Hyderabad

👥 9.2M metro population 1591 Charminar built

The City of Pearls blends Nizami grandeur with a booming tech scene: the Charminar and old-city bazaars on one side, glassy HITEC City on the other, and the mighty Golconda Fort above. Pearls, palaces, and one of India's great old-and-new capitals.

Highlights

Qutb Shahi TombsThe necropolis of a dynasty

Ramoji Film CityA cinematic empire on a world scale

Hussain Sagar LakeThe heart of the metropolis

Moazzam Jahi MarketHand-churned ice cream counters old enough to be institutions, liveliest after dark

Birds Park, Ramoji Film City

The Bonsai Garden at Ramoji Film City

Street Art in the MS Maqta District

HITEC CityIndia's Silicon Valley

What to see 55

Qutb Shahi TombsThe necropolis of a dynastyDetails →

Ramoji Film CityA cinematic empire on a world scaleDetails →

Hussain Sagar LakeThe heart of the metropolisDetails →

Moazzam Jahi MarketHand-churned ice cream counters old enough to be institutions, liveliest after darkDetails →

Golconda FortThe citadel that started it allDetails →

Salar Jung MuseumOne man's astonishing collectionDetails →

CharminarHyderabad's iconic symbolDetails →

Chowmahalla PalaceThe residence of the NizamsDetails →

Bhongir FortA 45–90 minute climb on cut steps and bare rock, with the Deccan flat belowDetails →

Statue of Equality (Ramanuja)108 replica shrines, 36 stone elephants and a fountain, ten minutes from the airportDetails →

Taramati BaradariTwelve open arches, a singer's legend and a sunset view straight back to GolcondaDetails →

Sudha Cars MuseumMore than 250 vehicles built from scrap by one man, and every one of them drivesDetails →

Telangana State Archaeology MuseumA 2,300-year-old Egyptian mummy in a Nizam-built pavilion in the middle of NampallyDetails →

Falaknuma PalaceA dining table set for 101 and one of India's finest private librariesDetails →

Paigah TombsThe finest stucco and jaali work in the Deccan, and still almost no one comesDetails →

Makkah MasjidOne of India's largest and most revered mosquesDetails →

Toli MasjidLace-fine stucco and lotus medallions, two kilometres from Golconda and nearly emptyDetails →

Badshahi AshurkhanaPersian tilework from Charminar's own decade, a few streets away and almost unvisitedDetails →

Moula Ali Dargah & Hill484 steps to a Qutb Shahi shrine and the widest sunset view of the twin citiesDetails →

Karmanghat Hanuman TempleSeated in dhyana mudra rather than mid-stride, and it outlived a demolition orderDetails →

Ujjaini Mahankali TempleThe shrine where Bonalu begins: pots, drums and a whole neighbourhood on its feetDetails →

Ameenpur Lake270 bird species on a city tank; go at a winter dawn, and with a birding groupDetails →

Durgam Cheruvu (Secret Lake)Granite, water and a lit cable bridge, all in one frame after sunsetDetails →

Osman Sagar (Gandipet Lake)Long walks along the bund and a lot of open sky, best in the last hour of lightDetails →

KBR National ParkPeacocks crossing the path at dawn, inside a forest the city grew aroundDetails →

Ananthagiri HillsMisty post-monsoon trails and the spring where the city's own river beginsDetails →

Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National ParkSafari vans over old hunting plains, and far emptier than the zooDetails →

Nehru Zoological ParkA toy train, battery buggies and 154 hectares: plan on half a dayDetails →

Begum BazaarTwo centuries of wholesale Hyderabad: brass by weight, spices by the sackDetails →

Numaish (Nampally Exhibition)A Hyderabad institution since 1938, and only if your dates fall in JanuaryDetails →

Abids Sunday Book MarketForty years of pavement bookselling, and the best finds are gone by noonDetails →

Best Book CentreFloor-to-ceiling stacks across two branches, at a fraction of retail pricesDetails →

Kalanjali Arts & CraftsFixed prices and labels: the calibration you want before bargaining in the bazaarsDetails →

Mangatrai PearlsModest strands to collector pieces, each one with paperwork you can trustDetails →

Shilparamam Crafts VillageBuy from the artisan who is making it, five minutes from the tech towersDetails →

Birds Park, Ramoji Film City

The Bonsai Garden at Ramoji Film City

Street Art in the MS Maqta District

HITEC CityIndia's Silicon Valley

Osmania University Arts CollegeAjanta pillars meeting Indo-Saracenic arches, soon a trademarked building

British Residency (Koti Residency)Durbar Hall, teak floors and a lion staircase, back after a decade of work

B.M. Birla Science Museum & PlanetariumA Telangana-dug dinosaur and daily star shows, right under Birla Mandir

The Nizam's Museum (Purani Haveli)The world's longest wardrobe, and a gold tiffin box that shows how the Nizams actually lived

Raymond's TombA tomb the Nizam roofed for a foreigner the city had taken as its own

Birla Mandir

Kulpakji Jain Temple (Kolanupaka)A jade-green Mahavira and marble cut by 150 craftsmen brought from the north

Spanish Mosque (Aiwan-e-Begumpet)Three thousand worshippers inside a compound most people never think to enter

Chilkur Balaji Temple (Visa Balaji)The temple where a wish costs eleven laps and gratitude costs a hundred and eight

Yadadri Sri Lakshmi Narasimha TempleAn ancient cave shrine kept intact inside Telangana's grandest new stone temple

Hyderabad Botanical Garden (Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy)A token ticket for 110 hectares of quiet on the tech side of town

Lumbini Park and the Boat to the Buddha

Khajaguda Hills (Fakhruddingutta)Cave scrambles, fifty bouldering problems and three shrines on one summit

Chatta Bazaar Calligraphy LaneReed pens still lettering wedding cards, a lane away from the bangle shops

Pochampally Ikat Weaving VillageTen thousand weaving families, and the buying happens at the pit loom itself

Laad BazaarBangles, ittar and craft lanes

Everything about Hyderabad

On the map

53 places · the full map is in the app