All about Trip To Warangal From Hyderabad
As many travelers in my office and several other Facebook groups already suggested to go to Warangal from Hyderabad in Monsoon season, I followed them. In the month of August 2016, we planned for the Warangal trip. The attractions were:
- Bhadrakali Temple
- Thousand Pillar Temple
- Warangal Fort
- Laknavaram Cheruvu
- Pakhal Lake
- Kakatiya Musical Garden
- Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary
- Ramappa Lake
Let me give a little introduction to Warangal :
It is situated around 150 KM away from Hyderabad. It is an important city with lots of industries coming in. The great kakatiya dynasty made it more beautiful.
As they excelled in the arts, you can find a lot of subjects with great pieces of art. It is well connected to other cities of Telangana.
Plenty of options to go to Warangal. You have trains, buses, ola, uber connecting Warangal from Hyderabad. You will get lots of options to stay like hotels, stay in, paying guests, etc.
The only point I want to make here that it is not a tourist city. Hence transportation options to the tourist spots are a little less.
Auto is the major mode of easy transport in this city. You can get lots of autos outside of the railway station or inside the city. But be prepare for negotiation for the rate as you are an outsider.
Again please keep your expectations less as the service in the hotels is moderate. Do not take things for granted. Hanamkonda is a nice place to eat out and visit. roadside food is tasty.
There are a lot of political problems in recent times. So you have to plan your route correctly. Keep 2/3 alternate options ready (just in case). The best time to visit Warangal is OCT to DEC.
Hence we choose August. If you are going in summer, You need to carry extra water bottles and sunscreen cream that can save you from the scorching heat of the sun.
Let us come back to our journey:
There were two cars:
- Ford Figo Diesel
- Grand i10-Petrol
The travelers were:
- Animesh-Behind Ford
- Sourabh-Behind i10
- Devopriya
- Madhurima
- Anindita
- Moumi
- Amitda
- Riku
Car testing:
The next day, I reached out to my service adviser Quazi from fortune ford tollichowki. He heard my journey details and sent my car for inspection.
Most importantly, he himself did this checking. He tested the wheels, tires, and brake condition. Tested the battery and all other necessary things, only a ford expert can understand.
As ever, I trust this guy blindly. Most importantly, he never tried to snatch money from my pocket. He handed over the key with a smile and assured me that my Figo was ready for a 650KM+ journey. My ford was ready for a long journey.
Route:
Day-1:Hyderabad->Ghatkesar->Alair->Kazipet->Hanmakonda->Laknavaram Lake
Map:
August brings cool weather in Hyderabad with lots of rain. The temperature starts dropping a bit. It gives a pleasure to drive in August in Hyderabad and around It.
We planned a two day trip to Warangal. Surprisingly, the weather was terrific no sun, quite cloudy, breezy, also a little cool which was a perfect recipe for a long drive.
Even though we were all set for the long drive. It started at around 7:30 AM on Saturday. We drove till ghatkeswar via outer ring road from TSPA and then took Warangal highway.
Toll costed- 70 Rs one-way. The road was excellent till bhangir. Then the normal state highway started. So far I remember I got one more toll plaza in the entire route.
Post crossing bhongir, we stopped for breakfast. It was a fine hotel with an option to accept credit cards. Then we drove to Kazipet. Stopped at a small tea stall for tea. Finally reached at Haritha just before reaching Laknavaram for lunch. The next 10 KM drive from the main road to the lake was nice. Full of jungle and greenery. We checked in the Laknavam Island hotel[Haritha]. We enjoyed hanging bridges and 3 times boat ride to the beautiful lake.
Few Snaps of the journey:
Hanging Bridge of the Laknavam: This is an excellent piece of engineering. If a gang goes on it,it starts swinging.
Boating at the lake: The view of the lake was breathtaking. The lake was full of lush green surrounded by hills everywhere. (During monsoon)
Morning View from Hotel Room:
Haritha Hotel Review at Laknavaram:
This hotel is inside an island maintained by Telangana tourism. So you have to book that prior to their online portal. As it is maintained by govt, please don’t expect a warm welcome with welcome drinks. However, security will be helpful. They will carry your luggage to the rooms. The rooms will not be ready beforehand. After you check-in, the cleanup activity starts. At least it happened to us. But after 15 minutes of waiting, we got a decent clean bed, working AC, TV with cable connection, a clean bathroom with geyser. We got 4 rooms, facing the lake. It was nice to look at the lake. The immediate view from the hotel room was fabulous. There were 4-5 rooms with 2/3 guard, I suggest you go to a gang. There is an option for the bonfire but due to rain, we could not opt for the activity. Also, we did not have a singer and guitarist in our gang. (No offense to Moumi)They had two kinds of food options…
- Room Service
- Cafeteria Service
As we were in a gang of 7 travelers, we preferred the second option. There were a lot of menus in the menu card. But very few were available. We selected from what was available for that day. Haritha hotel served snacks at around 5:30 PM. It was awesome, less spicy. We ate a lot. Later at 9:30 PM, they served the dinner. The cook was nice and did not understand Hindi but made such nice dishes that recharged us once again. Do not forget to try -Fish curry, Fish Fry(local), Chicken Curry, and hot rice. Remember to order the food well in advance.
Breakfast was complimentary to us. (Check before you book). I heard from my friends, they did not serve complimentary breakfast for them. Lucky we!!.
