Are you a history lover hoping to escape from your daily routine life? Are you one of those who appreciate art? We guess you have arrived at the right place if you are one of those. Today in this blog, we will take you on an incredible day trip to Hyderabad. This blog will help you plan your perfect weekend trip to Hyderabad amidst your busy schedule.
In case you don’t know who we are………..
We call ourselves Travel Freaks……..
You might be unaware of the fact that…….
Table of Contents
1. Why did we choose Hyderabad?
People who are aware of Hyderabad already know the speciality of the city. This city is quite famous for its special world-renowned Hyderabadi Biriyani. Apart from this royal cuisine, this city has numerous attractions for history and art lovers.
Even though we were not in either of them, we still chose this place for our weekend trip as we love to enjoy and explore new places.
Let us take you all on this fascinating historical journey of Hyderabad.
Wait! You might want to know………
2. How did we reach Hyderabad?
It was the month of April, and Good Friday was around the corner. Luckily, along with this Good Friday holiday, it was about to be a long weekend. And we wanted to utilize this. While having morning tea, there was a sudden crop up of the name Hyderabad. We checked for the train tickets, but unfortunately, none were available. So we booked our flights, and in the blink of an eye, we were in the “City of Nizams” by late evening.
Now that we landed in Hyderabad, you might want to know……
3. Where did we stay in Hyderabad?
We chose our stay in the Banjara Hills area. It is one of the happening areas of the city. One can get range of hotel options starting right from budget backpackers to lavish ones.
Our stay was cozy with a balcony view. The stay was nice, but our itinerary was pretty much packed up, so we couldn’t make the most out of the stay.
We were exhausted from our journey as we reached pretty late, so we quickly grabbed some food before going to bed. We loved the food options available at Banjara Hills. However, it was way too spicy for our taste buds. Many might find it delicious or not spicy at all.
Now that we already had reached, you might want to know……
4. What is the best possible way to reach Hyderabad?
This is a bit challenging to answer. The city is well-connected through rail, road and air. You may reach this place at your convenience and budget.
Most travellers around the globe prefer the rail and air route over the road. I hope this helps you plan your perfect itinerary for Hyderabad. In case you need our help, we are just a click away.
Let’s come back to our story. As we had reached Hyderabad, many of you might be curious about…….
5. What are the places that we visited during our trip?
After a good sound sleep, we woke up early as there were many places to explore. It was around seven o’clock in the morning when we started our day trip.
Golkonda Fort was the first on our list to visit. This place might not interest you if you are not a historic monuments lover. Being a history lover is the reason which brought us here.
Golconda Fort is an architectural masterpiece located on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
The fort was built during the era of the Kakatiya ruler in the 11th century. We came across an interesting story about Golconda Fort. The place used to have vaults for famous diamonds, like Kohinoor and Hope Diamonds. The name “Golconda” became too synonymous with diamonds that the English natives used to refer to any rich mines as Golconda generically.
At the entrance, there was ticket counter along with few small shops selling snacks and juice. Entrance ticket for Indian tourist was around 20 INR per person and for Foreigners it was around 200 INR per person. After getting the entrance tickets, we started our hike. It took us a while to reach the top; we stopped at a few places to take snaps on the way.
Despite the scorching summer heat, the excitement to explore and get to the top of the fort kept us going. Also, a few places reminded us of the clips of the Bollywood Movie “Wanted” released in 2009.
As we started hiking, we spotted a few cannons on the way to the top. On looking at the cannons, we wondered how much history is inculcated in them. There were a few points of interest inside the fort. The popular ones were the Mosque of Ibrahim, Baradari and Mahankaali Temple.
Approximately two to three hours are sufficient for travellers to explore that place. Of course, you can spend more time depending on your interest. We had plans to visit other places on the same day. We moved on to our next spot, the Salar Jung Museum.
So, by hearing the name Museum, now you would like to know……
6. How was the Salar Jung Museum?
This Museum is a royal treat for art lovers. Given its vastness, we want to advise our readers to take time to explore the Salar Jung Museum. The museum is over 50 years old and is considered India’s third largest. It remains open everyday from 10am to 5pm except Friday. Entry fee is around 20 INR for Indians and 500 INR for foreigners.
