Bangalore is known as the Garden City of India because of its climate, greenery and the presence of many public parks, including the Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park. Deepavali, the "Festival of Lights", transcends demographic and religious lines and is celebrated with great vigour.

Dussera, a traditional celebratory hallmark of the old Kingdom of Mysore, is another important festival. Other traditional Indian festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Ugadi, Sankranthi, Eid ul-Fitr and Christmas are also celebrated. Bangalore is home to the Kannada film industry, which churns out about 80 movies each year in Kannada. Most Kannada movies are musicals, and their soundtracks are very popular in the city. The popularity of Kannada movies has spawned a new colloquial dialect, Bangalore Kannada, which draws upon youth culture and influences from English and other Indian languages.

The diversity of cuisine available is reflective of the social and economic diversity of Bangalore. Roadside vendors, tea stalls, South Indian, North Indian, Chinese and Western fast food are all very popular in the city. Udupi restaurants are very popular and serve predominantly vegetarian, regional cuisine. Bangalore has many clubs and bars, and is sometimes referred to as the Pub Capital of India.

Popular nightspots in Bangalore include HiNT, Taika, Pecos and TGIF. Bangalore is also a popular venue for Western rock concerts, with Mark Knopfler, Jethro Tull and The Rolling Stones, Joe Satriani, Bryan Adams, among others, having performed in the city.

Cricket is the most popular sport in Bangalore. A significant number of national cricketers have come from Bangalore, including current Indian cricket team captain Rahul Dravid, who lives in a big house in Indiranagar. Other cricketing greats from Bangalore are Gundappa Vishwanath, Anil Kumble, E.A.S. Prasanna, Venkatesh Prasad, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Syed Kirmani and Javagal Srinath. Many of the city's children play gully cricket on the roads and in city's many public fields.

Bangalore's main international cricket stadium is the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, which hosted its first match in 1974. Bangalore has a number of elite clubs, like the Bangalore Golf Club, Bowring Institute and the exclusive Bangalore Club, which counts among its previous members Winston Churchill and the Maharaja of Mysore.