Those who booked this hotel can go inside near the gate. Rest have to park their vehicle outside and have to walk to the entry gate.
Since we had booked the rooms there, there was no entry fee but for others, they had to book a ticket costing Rs10. Boat riding cost was 150 Rs each ferry /per head and it was 30 minutes ride.
The night had a different beauty. The reflection of the moon on the lake was just awesome. There was one RO treatment plant inside of the Island. But I would suggest buying a water bottle from them or carry.
The island is protected with mesh-net but that was having lots of gaps. It was said that there are crocodiles in the lake. So be careful with your kids and before you jump in the lake for a swim.
During the night a lot of flies entered our room which forced us to switch off the light for a few minutes. After half an hour, we were accustomed to the situation.
Do check the lock of the rooms and window. One of my friends reported the lock of the window was not working for them.
The next day we wake up at around 8:30 AM. They served Tea at rooms. After the tea, we went straight to the cafeteria for breakfast. We knew a long drive was coming. We checked out at 9:30 AM and started the next day driving.
Tips:
- 103,104,105 were the best room there. So try to get those.
- The area seemed to be secure. After 6 PM the security did not allow anybody inside the island.
- They did not have dedicated covered parking. Better if you carry a car cover with you. But they allowed us to drive inside the main gate near the bridge.
- Mostly there was no network. The only airtel worked.
Trip to warangal Day-2: Laknavaram Lake->Ramappa Lake->Pakhal Lake—>Warangal Fort—>1000 pillar temple—>Ghatkeswar—>Hyderabad
Journey to Ramappa lake:
Ramappa Lake: the journey towards Ramappa lake was just fabulous. The road condition was ok.
The more we advanced towards the lake more the beauty of nature flashed.Finally, we reached the lake. There was a boating-facility available. It was Rs 30 INR/per head per trip for 15-20 mins of a boat ride. Since it was raining, we had to drop the plan.
Ramappa temple was beside the lake. it was built in the 12th to 13th centuries. We were spellbound by the beauty of the architecture of the temple.
Even the sculpture was superb. The structure was made block by block. A superior example of ancient three-dimensional work.
Unfortunately, nobody was preserving the great work. This superb piece of engineering survived many natural calamities, including earthquakes.
Trip to warangal We reached here at around 11:30 am and started our journey to pakhal lake at around 12:30 pm.
There were no snacks stall available near the temple. (maybe we went in a wrong season)Trip to warangal-Ramappa Lake Trip to warangal It took almost 2 hours to reach pakeha lake. The only bad thing that happened to us was to save our 5 KM, google diverted us to a muddy road. It was a horrible experience. Both cars were skidding left and right. After a lot of off-roading tests, we finally reached the original road. Initially, we thought that the lake was situated in a remote corner, hence without asking the locals, we took the road. Seeing the good road, everybody was happy.
We did a little off roading again to reach to the last point of the motorable road. It was very near to the lake. This place had a haritha hotel long back. This is the 8th best lake in the world and 2nd best lake in India. It was told that the great kakatiya king engineered this lake for drinking and water for irrigation for nearby 4 mondals. Not sure why the tourism department was not giving importance to this lake. The best part was to watch sunrise or sunset.
But the worst part was there were a lot of drunk people on the bank of the lake which made us leave. We clicked some quick photos and started our journey towards the thousand pillar temple.
Also visit: 10 Best Chilling Tourist Places In Southern India
It was dusk so we left our plan to visit the sanctuary. If you are planning to go here, go early you will see It is worth visiting the sanctuary. It has deer, cheetahs, tigers.
If you are traveling late the sunset can be a very good option. However, it was a treat for eyes, lenses. Since we were late we dropped the plan to go to the waterfall nearby called-Bhoinum.
If you are going for a jungle visit, don’t miss the taste of GIRIKA TADDU KALLU- a drink available in the village.
Trip to warangal During the journey Somewhere on the roadside:
We came back to the fort at around 4:30 pm, Sun god showed us some mercy. He gave enough lights to check the musical garden and the fort.
The best part was this garden has a good toilet facility. They were selling snacks. Since the sun god was with us, we took lots of pictures.
There was a laser show. Due to bad weather and less number of visitors, it was canceled for that day.
In this journey, a good thing happened. We were taking tea from a tea stall outside of the garden, We came to know this guy has a connection with Kolkata. He goes to Kolkata once in 6 months. He could talk in Bengali. Wow, We found him!!!.
After that, we went to Hawa mahal.
It was in ruin state now. Nothing was left out but good for history students like us.
Our last leg of the travel was to go to the thousand pillar temple.It was constructed from the 11th century to the 13th century constructed during king Rudra Deva. The design was a masterpiece of arts again with a block by block stone.
It was built in the shape of a star. This is famous for its extensive curve and thousand pillars. When we visited most of it’s parts were under construction/renovation.
We could only go to the main portion of the temple. Photography was not allowed here in the main temple. So we had to click outside. There were charges to enter(10 rs /head),camera (30 rs) and parking (25 rs/car).
We went to nearby KFC for lunch at warangal at around 6:30 PM. Then our return journey started. We reached at around 11:30 PM at Ghatkopar ghatkeswar. We came back with lots of memories.
Total journey: 630 KM
The volume of diesel/petrol-35 liter
Amount on Toll-180 Rs
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