Weekend Getaways from Hyderabad

[manavdotcom]

Please help to plan a chennai Hyd Trip covering some nice spots like Srisailam/ Nagarjujasagar Dam/ Ramoji Etc. Have One week in hand.Thanx.

[prabingade]

Hi,
I am planning a Hyd-Tadoba next weekend.

As I understand, we have two options:
1. Hyderabad-Siddipet-Ramagundam- Karimnagar-Mancherial-Asifabad-
Ballarpur-Chandrapur-Padmapur-Moharli
2. Hyderabad-Adilabad-wani- chandrapur-Moharli

Can someone please pass me the road conditions and which one should I be taking (good road conditions is important for me).

Thanks.

[krish_tv]

Hey Guys

I am planning for Hyderabad-Manjira Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary this weekend. I am planning for a day trip. Has anyone been there? One more thing, I am getting very unreliable info abt the distance . Based on diff sources , the distance ranged from 50-165 kms. A website on tourism straight away stated 50kms from Hyd,whereas another map site shows 164kms.
Can anyone help?

This place is in Sangareddy dist on SH13(The only reliable info i have).

Come what might i have decided to go ahead and I will post my first travelogue when i return.

[krish_tv]

After much excitement and expectation ,my trip to "Manjeera Bird and Wildlife Sanctuary" turned out to be a damp Squib.

It turned out to be a mythical land of Indiana Jones that can be found only on a map.

It was a perfect day,bright and sunny .Being a saturday there was little traffic and we set out arnd 10:00 am in the morning ,map in hand,Couple of US Pizzas in boot , my camera and armoury of lenses(i almost had a feeling of travelling to Kruger,SA) and what not...!!!

I first travelled to mehdipatnam,picking up couple of friends of mine and then took NH9(via,gachinbowli,BHEL). After travelling 25 kms down NH9,we took a right(SH13) into sangareddy/Medak Dist (where this place was supposed to be). After a short drive there was a rasta rokho and we took a small diversion via utterly bad roads and again got back into SH13 somewhere outside sangareddy.

Few good trips about this journey

THE ROADS :- The roads were a great for a long drive(The total drive from Sikh village to Pedda Kopagal and back was exactly 420Kms).We did this distance in 7 hours of driving with 80% of the roads well laid and well maintained.We could well cruise at 100-110 kmph without fear of pot holes or speed breakers.

The rest 20% of it,watch out for are some seriously sharp corners that you come across without minimal warning or no warning signs at all. Also the thick vegetation on either side of the roads make it difficult to predict the sharpness of the corners. There are also some very very bad patches and locally made speed breakers that can seriously damage your alloys if you are careless.So the person on the steering should be on high alert when you drive this stretch for the first time.

THE SCENIC BEAUTY :- If you are photograher on a look out for some greenery and rocks,this is it. You can find some beautiful locations ,which can fill your lens. There is a lot of greenery and some excellent locations for some great pics.

Now the bad parts,

NO SIGN BOARDS:- No or minimal signs in general . NOT EVEN ONE SIGN BOARD OR MILESTONE TO THE SANCTUARY. I was so shocked that , the much advertised and hyped sanctuary did not even have a sign post or even an advert anywhere.It became very difficult ,because even the local population (who are mostly illiterate) have NO knowledge about this sanctuary.We enquired with 20 ppl and none of them had any clue.

TUBELESS TYRES :- If you are running on tubeless,you will not come across any puncture shop that can mend your tyres in case. So check the health of your additional tyre before you leave.There are a lot of filling stations that makes one worry less.

NO HOTELS ,very few DHABAS:- The first dhaba we came across was almost 90 kms after we left sangareddy.For people with a keen eye for hygiene,its not even avg.So better make your own arrangements.

And the saddest part:- After driving up 175kms,it was almost impossible to hide my disappointment on not being able to locate that santuary. It was more annoying that the govt promotes tourism in these areas without even having a sign post or help centres. If you want to see how famously promoted this place is ,try googling it and you will be astonished.

Drove back with a heavy heart ,but the quality of drive,the locations and the time with friends were too good to supress our spirits.

If someone else been there,let me know. I would love to take the same road again..!!

