Attractions

Hyderabad offers a number of exciting things to see and do.  Here are some of the major attractions in Hyderabad. Click on the titles or images to find out more information about each attraction in Hyderabad.

GOLCONDA FORT

Golconda (sometimes spelled as golkonda) fort was the capital of the ancient kingdom of golconda which flourished in the 14th to 16th century. It is situated 11 kilometers from hyderabad, the capital of the state of andhra pradesh. With walls ranging from 17 to 34 feet broken by 87 semi-circular bastions, some reaching 60 feet in height, and built on a granite hill that is 400 feet high, it remains one of india’s most magnificent fortress complexes

CHARMINAR

No visit to hyderabad should be undertaken without visiting the grand and majestic centerpiece of the city that is charminar. Translated roughly as “four towers” or “mosque of the four minarets”, the charminar is also called by some as the arc de triomphe of the east and is one of the most important monuments of hyderabad

QUTUB SHAHI TOMBS

Located about a kilometer north from golconda fort, the qutub shahi tombs represent the most authentic and majestic display of the qutub shahi dynasty architectural traditions today. The grandeur of the tombs is ensconced amidst the beautiful and picturesque landscape and gardens of ibrahim bagh, and the tombs themselves are dedicated to the seven qutub shahi kings who ruled golconda for nearly 170 years

YADAGIRIGUTTA TEMPLE 

Legend has it that a sage named yadavarishi, the son of the great sage rishyasrunga, did penance and meditation in a cave and asked for the blessings of lord narasimha, an incarnation of the hindu deity lord vishnu. So pleased was lord narasimha to yadavarishi that he appeared to him in five different forms: jwala, yogananda, lakshminarasimha, gandabherunda, and ugra. The legend goes that the first form was too intense and fiery (it was lord narasimha as a fire) that it was too much for the yogi, so narasimha adopted the second, more peaceful, form (lord narasimha in a yoga posture with open palms on the knees). This still didn’t satisfy the yogi though and wanted to see him with his counterpart, the goddess lakshmi, so narasimha appeared with the goddess on his lap. The place where all this was supposed to have taken place was a natural cavern atop a hill. The TEMPLE was then built in the same area.

RAMOJI FILM CITY

If the united states has universal studios, then india has ramoji film city, the world’s largest integrated film studio complex. Spread over 2,000 acres of land studded with hills and lakes, it is india’s filmmakers’ first choice when it comes to making their films as it is essentially an unlimited area of creativity for any major or minor film production. Every facility a filmmaker could ever want can already be found there: 50 studio floors, support systems, high-tech laboratories, outdoor locations, up-to-date technology, greenery, and the wonderful hillscapes

PAIGAH TOMBS

One of the more influential and powerful families of the hyderabad state aristocracy during the 18th century are the noble families of paigah. Claiming to have descended from hazrath omar bin al-khattab, the second caliph of islam, the paigah nobles tend to be richer than the average indian maharajah and they alone hold exclusive rights to maintain their own court, their own palaces, and their own private armies that often numbered to the thousands. The word paigah is farsi for “footstool” of which an english equivalent would be “right-hand man”.

HITEC CITY

At the heart of hyderabad’s technological progress juggernaut is the cybercity called hitec city. The name stands for hyderabad information technology engineering consultancy city and it provides a stark contrast to the historically-laden monuments and sites present in hyderabad. The formation and birth of the hitec city is the consummation of a state’s vision of becoming a contender in the information technology boom, largely reminiscent of muhammad quli qutub shah’s dreams when he started building hyderabad itself.