Vehicle mix by headcount, all-in costs for the four destinations Bengaluru companies actually use, and the multi-pickup planning that decides whether your offsite starts at 7 am or at 9.
In short
A two-day offsite from Bengaluru costs roughly ₹800–1,150 per person for 25 people and ₹900–1,250 per person for 100 in charter terms to a 250 km destination like Chikmagalur — before tolls, parking and GST. The vehicle mix matters more than the rate: 100 people is rarely two 50-seaters.
Reviewed 20 September 2026 · headcount costings recomputed with every rate-card version; departure windows re-derived from the annual congestion index
Worked on a two-day Chikmagalur offsite, 250 km each way, departing and returning Bengaluru. Charter subtotal only — tolls, parking, resort coach charges and GST are added at actuals. Change the destination or the nights and the arithmetic changes; the calculator will run it for you.
| Headcount | Vehicle mix | Billable km each | Charter subtotal | Per person |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 people | 1 × 27-seat minibus | 600 km | ₹20,400–28,600 | ₹800–1,150 |
| 50 people | 2 × 27-seat minibus | 600 km | ₹40,800–57,200 | ₹800–1,150 |
| 50 people — single vehicle | 1 × 55-seat coach | 700 km | ₹40,100–47,500 | ₹800–950 |
| 100 people | 2 × 45-seat AC bus + 1 × 27-seat minibus | — | ₹90,800–1,23,600 | ₹900–1,250 |
| 100 people — cheapest per seat | 4 × 33-seat AC bus | 600 km | ₹96,000–1,19,200 | ₹950–1,200 |
| 200 people | 4 × 45-seat AC bus + 1 × 27-seat minibus | — | ₹1,61,200–2,18,600 | ₹800–1,100 |
The arithmetic says two 50-seat coaches. The arithmetic is almost always wrong, for four reasons that have nothing to do with rates.
Nobody travels at 100% load. Between last-minute leave, people driving themselves and the two colleagues joining from Mysore, a 100-person offsite moves 86 to 92 people. Two 50-seaters leave with 15 empty seats you paid for at the top of the band.
Pickups are not in one place. A Bengaluru company of 100 has people in Whitefield, on the southern ORR and in Electronic City. One coach collecting all three means the first person aboard sits for 90 minutes before the bus leaves the city. Three smaller vehicles running three loops get everyone to the destination at the same time and each passenger travels an hour less.
Resorts have parking limits. Chikmagalur and Coorg estate properties routinely have room for two coaches and no more, and their access tracks defeat a twelve-metre vehicle entirely. Four 33-seaters are frequently more welcome at the far end than two 50-seaters.
Failure is not graceful. If one of two coaches breaks down, half your offsite is stranded. If one of four minibuses does, a quarter is, and the other three can double back. On a 200-person offsite we always plan an odd vehicle in the mix for exactly this reason.
The counter-argument is real too: more vehicles means more drivers to brief, more manifests and more parking. Above about six vehicles a convoy stops being manageable without a dedicated coordinator, which we provide on any movement of that size.
Ranked by how often we are asked, with the transport consideration that decides each one.
About 60 km. The classic half-day or single-day offsite, and the one most often mis-priced: at 120 km round trip you are well inside the local 8-hour / 80-kilometre package plus extra kilometres, so never accept an outstation per-km quote with a 300 km minimum.
145–150 km on a genuinely fast road. A single-day offsite works here in a way it does not for any hill destination, and a two-day version leaves room for Srirangapatna and Shivanasamudra without adding vehicle days.
About 220 km, and the closest genuine ghat-country offsite. Estate stays here almost always sit at the end of a track a coach cannot use — plan the last two kilometres before you plan anything else.
240–250 km. The default two-day offsite for Bengaluru companies of 25 to 100, with enough resort capacity to take a full group and enough road to make the departure time matter.
250–265 km and the highest-volume weekend charter out of Bengaluru. Also the destination where competitor pricing is most misleading, because a one-way distance figure looks like half the real cost.
The resort belt on the Mysore and Kanakapura corridors, used for single-day and overnight offsites when the travel time itself is the thing you want to minimise. Local packages usually beat per-km pricing here.
The offsite that leaves at 6:30 am and the offsite that leaves at 9 am are usually the same plan with the pickup sequence reversed. Four rules, all of them learned from Bengaluru Friday mornings.
Sequence pickups against the direction of travel, not against seniority. For a westbound run to Chikmagalur, collect Whitefield first and Nagarbhavi last. For a southbound run to Coorg, start at Hebbal and finish near the NICE Road entry. Collecting the far side of the city last means the loaded bus crosses Bengaluru twice.
Cap it at four pickup points per vehicle. Five is possible, six is theatre. Each stop costs three to five minutes plus the re-entry into traffic, and every minute is paid for by everyone already aboard.
Use NICE Road deliberately. For Mysore-corridor and Coorg-corridor departures, a pickup sequence that ends near a NICE Road entry point saves the whole city crossing. It carries a toll, which appears on your invoice at actuals, and it is nearly always worth it on a group movement.