The route map I took along

[bblost]

^^ Been there once.
I got lost on my bike.
Solo riding.
Cannot speak a complete sentence in Telugu. Riding and riding on non existent roads. Found a large water body. Was told this is the Manjeera lake.
Spent some time on the dam.
Then came back home.

Was a nice lovely ride. One of the most beautiful evening shared between me and my bike.

[watashi75]

krish_tv, on the Dindigul highway just before reaching Medak, there is a road towards left. I seem to remember that Manjeera dam was somewhere along that road.

bblost, can you post details about the route you had taken and landmarks if any?

Btw, I got that 45 weekend getaways from Hyderabad book. Didn't find any place which we haven't discussed here already!

[bblost]

Originally Posted by watashi75

bblost, can you post details about the route you had taken and landmarks if any?

Sorry Buddy.
I had lunch at Moti Mahal dhaba in Sanga Reddy. Then I rode on till I got lost.
While getting lost is so easy, remembering how I got lost is not.

I am still searching my self.

bblost -> Bad Boy Lost.

[watashi75]

Originally Posted by bblost

While getting lost is so easy, remembering how I got lost is not.

So you must have got lost on the return journey as well to reach hyderabad!

[krish_tv]

Originally Posted by watashi75

Btw, I got that 45 weekend getaways from Hyderabad book.

Hi, can you tell me from where you got this book? Is it from a reputed publisher?
Coz some book shops i enquired in secunderabad had no idea.

[TrueDreamer]

Originally Posted by watashi75

Btw, I got that 45 weekend getaways from Hyderabad book. Didn't find any place which we haven't discussed here already!

Can you please share the publisher of the book and where it is available or the getaways listed in it so all of them in or around Hyderabad can get benefited ? Thanks.

[watashi75]

Originally Posted by krish_tv

Hi, can you tell me from where you got this book? Is it from a reputed publisher?
Coz some book shops i enquired in secunderabad had no idea.

Originally Posted by TrueDreamer

Can you please share the publisher of the book and where it is available or the getaways listed in it so all of them in or around Hyderabad can get benefited ? Thanks.

It is part of the Outlook Traveller getaway series. Even I had inquired in bookstalls and they didn't have any copy. So I ordered mine from Indiatimes Shopping. Recently however I saw them in a couple of food marts viz. Reliance Fresh and Spar.

Getaways have been categorized under Telangana, Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra, and a few nearby places in Orissa, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Most of the getaways are already mentioned in this thread. However the book has more details, in particular it has details about food, accomodation and contact details for bookings. Overall it is a nice book to have if you plan to stay in Hyderabad for some time.

[Ravveendrra]

Hi guys,

I think Amaravati is doable in a day as it is 300 Km from Hyderabad on a good road.

One heads out to Nalgonda, Miryalguda, Pidugralla and Satennapalle. Once you cross Sattennapalle, there is a T junction with a road going off to the left towards Amaravati (30 Km).

The road is good and one should be able to do it in 5 hours max. (See my post in the thread on travelogues - Suryalanka).

APTDC has a guest house in Amaravati which seemed clean and has a nice location on the banks of the river Krishna.

The 2 museums and the Stupa kept me busy for the time I spent there.

Cheers and happy driving.

[Rajesh Rawal]

Hi.. chanced upon this old thread (dated july 2006) and after a very quick glance did not spot Bidar among the list!

So adding Bidar to this! its 130km from hyderabad on nh9( take a deroute towards bidar at zahirabad)..

places to see are the gurudwaara ,bidar fort( see details on the hyderabad tbhp bidar meet thread)..

some old tombs and a famous narsingh god temple (you have to walk through some water filled tunnel to get to the temple)

another one which i can think of is the naldurg fort,i guess its around 270 km from here (again on the nh9)..

the above might not exactly require you to do an overnight stay and one can do it in a day..

for all those who like visiting holy places than the usual beach ,waterfall kind of thing during their weekends,i would also recommend nanded (the gurudwaara visited most after the golden temple) that is again close to 300km.

and for all the vishnu god fan club its pandhapur (320 odd km),where in the vithoba god's idol is something really different and blissfull to watch and seek blessings from.

