Ananthagiri Hills

The nearest real forest to Hyderabad, about 80 km west and an hour and a half to two hours by road. The Musi (the river the city was built on) rises here, near the old Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple, and you can walk to the source. Marked trails run from three to eight kilometres past viewpoints, with camping and good birding along the way. The forest is at its best from September to December, straight after the monsoon: everything deep green, the mornings full of mist. Free to enter. Leave early if you want both the trek and the temple in one day.

Misty post-monsoon trails and the spring where the city's own river begins