For most travelers, Hyderabad does not seem like a place for vacation. One hardly hears people mentioning “We are going to Hyderabad for a vacation!”. We have been planning to visit Hyderabad for the last 3 years. For last 3 years we have booked and cancelled our train tickets for the December vacation because of the Telangana riots. We were not sure how it would be this December. But luckily we were able to make it this time.
Though we had booked our train tickets, we cancelled them and decided to drive. As excepted, when we mentioned to our friends that we would be spending a week in Hyderabad during the Christmas vacation, the common response we got were “Why Hyderabad?” “What are going to do there for 1 week?” “There is nothing much to do there!” etc… After returning from a week-long trip to Hyderabad, I can confidently say that it is worth a visit. There is lots of history. One gets to see the Aan, Shaan andBaan of the Nizams. There are lots of places to visit; one week is definitely a good time to spend in Hyderabad.
My husband has some very close friends in Hyderabad. We decided to stay in one of his closest friend’s house – “Joshi’s House”. It was great catching up with friends after a long time. Thanks to Madhu and Joshi for all the hospitality they provided. They have a huge house and all the kids had great fun playing.
Since we were driving, we had not planned when we would be returning to B’lore. We wanted to check out the Belum Caves on the way to Hyderabad. We thought of planning for the other places to visit once we reached Hyderabad.
Belum Caves
We started from B’lore around 6:30AM. We stopped for breakfast at Kamat Upahar around 80 KMs from B’lore (this will be around 30-40 KM from Chikkabalpur.NH7 connecting B’lore and Hyderabad is in excellent condition. One can easily drive at 100-120 KMPH. The only issue is - there are no restaurants/eating joints/rest rooms available on the highway. Please carry enough food (especially if you are travelling with kids).
Ananthpur is around 215 KMs from B’lore. We reached this place around 10:30AM. Here you need to take a deviation to go to Belum Caves (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belum_Caves ). Ask for directions to Tadapatri Road. Belum caves is around 90 Kms from Ananthpur. The road to Belum Caves is not very good. It goes through small villages/towns. The terrain is also very different. It is dusty, dry and hot - not at all scenic.
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| Full Blown Sunflower Yield on NH7 |
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| Belum Caves - Buddha Statue at the entrance |
We had our lunch at Tadapatri town. This is a small town. Do not expect any fancy restaurants here. Simple Andhra meal is what you will get here. This is the only place on the way to Belum caves, where you can break for lunch. We reached Belum caves around 2 PM. To see the caves it would take a minimum of 1 ½ hours. Free guides are available at the entrance. Though they mention the guides are available for free, the guides do expect a tip.
The caves are simply superb and definitely worth the visit. Had these caves been closer to the B’lore – Hyderabad highway, they would have been very popular. Because of the accessibility, the caves have not caught the tourists as one would expect. These are underground caves which stretch for 3 Kms.
These caves are 2nd largest underground caves in the world. Lot of international cave explorers visit these caves. Only 1 ½ Km stretch is currently open for tourist. Some parts of the caves are still alive. APTDC has done a very decent job in maintaining the caves. It is lit enough to see the details of the cave formation and there is decent ventilation. Humidity in some parts of the cave is very high. You will sweat profoundly. Most of the guides speak Telugu or Hindi. Very few (only 1 or 2) can speak in English. Hence you need to be specific if you want a guide who can explain in English. Good facilities are available at the caves like restaurant, rest rooms, dormitories, drinking water etc. It is quite tiring to cover Belum caves and reach Hyderabad on the same day. It is recommended to take a break if you want to avoid night driving. Kurnool will be good option to break for the night (if you want to avoid night driving). Kurnool is about 3-4 hrs drive from Belum caves. The roads are again through the villages hence the speed will be reduced.
There are a few decent hotels in Kurnool. We stayed at Hotel Mourya International. This was pretty good hotel with good rooms and restaurants.
Next day we had our breakfast at Mourya restaurant and started for Hyderabad. Hyderabad is about 250Kms from Kurnool and will take around 3-4 hours.
Explore the Old City
Hyderabad’s old city can be covered in one day which will include visit to Salar Jung Museum, Chowmahal Palace, Charminar, Jamma Masjid, Chudi Bazaar. It is best to book a taxi for a day which will take you around to all these places. Avoid self-driving to these places. You will have to drive through small lanes, with pedestrians all over and it is hard to find parking space around Charminar.
