Bengaluru and Bangalore are the same city under two names, renamed officially in 2014, but both still circulate and get attached to slightly different sightseeing angles. Here is how the old and new identity actually map onto what you would go see.
Both identities anchor around Vidhana Soudha, the state legislature building both lists lead with. From there they diverge: Bengaluru's landmark list pairs it only with the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, while Bangalore's leans royal, adding Bangalore Palace and Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace as landmark entries in their own right.
Bengaluru's museum shelf is compact: the Government Museum of Bangalore and Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum cover history and technology. Bangalore's list is broader, keeping Government Museum but adding National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) for art and Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium for science, a wider spread across disciplines.
Bengaluru's religious sites lean distinctive: the Bull Temple (Dodda Basavana Gudi), built around a giant Nandi monolith, and the ISKCON Temple (Sri Radha Krishna), a modern Krishna-devotion complex. Bangalore's list narrows to one entry, the Sri Mariamman Temple, an older South Indian temple in the city center, making faith sites a bigger draw under the Bengaluru label.
Both lists agree on green space, sharing Cubbon Park and the Lal Bagh Botanical Garden outright. Bengaluru then keeps going past city limits, listing Nandi Hills, Coorg (Kodagu), and Mysore (Mysuru) as day trips. Bangalore's list has no day-trip category at all, staying entirely inside the city.
Choose Bengaluru for a fuller religious-sites list and day trips to Nandi Hills, Coorg, and Mysore. Choose Bangalore for broader museum variety, including NGMA and the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium. Either way, you are booking the same city.