[sudipta]

Hi All,

This weekend being a long one, we (me and better half) would like to go to a place nearby Hyderbad where we can spend a night and come back the next day. The distance should be around 100 kms or less (max 150) kms. Any suggestions from the forum will be of great help. Already been to Sagar, Srisailam and Medak.

From what little I read out of this forumn, "Vikarabad -> Ananthagiri Hills -> Dharur -> Kotepalli" looks to be a good fit to my requirement. Please advice on the stay and seasonal condition. Will it be very hot now?

Thanks in advance.

[rsksnt]

• Hot, dry and winding roads
• Cafe ethnic at Zahirabad - fear factor comes to mind
• Bidar is within reach
• Could be better after a bit of rain

I did this trip on 5 April. It was hot. It would be hotter now. Dry heat and barren landscape greet you. Some may find this beautiful; but not for couple of teenagers in our two car convoy. Plan was to leave at 6am and experience the morning drive through the forest at Ananthagiri Hills. Due to last minute additions and deletions of travelers, we left at 8am.
8:10am, first stop. Fill petrol.
8:20 get breakfast packed from hotel
9:00 stop outside Hyderabad for consuming breakfast
teenagers promptly start sleeping, again

There are decent signs for chevella, Vikarabad. After a while suddenly signs marked "Parigi" come up. The ever common "go straight" was the travel advise at confusing junctions. Indeed it worked out true. The lazy drive was quite good especially with light traffic. It was punctuated by police screening (due to elections). They too were on a drive, to stem illegal currency movement.

At Vikarabad, a T junction presented us with a choice to go to Ananthagiri Hills (Left) and we proceeded. After crossing the rail track (Vikarabad-Parli) the road winds up to hills. We wandered in the cars for a while and returned to the T junction.

[There was a bit of confusion on the return path. It was my contention that the paths are one way as the return from Ananthagiri Hills seems to descend down the hills early. The path from Vikarabad seems to climb early. Anyway we observed two way traffic on the single lane road]

The market yard at Vikarabad was interesting for some - specially the heaps of flaming red, dried chillies. We bought a few kilos with the hope that these turn out to be as potent as the fiery sun beating down on us. We had passed several fields where they had harvested the chilly crop and were sundrying them in the open. Good contrast though (oops no pictures - i was having way too much fun in Type 2 Honda City 1.5Exi)

From Vikarabad, Very quickly the road narrows to a single lane towards Sadaseopet. It rolls over gentle hills, stretches over parched land, crosses the rail track in couple of places and bang we hit NH9 in no time.

Given the overall enthusiasm of the fellow travellers, I excluded Bidar portion and headed straight for "Cafe Ethnic" at Zahirabad. The pitch was that this place serves foods made of millets, maize, jowar, bajra etc. things we may have forgotten.

The sign is innocuous right on NH9 as you enter Zahirabad from Hyderabad side. The resturant (3 huts) are in a lane by the sign post. The family hut has gaddis, low tables for you to eat in squatting; as well as tables and chairs. The meals was simple food as it was served hot. Some of it I didn't find to my liking. After the meal, we lounged on the gaddis. As it was quite hot outside too, suddenly we saw an exodus of cockroaches from a crack in the wall. They poured out like a liquid. This freaked out the city folks and they bolted screaming.

Since the teenagers weren't into this ethnic food, we stopped by BP Ghar Dhaba, outside Zahirabad for lunch, again. This time, the youngsters were fine with paneer, roti, biryani, Coke etc.

As we were nearing sadaseopet, one of our cars, Palio1.2 petrol burst rear driver side tyre. This was tubed tyre. A strip of tyre (2-3" wide and 4" long) tore off from the sidewall. As if someone peeled the strip from the rim towards the tread. Our suspicion was that the last tyre repair shop had damaged the dismounting/ mounting of the tyre on the rim. Probably causing a cut in the sidewall. Anyway we hoisted the spare tyre in and returned to Hyderabad. As paid the toll at the outskirts of Hyderabad, felt funny as if this is the price of admission.

You asked for opinion, and I gave you a travelogue, sort of.