We started our day with a visit to Salar Jung Museum. This is a must see and would require a minimum of 3-4 hours. The museum is open from 10AM – 5PM and is closed on Friday’s. It is best if you could start exploring the museum by 10AM and complete it by 2/3PM. The museum is very well maintained. All the facilities like restrooms, drinking water, food court, seating area etc are maintained well. Must see are the Musical Clock (expect very large crowd at 11AM and 12PM. For better viewing they have installed video camera to show the clock.), Rebacca with the Veil, arms and ammunition, ivory carving, European sculptures and paintings.
Chowmahalla Palace - http://www.chowmahalla.com/
We had lunch at the Salar Jung museum and started to Chowmahalla Palace. This palace was built 200 years ago, and is open to visitor from last year or so. The whole palace complex is very beautiful. Gives the essence of what kind of life the Nizam lead. Visit to the palace would take around 1 ½ - 2 hours. Make sure you visit all the parts of the palace.
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| Chowmahalla Palace - Front View |
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| Chowmahalla Palace - Darbar Hall |
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| Chowmahalla Palace - Rear View |
From Chowmahalla palace we drove to Charminar through Chudi Baazar. The lanes here are very crowded. Best option is to take a walk through the Chudi Baazar to Charminar. Charminar is a 600 year old monument which has four minars that are supported by arches. Visitors are now allowed to go to top of the Minar. There are about 150 winding steps to reach the top of the minar. The view of Hyderabad city from the top of Minar is great. Charminar is like any other monument which needs appreciation because of the sheer number of years it is been there and the architecture-technology used during those times. Right next to Charminar is the Jamma Masjid. This is huge mosque and looks fabulous at sunset.
Around Charminar is the famous Chudi Bazar, known for it colorfull chudi’s (bangles). This area is also famous of Pearls. There are a lot of shops displaying different types of pearls. I am not sure whether it is worth buying here. Tourists can easily be conned. Personal advice - do not venture into expensive shopping in this area.
Taramati Baradari, Qutub Shahi Tombs, Golconda Fort
All these 3 places are around the Golconda fort and can be covered in 1 day. We started after breakfast to Taramati Baradari. This is on the way to Golconda fort if you are taking the outer ring road. This monument was supposed to have been used by the musicians and dancers to perform for the Nizam. The monument now has an open auditorium, gardens and a platform at an altitude where the artisans used to perform. The Nizams used to watch the performances from Golconda fort. I somehow could not buy this as the fort is quite far from this platform. Wondered how the Nizams saw the performance. One can easily spend an hour here.
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| Taramati - Enterance to the monument |
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| Monument - Taramati |
After Taramati, we visited the Qutub Shahi Tombs. As the name indicates, these are tombs of the Nizam’s and their family members, and are definitely worth visiting. The tombs are 2-3 kms beyond Golconda fort. It is better to finish all the tombs before visiting the fort. Some of the tombs are pretty huge and in good condition. The tombs can be covered in 1 – 1 1/2 hours. It is worthwhile to take a guide here, otherwise all tombs look alike and there aren’t any boards displaying the details of the tombs.
After the tombs we had a quick light lunch of sandwiches and fruits and were all set to climb the fort. Fort is best visited during Sep-Feb and in the morning (afternoon can be pretty hot). Since we had plans to watch the light and sound show in the evening, we planned our visit for the afternoon. Luckily on the day we visited, the weather was cloudy because of the depression in Bay of Bengal. Hence the climb was not very tiring. The whole fort can be covered in 2-3 hours. It is recommended to take a guide who can explain in detail, otherwise one can miss out on some key information. After seeing such forts, we are forced to think which India was better? The technology, architecture used during this era was simply amazing. We were spell bound to see with sound transmission technology used, the hot water pipeline, pumping water from lower level to higher levels of the fort and many more. My kids (11 and 8yrs) could easily climb the fort without complaining.
