Originally Posted by
NWplatinum
How much is a taxi cost from the airport? And do locals take American dollars?
You can get an Uber.
https://www.uber.com/en-IN/airports/blr/ .. comes to seven or eight Hundred rupees I think (around 10-11 dollars) for a sedan or hatch. I could be wrong, I live in a city around 5 hours by road from Bangalore (MAA) so I mostly drive down. The cars in the lower categories can get rather old and ratty, so get Uber SUV - which will give you people mover minivans rather than any actual SUV, but at least they'll mostly be in better condition. They'll be a few hundred costlier. Or pay 3-4x that amount and your hotel will be glad to send you anything from a regular Toyota or Honda sedan to a Merc or BMW, depending on what you ask for.
Your hotel will be glad to take your USD at a rather disgusting rate if you carry dollars - just pay them by card and choose USD as the currency of payment rather than INR, the rate works out much better for you that way. Or you can change dollars at one of several foreign exchange centers - there should be one or two at the airport arrivals terminal itself. Change say a hundred bucks into cash just in case - and insist on smaller bills (100 and 500 rupee notes, not the 2000s, making change for those will be painful).
Most if not all places a tourist would go to (and most if not all places I'd go to, for that matter) take Master / Visa just fine. Amex availability might be a bit limited to the larger stores. Diners - don't even ask.
USD isn't legal tender in India, even virtually legal tender like it is in Vietnam so you can't walk into a shop and pay in dollars. Well, some of the bigger tourist traps generally accept dollars and have a rate conversion worked out, but just pay by card, it works just fine.