describes the wetland as about 9 acres with permeable retention walls that let silt settle.

Plans for a sewage treatment plant at the lake have been reported since at least 2014 and contested by residents; we found no source confirming one was built. We do not publish a water-quality reading, because we found no recent measurement to cite. In 2018 bird watchers recorded 30 species there, including the scaly-breasted munia and the red-naped ibis (Deccan Herald, cited by Wikipedia).

Common questions about Agara Lake

Published hours for Agara Lake disagree, but every source we found has it open from 6 am to 10 am and from 4 pm to 6.30 pm, so plan a visit inside those windows. OpenStreetMap records 6 am to 10 am and 4 pm to 7 pm daily; visitor listings give 5.30 am to 11 am and 4 pm to 6.30 pm; one listing says 5 am to 9 pm. Midday access is the part that varies.

No. Entry to Agara Lake is free according to every visitor listing we checked, including Karnataka.com (2024), Homes247 (2026) and ExploreBangalore (2026). OpenStreetMap maps 3 toilets, 8 benches and 4 outdoor fitness stations inside the park.

The Agara Lake Trail is a 2.4 km loop on OpenStreetMap, measured 5 October 2026: a lit, compacted-surface path about 2 m wide on which bicycles are not allowed. A separate one-way paved cycle track of about 2.5 km runs beside it. Claims of a 4 km loop do not fit the site: the whole park boundary is only 3.2 km around.

Agara Lake has about 26.8 hectares (66 acres) of open water on OpenStreetMap, inside a fenced lake park of 38.6 hectares (95 acres). Published figures of 80, 90, 98 and 100 acres describe the whole lake area, including bunds and the constructed wetland, rather than the water alone.

Agara Lake is in south-east Bengaluru at about 12.919°N, 77.641°E, on the northern edge of HSR Layout. The Outer Ring Road runs along its southern and eastern sides, 14th Main Road along its western side, and Sarjapur Road meets its north-eastern corner. Listings give its address as Agara Village, 1st Sector, HSR Layout.

No public boating service at Agara Lake is listed by any current source we found. A 2017 field survey by the BIOME Trust noted a boat jetty at the lake, but the visitor listings published in 2024 to 2026 describe walking, cycling, birdwatching and picnics, not boat rides.

From 20th Cross Road in Sector 7, the nearest Agara Lake gate, on the south-western side by the Outer Ring Road, is about 1.2 km on foot, or 16 minutes, by an OpenStreetMap walking route measured 27 October 2026. The straight-line distance to the middle of the lake is about 1.2 km.