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| Top View - Golconda Fort |
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| Golconda Fort |
We were back at the foot of the fort around 5PM. Took a tea/snack break while waiting for the light and sound show. The tickets to the show are available in the fort. The show was at 6:30PM. Details of this can be found at http://hyderabad.clickindia.com/tourism/golcondafort.html . The show is good but could have been easily limited to 30 min (instead of 1 hour). There is not much content for an hour show L Especially after watching the light and sound show at Udaipur’s Central Palace and show at Andaman’s Kala Pani (the shows here are superb), somehow the show did not seem up to the mark L. The show could not hold the attention of the audience after 20-30 min. Many people started leaving and moving around. This caused disturbance for other audience.
By end of light and sound show, we were tried and wanted to have dinner and crash. Our friend took us to this nice restaurant called “Chutney’s”. The food was good. We were quite hungry after all the walking and had a stomach full of Andhra food J
Ramoji Film City
A must see attraction in Hyderabad. It is about 1 ½ hrs drive from Hyderabad city. It is massive and one can easily spend an entire day here. Our visit was during the Christmas and there were few event organized even in the late evening (extended time) until dinner for this holiday season. There are various packages available; we took the VIP package with dinner. Unlike the Disney theme parks, Ramoji film city (http://www.ramojifilmcity.com/) has scattered spots. It is difficult to move around on your own. One disadvantage we felt was the unavailability of maps. We are so used to using the maps of the theme park and planning the events to see, we felt really handicapped and dependent on the guide. The park does not provide maps and also does not entertain moving around the film city on your own.
The VIP package includes the A/c shuttle to take you around the film city, lunch, high tea, direct entry to some of the shows (basically no standing in the queue) and a guide. The very concept of moving around in groups with a guide is not very great. Lot of time is wasted in ensuring all the members are present and locating the guideL
The visit around film city was an eye opener. There is set available for every theme and mood. You can easily relate the sets to any Bollywood movie. There is a set for mythological stories, a railway station, airport, bus stand, taxi stand and many more. It’s a different world – only that it is all made of plaster of pares. After the visit to the film city (the movie sets) and some shows, we were left on our own. It was 5:30PM by the time we were on our own. We took some rides, had some snacks and waited for the evening parade. The parade was very attractive though short (about 15 min). They wanted to bring in the same concept as in Disney Parks. At the end of the parade there were fireworks. This was pretty cool. Kids loved it.
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| Ramoji Film City |
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| Ramoji Film City - Parade |
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| Ramoji Film City - Sets of Mythological Serial |
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| Ramoji Film City - Sets of Mysore Brindavan Gardens |
After the fire work we went to the sets of Mysore Brindavan Garden, Jaipur Palace and few more. The sets of Brindavan Garden looked very beautiful when lit in the late evening with all the fountains and lights. It was difficult to judge whether the original garden in Mysore is better or the set in Ramoji Film City.
From here we walked through the well decorated park to the place where the dinner gala was being organized. After a long tiring day it felt great to sit and enjoy the DJ’s music, dance and dinner.
IMAX, Lumbini Gardens, Drive through Necklace road
After a long day at Ramoji Film City, we wanted to just laze around and have a relaxed day. We spent the morning just chit-chatting, playing at home. In the afternoon, we thought of catching a movie at IMAX. MI- Ghost Protocol was running at IMAX. We thought this was good movie to watch in IMAX. Indeed, it turned out to be a very good experience. Some of the effects in the movie were worth watching in IMAX.
After the movie we drove through the Necklace Road to Lumbini Gardens. Since we had seen the musical fountains at Lumbini gardens during our earlier visit to Hyderabad, we gave it a skip. However it is definitely must see place in Hyderabad.
Other places to visit are Nagarjuna Sagar dam and Warangal, which are day trips from Hyderabad. We decided to return to B’lore and gave these places a skip.
With all the fond memories of our trip we were started driving back to B’lore. We were around 50 Kms from Ananthpur when it started pouring due to the depression in Bay of Bengal. Unfortunately our car wiper failed and it was very difficult to drive in the rain. We somehow managed to drive slowly until we reached Ananthpur. We were thrilled to have found a Hyundai sales and service center right on the highway. Our joy died in ½ hours time when the mechanic said he cannot fix the wiper. It was quite stressful to drive in the heavy rain. We had planned to reach B’lore by 4-5PM. But by the time we reached home it was 9PM. Until this trip we had not realized what a malfunctioning wiper can do.
