Telangana

Telangana became India's twenty-ninth state in 2014, but its cities are far older. Hyderabad was founded in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, who built the Charminar as its centrepiece; the bangle shops of Laad Bazaar and the Mecca Masjid still crowd around it. Golconda Fort on its granite hill was the diamond capital of the world, trading the stones that became the Koh-i-Noor and the Hope; a clap at Fateh Darwaza still carries to the top. The Qutb Shahi tombs sit in a restored garden nearby, and the Nizams left Chowmahalla, Falaknuma and the Salar Jung Museum with its Veiled Rebecca. Two hours northeast, the Kakatiyas built Warangal Fort's carved gateways and, at Palampet, the Ramappa temple of 1213, which joined the World Heritage list in 2021 for its floating bricks and bracket figures. Nagarjunakonda's Buddhist remains sit on an island in a reservoir. And then there is the food: dum biryani sealed under dough, haleem in Ramzan, mirchi ka salan. Signature journeys pair Hyderabad with Warangal and Ramappa.