Trip to Hyderabad - Travelogue - Day 2

Trip to Hyderabad - Day 2

Day 2 was completely reserved for Ramoji Film City Tour. We had also planned to meet our friend on this day as he was travelling back to Pune on Friday via train and it was not possible to catch him on any other Day.

Ramoji Film City 🎉🎩🎤🎥

We had a long day of travel and hence we woke up a little late. We quickly had breakfast and by 10.30am we left for Ramoji Film City. The distance from the hotel was 31 kms and it was going to take us about an hour to reach Ramoji. We reached the gates at 11.17am IST and we travelled all by our car.

Entrance Gate of Ramoji

We had already booked the tickets online. The personal vehicles are not allowed inside the film city and you have to travel by the buses that Ramoji management provides. The charges are separate for AC buses as well as tickets for the package one takes.

Wild Wild West
The first show was known as Wild Wild West. You get a map with you and one can plan the visit to various studios and places within Ramoji. There are open buses which take you to the the places and you can board and off board at your choice of location.

Map of Ramoji

Live Action Scenes

Pic with the performers of the scenes

Spirit of Ramoji Show

We then moved on to the "Spirit of Ramoji" Show which takes place in a large hall. Here we got to witness shows of dance and acrobatic performance and aerial routine performances. One has to plan properly to ensure that they visit all the locations on time. The best is to arrive on time so that you do not miss any shows or locations.

Post this show we boarded the bus to a different location and went towrads the Bahubali Set

Bahubali Set

When you enter the Bahubali set, you really feel that you are entering Maheshmati :)

The set is the largest set at Ramoji and it take about 45 mins to view, take pics and move to the next location.

Set of Devsena

3D and VFX Studio

Post the Babhubali set, we went towards the 3D and VFX studio. Here you witness the green scene behind you and you feel as if you are walking in London.

Green Screen Behind

Hawa Mahal

We later moved to the set of Hawa Mahal which was used as a set in various films and movies

Eco Tour

We later moved to Eco Tour where we got to see various wild animals and birds which have been kept for public viewing.

As we came towards the evening we spent our time at Fundustan. During the time at Ramoji, we also visited locations mentioned on the maps and as we were moving from one place to another, we kept the photos to bare minimum and we enjoyed being there more.

At Fundustan

You will find a giant painted poster on the walls of Ramoji film city mentioning that its the largest film studio in the world.

It was a fun filling day at Ramoji and it took an entire day there. One has to have an entire Day energy and if you are coming with children please be prepared to have some more energy to manage all this. We returned to Madhapur as we were to meet a friend there and we enjoyed dinner while watching the Ind vs Aus women's ODI semi final. The scene leading upto Madhapur was as if we were in a different country all together. Stay tuned in for Day 3.

Trip to Hyderabad - Travelogue - Day 1

Pune- Hyderabad - Pune🚗🚗🚗

4 Day Trip to Hyderabad - Telangana - Jaruur Aaana

We had thought of going for a road trip in our new Tata Curvv car. Post Diwali we thought it would be a good time to travel. We searched through the night post our day jobs the location we can travel to in our car. We had to keep in mind that there was only a single driver (me) and we had to plan something that is within our limits. Post lot of search and reading, we fixed that "Hyderabad" is where we will travel. In my teenage, in my college days and there after for work, I had travelled to Hyderabad. So I has some knowledge of the locations and travel options. Leaves were applied for and mid week of Oct 29th we began our travel.

Travel Day - Pune to Pandharpur

On the 1st day of travel, 29th Oct we began our day early at 5.45am as it would be a 12hrs drive from Pune to Hyderabad. We stopped at Pune RTO petrol pump and filled in the tank to the brim. In Hyderabad, we planned to stay is Begumpet area in "The Plaza Hotel" this was run by the Telangana Tourism Dept and was highly rated and centrally located. While planning the travel, we intended to visit nearby places on the highway, our 1st stop was Pandharpur.

1st pitstop was Kamat hotel on the Solapur Pune Highway at Yawat and we wanted to get our tummies full as the next stop was Pandharpur. My wife did not like the breakfast and we both discussed on the way that we could have stopped at better hotels to explore taste and I was of the opinion that we wanted to have safe food :)

On the way we took lot of pics and videos near Ujjani Dam

We reached Pandharpur by 11.30am and quickly wanted to take Darshan and move towards our next stop which was Naldurg.

Tanga Ride in Pandharpur

Western Gate of the Pandharpur Temple

We decided to take Mukh Darshan which cost us around 20-30mins of time and we were able to pleasantly witness Vitthal Rakhumai fast as we had to march on to our destination. We spent around 90mins overall in Pandharpur and we started moving towards Naldurg at around 1pm IST

Travel Day - Pandharpur to Naldurg

While travelling to Hyderabad passing Pandharpur, you also get to witness the Naldurg Fort which is on the way and near the state border. So we had preplanned to visit the fort as it was right beside the highway route.

Entrance from Highway to Naldurg

Naldurg Fort Visit

We reached Naldurg at 2.30pm IST and were going to spend some time exploring the fort and then move on towards Hyderabad. 

Bastions of Naldurg

Small Entrance to Naldurg

At the entrance we were told that this fort comes under ASI and we cant click pics on DSLR cameras. Such notices are also kept to read at the inner entrance of the fort. While it was a useless board and notice we obliged and mentioned to the guard that we wont take DSLR pics but would click on phone.

The fort is very unique in nature and is surrounded by water in all 3 sides. It has internal waterfall and water reservoir systems. This fort after various kingdoms like Chalukyas, Bahamanis, Adil Shahis, Mughals and the Marathas, pass this on to one another, at the end was under the control of the Nizams of Hyderabad. After independence the Nizams of Hyderabad had decided to remain independent and this fort saw a battle with the Indian Army then. The small battle was named as "Operation Polo"

Ancient Fort Court and Police Station

The Indian forces launched a multi-pronged push on Naldurg and saw resistance from Razakars and the battle is permanently etched in Indian Military history.

Ancient Canon Design

Walking by the Bastion Walls

The Nar Mada Gates of Naldurg Water Reservoir

It took us till 5pm IST to complete exploration of the fort, it was a wonderful experience and the fort was built with lot of planning and thought. We had plans to also visit the Bidar fort on the way, but since it was already late for us, it would take us close to 10pm IST to reach Hyderabad to our hotel. We called our close friend who works out of Hyderabad and he too recommended to us that we skip the next fort as we would not reach in time.

Entering Hyderabad

When you enter Hyderabad and move towards Begumpet, you have to take the ORR (Outer Ring Road). I had first witnessed the ORR when I had visited Hyderabad in 2018 when I had a work related travel. My wife and kid witnessed it for the 1st time. It was drizzling and raining while we were reaching the hotel and we were 40 mins away.

Driving on the ORR section

Welcome to Hyderabad Traffic

We check-in at the hotel and had our dinner in the hotel itself. The next day for us was Ramoji Film City and then we were to also meet our friend in Hyderabad. Await the adventures of Day 2.