Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Telangana's capital, blends nearly 450 years of Qutb Shahi and Nizam-era heritage with one of India's fastest-growing IT and pharmaceutical industries, giving the city a genuinely dual identity as both a centre of Deccan Islamic architecture and a major contemporary technology hub. The old city, anchored by Charminar and the Mecca Masjid, retains a dense, atmospheric bazaar culture, while HITEC City on the outskirts houses offices for many of the world's largest technology companies.

Hyderabadi cuisine, particularly its biryani, has achieved near-legendary status across India, reflecting the city's centuries of Persian, Turkic and Deccan culinary influences under Qutb Shahi and later Nizam rule, and this culinary identity remains as central to Hyderabad's character as its historic monuments.

Founded in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah as a planned extension of the older Golconda Fort settlement, Hyderabad later became the capital of the princely state of Hyderabad under the Nizams, one of the largest and wealthiest princely states in colonial India, before merging into the Indian union in 1948.

Hyderabad has a major international airport and is a significant railway junction.