There was one room showcasing a Quran collection that is world-renowned. It is claimed to have different fonts written in Gold and Silver. The room amazed us a lot, given that interesting fact. Apart from the Quran Collection facts, we saw daggers embedded with Jade and cutleries. Also, the painting from Indian miniature to oriental art will leave visitors spellbound.
This museum also had a few rare paintings of Raja Ravi Verma. We spent four hours exploring and getting amazed at the beauty of the museum. Please keep an entire day for this place. Due to our time constraints, we had to leave for the next place, Chowmahalla Palace.
Now you see, Hyderabad has so much to offer for travellers. Before you wonder anything about the palace, many might be thinking……..
7. What is there to see in Chowmahalla Palace?
This is the palace of the Nizams of Hyderabad. Entrance ticket would cost around 50 INR for Indians and 200 INR for Foreign Tourists.
We quickly grabbed the tickets from the counter and moved in. The architecture was amazing and shares the same ideology from Iran’s palace of Tehran. The complex consists of four palaces: the Afzal Mahal, Mahtab Mahal, Tahniyat Mahal and Aftab Mahal. The place shares its roots that date back circa 200 years. This was the official residence of the Nizams of Hyderabad.
The architecture includes artwork of domes, art, windows and carved-out designs. The complex has fountains, gardens, numerous palaces, a clock tower, Roshan Bangla and the Council Hall. Also, we saw architecture such as the Khilwat Mubarak and Bara Imam. It took us around 2 hours to explore the place; however, you can plan and spend as you wish.
We quickly hopped into our car and were excited about our next destination, Char Minar.
On hearing the name “Char Minar”, you might want to know…..
8. How was the experience at Char Minar?
Whenever somebody thinks of Hyderabad, the first place that comes to mind is the Char Minar. It remains open everyday from 9:30am to 5:30pm and the ticket costs around 20 INR for Indian/SAARC tourists and around 250 INR for other foreign tourists.
After reaching there and getting down at the place we realized that we needed to walk for a few minutes as there was no nearby parking. A vast market surrounds the Char Minar area, and the area is always crowded, hence it becomes difficult to take snaps. Pearl and bangles are some popular items to bring back home.
Also, you can get to the top of the monument, for which you need to pay a nominal fee, but the steps are quite steep, and it is dark inside, so if you have claustrophobia, it is better to avoid going up.
Travel Tip: Be careful of pickpocketing, as the place is always crowded.
When we looked at our watch, it was close to four o’clock, and we had to move to our next destination Lumbini Park. Most of the readers might wonder…..
9. What is Lumbini Park famous for?
After reaching the park area we headed towards the ticket counter, where Entrance ticket for Lumbini Park was around 20 INR per person and there was a separate ticket for Laser show which was around 50 INR per person. Lumbini is a small island in Hussain Sagar Lake. To reach the island, we had to take a boat ride. The island has 58 feet long Buddha statue, and the view is amazing at night because of the lights.
It feels mesmerising to stroll around the park at night. There are two laser shows at Lumbini Park from 7:15 pm and 8:30 pm. It was already late, and we had to return to our stay as we had a plan for the next day.
A memorable day ended with this stunning laser show, and we called the day off right after having dinner.
Anyone wishing to visit Hyderabad or Nepal or anywhere in India can click here and explore the various itineraries available on their site. They provide affordable budget packages.
We are not signing off without this last question……
10. What kind of help are we going to provide?
Let us inform you that we prepare itineraries not only for anywhere in India but also for Asia. We have been travelling since we were toddlers. So here in our blogs and stories, we will give you a glimpse of our journey and help you plan your trip.
Read about our Uzbekistan blogs.
Read about our Kazakhstan blogs.
Read about our Singapore blogs.
Read about our Vietnam blogs.
Read about our Cambodia blogs.
Read about our Bali blogs.
Read about our Kuala Lumpur blog series.
Read about our Sri Lanka blogs.
Read about our Nepal blogs.
Read about our Char Dham blogs.
Read about our Ladakh blogs.
Read about our day trip to Hyderabad.
Read about our Madhya Pradesh blogs.
Read about our Andaman and Nicobar blogs.
Do follow our Instagram handle @mindfulllofvacations and keep an eye out for the next destination story of a new place. For any query related to any trip, drop a mail at @mitkau007@gmail.com.
by mitkau