Monuments:
Monuments worth visiting are Charminar, Golconda Fort, Mecca Masjid, Qutb Shahi Tombs Hyderabad, Warangal Fort, Falaknuma Palace Hyderabad. Each of them has a colourful past and will transport you into another world.
Religious Places:
Picturesque Tirupati is located at a distance of about 525 km from Hyderabad. The age old temple of Lord Sri Venkateswara located here is the richest temple in the whole world... The outer walls of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple are covered in a sheet of pure gold. It is also the most visited shrine in the world, the number of devotees being in excess of four times those visiting Mecca/Medina.
Puttaparthi, the abode of peace, is the home of Bhagawan Sri Satya Sai Baba, India's most revered spiritual master of modern times. You don't have to be an ardent follower of Bhagwan Sri Satya Sai Baba to enjoy the tranquility of this place. All you have to have is faith in truth to rediscover yourselves.
Mahanandi, 80 km from Kurnool. It is famous for its Mahanandishwara temple going back to the 7th Century.
Lepakshi, 135 km from Ananthapur. the Veerabhadra Temple is one of the 108 temples of Lord Shiva in India, famous for its giant Nandi sculpture.
Forts:
Srisailam, 232 km south of Hyderabad, is situated on the banks of the Krishna. The 512 m long Srisailam dam located here is an amazing structure. The Bhramaramba Mallikarjunaswamy temple, one of the 12 Jyotirlingas, is one among the 18 Mahashakthis in India. A massive fort, with 6 metre high walls encloses the temple. Kurnool is also a fort. Golconda Fort.
Festivals: Shankaranthi, Ugadi, Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, Dusherra, Shivarathri, Holi, Easter, Mahankaali Jaathra, Id-Ul-Fitr, Bakri-id, Muharram, Milad-un-Nabi and Christmas.
Demographics: Andhra Pradesh has a population of 76,210,000. The state’s literacy rate is in excess of 45 %. Telugu is the official language of the state, spoken by 80.5% of the population. Urdu, Hindi and English follow. Tourists find it easy to get around as almost everybody knows Hindi or English. The overall percentage of Muslims in AP is 18%. AP’s capital, Hyderabad, has a large percentage of Muslims, touching 45-47%, but its twin city, Secunderabad, a one-time Cantonment, has a lower percentage of 18-19%%. The literacy rate in the twin cities is 84%.
Geographic Regions:
The state comprises three regions - Coastal Andhra, Telangana and Rayalaseema. These regions, parts of the same state, are distinctly different in dialect, cuisine, lifestyle and climate. The northern part of the Deccan plateau is generally considered as the Telangana region and the southern part is known as Rayalaseema. These two regions are separated by the River Krishna. There is a move afoot to bifurcate AP into Telangana and AP, which discussion is on at Parliamentary level.
AP, the "Rice Bowl of India" is so defined as over 77% of its crop is rice. AP is trisected by the Godavari and the Krishna rivers. A small enclave (30 km²) of the Yanam district of Puducherry (Pondicherry) lies in the Godavari Delta in the north-east of the state. Cities to Visit: Visakhapatnam, Puttaparthi, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Mahanandi, Warangal, Kurnool, Belum Caves, Ahobilam and Oravakallu. Oravakallu is a miniature Grand Canyon, 60 km from Kurnool,
Fairs:
Deccan Festival,Lumbini Festival,Tirupati Festival,Visakha Utsav,Pongal Festival and Rayalaseema Food and Dance Festival.
Arts & Craft:
Banjara Needle Crafts (Embroidery), Bidri Craft, Bronze Castings, Budithi Brassware, Pembarthi Metal Crafts, Durgi Stone Craft, Kondapalli Toys, Lacquer Ware, Dharmavaram Saris, Eluru Carpets and Kalamkari Fabrics.
Cuisine:
The cuisine of Andhra Pradesh is reputedly one of the spiciest of all Indian cuisine. Rice is the basic cereal and is used widely. Meat, vegetables and greens are blended with different spices (masala) into a variety of strongly flavoured dishes. Lamb, chicken and fish are the preferred non-vegetarian dishes. The biryani is Hyderabadi cuisine and Hyderabad is the Biryani paradise. Take it from me, you need guts of iron and a tongue of steel to get past the chillies.
Climate:
Andhra Pradesh (AP) has the all-pervasive Indian tropical monsoon climate. Summers, from March to mid-October, are quite hot with the mercury rising up to 40-43°C. It includes the Monsoons (June to mid-October), which are sultry, with most rainfall between July-September. The best time of the year to visit Andhra Pradesh is during the winter months (November to February), when the climate is a pleasant 13°-32°C.
How to Get There:
By Air: AP has two International Airports, one within Hyderabad city (Begumpet) and a new one, 40 km out (Rajiv Gandhi International Airport). The international segment of Begumpet, called Rajiv Gandhi Terminal, is moving out and merging with Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. There are two other military airfields in Hyderabad, with heavy training traffic, which is why the international airport was moved out. The eight other airports at Visakhapatnam, Warangal, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Puttaparthi, Kadapa (old Cuddapah Airport) and Donakonda are domestic airports.
By Rail and Road:
The excellent infrastructure of 146,944 km of roads, rail facilities, airports and ports, makes AP easily accessible from every part of India. Road and rail links connect every city in AP to each other and travel is hassle free. Road conditions deteriorate in the interior, but that does not faze the average Indian and even the hardy tourists who throng this state. Travel is cheap in India and AP is no exception. Andhra Pradesh has two of the major ports of India at Visakhapatnam and Kakinada and three minor ports at Krishnapatnam, Machilipatnam and Nizampatnam. A private port is being developed near Visakhapatnam to accommodate ocean liners up to 200,000–250,000 DWT, allowing big ocean liners to enter Indian shores.