Give one person the manifest and one person the phone. Our coordinator holds the vehicle list and the driver numbers; your side needs one named person per vehicle who confirms headcount at each stop. Two people trying to count 44 colleagues by WhatsApp is how a bus leaves without someone.
Derived from TomTom's 2025 Bengaluru figures — 36 min 09 s per 10 km all-day, 41 min 06 s morning peak — applied to the city-exit leg. These are departure times from the last pickup point.
| Destination corridor | Exit route | Leave the last pickup by | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coorg, Mysore, Chikmagalur | Mysore Road / NICE Road | 06:30 | Mysore Road queues from about 07:30; NICE Road entry backs up behind it |
| Sakleshpur, Mangaluru side | Tumkur Road / NH-75 | 06:00 | Nelamangala junction is the choke point and it starts early |
| Nandi Hills, Chikkaballapur | Bellary Road / NH-44 | 05:00 for sunrise | The hill road closes to the sunrise crowd; late arrivals park far down |
| Ooty, Bandipur side | Mysore Road, then Gundlupet | 05:30 | The Bandipur forest gate is shut 21:00–06:00 and the queue at reopening is real |
| Hosur, Yelagiri, Tamil Nadu side | Hosur Road / NH-44 | 06:00 | Silk Board and the Electronic City elevated approach |
| Hampi, northern Karnataka | Tumkur Road / NH-48 | 05:30 | A 345 km day needs the early start more than it needs the fast road |
Most Bengaluru offsites are bought by an HR or admin team and paid by finance, and the two have different questions. Here is how we handle both without a week of email.
At quote stage we issue a proforma invoice showing billable kilometres, per-kilometre rate, bata by day, the named actuals we expect (tolls, parking, any entry tax) and the GST line computed both ways. Your finance team raises a purchase order against the proforma, referencing the GST election they want. The final invoice reconciles against receipted actuals and nothing else appears on it.
On the GST question specifically: a GST-registered company should almost always take the 12%-with-input-tax-credit invoice, because the tax comes back. On a ₹3,00,000 offsite the 5% option costs a net ₹3,15,000 and the 12% option a net ₹3,00,000. The full worked comparison is on the rate card.
Advance: 20–30% on outstation charters, because the vehicles are blocked out of the fleet for the duration. Corporate clients working against a purchase order can settle on completion.
For a two-day offsite to a 250 km destination like Chikmagalur, a 27-seat minibus for 25 people is ₹20,400–28,600 in charter terms, about ₹800–1,150 per person. For 100 people across two 45-seat coaches and a minibus it is ₹90,800–1,23,600. Tolls, parking and GST are extra.
Usually three or four vehicles rather than two 50-seaters. Real attendance runs at 86–92 of 100, pickups are spread across Whitefield, the ORR and Electronic City, and most resorts cannot park two coaches. Four 33-seat buses are the cheapest per seat; two 45-seaters plus a minibus is the most common compromise.
06:30 from the last pickup point for the Mysore Road and NICE Road corridors to Coorg, Mysore and Chikmagalur; 06:00 on Tumkur Road for Sakleshpur, because Nelamangala chokes early. TomTom records the Bengaluru morning peak at 41 minutes 6 seconds per 10 km, so an hour's delay in departure costs far more than an hour of arrival.
Per seat, yes — a 33-seat AC bus is the cheapest seat in Bengaluru at roughly ₹265 per head for a local day. Several smaller vehicles win on pickup loops, resort access and resilience. Above six vehicles a convoy needs a dedicated coordinator, which we include on movements of that size.
Often only as far as the main road. Estate properties in both districts routinely sit at the end of a private track that a 45-seat coach cannot use, and the property shuttles guests and luggage in jeeps. Tell us the resort name at quote stage and we will check the approach before the day, not on it.
Yes, on request and with notice, on coaches of 33 seats and above. Teams use it for an en-route briefing or a quiz on the way back. It is not standard fit on every vehicle in the fleet, so it needs to be on the booking rather than mentioned to the driver on the morning.
20–30% for outstation charters, because the vehicles are blocked out of the fleet for the duration of the trip. Corporate clients working against a purchase order can settle on completion instead, against a proforma invoice issued at quote stage.
If the company is GST-registered, 12% with input tax credit. On a ₹3,00,000 offsite, 5% costs a net ₹3,15,000 while 12% costs a net ₹3,00,000 because the ₹36,000 of tax is creditable. Fix the election on the purchase order before the trip, not on the final invoice.
Yes, and it is worth planning rather than improvising. A vehicle that leaves the destination on day one is released from the convoy and billed for its own days, which is usually cheaper than holding the whole fleet. Tell us at quote stage so the vehicle mix is built around it.
You get a written quote with billable kilometres, bata, tolls and the GST option spelled out — usually inside two hours, on WhatsApp or as a proforma invoice your finance team can raise a PO against.