 |  |
Welcome to the city of the Charminar, pearls, information technology and biryani, where history, shopping, technology and food can be experienced all in one trip. The obvious things to do in Hyderabad are sight seeing, shopping, and eating. Check out our extensive sections on eating out and shopping. Yes, Hyderabad can make you fat (mind your waist) and trendy but between these delightful preoccupations you might want to indulge in some other activities. You'll never get bored here.
Boating
There are a lot of well-developed facilities for boating in the city. Clean lakes and fast boats are available. However, safety measures must be taken before venturing into the water. Swimming abilities are an added advantage. Check our boating section for details.
Markets
One of the most famous markets in the twin cities is the Monda Market located in Secunderabad. The market street is noisy and also has the biggest vegetable market in the city. But buying groceries at the Monda market can be quite an experience, as you have to often jostle for room in the narrow lanes with cows and goats for company. Apart from vegetables, fresh flowers, garlands, poultry and sweets you can find all sorts of goodies at great prices if you have a keen eye for the unusual.
Book Browsing
Every shopping area has many bookshops. Some selling educational books and others sell books of general interest. Bank Street in Koti is lined with pavement bookshops which feature new and used books at throw away prices. The 'Sunday Bazar' as the name suggests happens every Sunday on Abids Road. Look under Shopping for a list of good bookshops.
Sitting in Cafés
This is perhaps one of the oldest and most beloved pastimes of Hyderabadis, a tradition that has been handed down from generation to generation. Hyderabadi cafés are nationally famous for their special 'Irani Chai'. Every colony can be identified by its own café where you find men (surprisingly this kind of entertainment is restricted only to men folk) of various age groups, from different backgrounds meeting over a cup of tea and sharing the day's happenings and of course the latest gossip.
Net Surfing
Net surfing now competes with bowling and pool as after-hours entertainment. You will find these places crowded with people of all ages, although there is a predominance of Generation X surfers. Some try their luck at love, others mean serious business and many people merely hang around. Internet cafes are great places to study the native Hyderabadi and his changing attitude. No colony is complete without a cyber café and depending on ambience and area prices vary from Rs 30 to Rs 70 per hour.
Strolling
Hyderabad's most popular promenade, the Tank Bund is a 3 km stretch of road over the man-made Hussain Sagar Lake. It is lined with 33 statues of famous personalities of the state. You can also wander on the other side of Hussain Sagar commonly known as Necklace Road featuring tempting kebab stalls, ice- cream, and peanut vendors. Every Sunday evening cultural programmes are conducted and admission is free. A recently installed 350 tonne monolith of Buddha on a small island called the Rock of Gibraltar is at the centre of the lake, which is the venue for many water sporting events.
Amusement Parks
Hyderabad has a number of arcades that offer bowling, pool and video game
parlours. Keep away from betting in these places, which is illegal. If
you wager (against our advise) watch out for the sharks.
Children would love Ocean Park or Eless World for Roller Coaster Rides
and the Tora Tora. Look in the Amusement Park Section for further details.
Hyderabad By Night
Pubs
Nearly all the medium and bigger hotels in Hyderabad have a bar or pub attached. Usually open from 1100- 2300 you can indulge in the aperitif, the cocktail and snacks.
Discos
There are very few discos in Hyderabad, a few 5- star hotels have a disco attached and all of them operate on Saturdays and entry is for couples only for a certain fee. The most famous and one of the best is The Disco at Treasure Island, a resort about 15 kms away from the city. The disco is open for non-members on Saturdays.
Celluloid dreams:
People of Andhra Pradesh love movies. In fact, they worship the actors and actress as demi gods and goddesses. This is one of reasons why even the most popular politicians turn filmstars. Almost the entire N T Rama Rao clan, have dabbled with films. Hyderabad has many film studios, all busy with round-the-clock film shootings.
