Hyderabad, the city of Nizam at one time can now be called the new hub of indian IT industry.
Hyderabad is distinctly divided into old and new city. Also Secunderabad is the twin city which is stome’s throw away.
Reaching Hyderabad:
Hyderabad is well connected by Air, rail and road.
Flights operated by Jet/Sahar/Indian/Spicejet/Air Deccan/Kingfisher are all available from most of the metro cities. Its also well connected internationally with direct flights from Singapore, Middle East, Germany etc.
The current Airport is in Begumpet almost in heart of the city. The new Airport in Shamsabad is likely to come up by 2008.
Trains from all cities are available. Rajdhani from Delhi and Bangalore connects to Hyd.
Volvo buses from Bangalore/Mumbai/Pune/Vizag/Nagpur are readily available.
Climate:
The best season to visit Hyd is Oct-Feb. Its extremely hot in summers and is rainy through June-Sept.
Stay:
There are array of 5 star hotels in Hyd namely Taj (there are 3 Taj hotels)and ITC Kakatiya. Also many other good hotels are Green Park, Amrutha Castle, Yatri Niwas, Center Court etc.
Conveyance: Rent a car facilities are available (Hertz), many call cabs are available Orange Cabs(55315555), City Cabs (55316001). Autorickshaws are also available with minimum fare of Rs. 10/-
Places to visit:
Among many places that are must see:
Ramoji Film City (Asia’s largest Film city): Its abt 40 kms from main city. APSRTC arranges bus tours to this place.
Salarjung Museum (near old city)
Laad Bazaar (near Charminar)
Dhola-re-Dhani (Rajasthani concept village) - (20 kms)
Runway 9 - Go carting
Nagarjuna sagar dam (150 kms)
Hussain Sagar - Laser Show, boat ride, NTR gardens
For more reservations go to aptourism’s website.
To see the technological leaps of the city you can pay a visit to Hi-Tech city. A small lake (secret lake) is also near this place.
Food:
Amost all the restaurants/food joints in Hyderabad serve delicious food. Don’t miss Paradise’s Chicken Biryani and South Indian at Chutneys.There are a lot many restaurants, pubs and bakeries spread across Hyd. Some of them are -
Restaurants: Angeethi, Koyla, Carrots, Kabura, Malgudi Days, Copper and Chimney,
Our Place, Mainland China etc. apart from Pizza huts/KFCs
Pubs: Bottles & chimney, Sixth element, 10 Downing street, Enigma, Outswinger etc.
Bakers: Bakers Inn, Sarvi, Karachi bakery (famous for fruit biscuits), Midways etc.
Don’t miss the Eat Street near Hussain sagar and IMAX movie experience.
Shopping
Must goto to old city near Charminar for bangles, pearls etc. On pearls you can get discounts upto 30%.
For Sarees and wedding dresses don’t miss Kalanjali, MeBaz, Brisah and Kalaniketan.
Like any other metro city it has shopping malls like Hyderabad Central, Big Bazaar, Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop
Hyderabad is having wide roads and unlike Blr/Pune/Mumbai traffics is comparatively less. The language spoken is Telegu, Hindi, Urdu and English.
Overall the face of Hyderabad has changed ramatically over last 2-3 yrs and it has become a major cosmopolitan place.