Just went for a short day trip to Bidar from Hyderabad on Jan 16, 2010. This post is to document the whole plan and quick tips Since we travelled with GPS and Google maps have excellent coverage of the area we didn’t face any issues.
The way to Bidar
The route maps on Google here. The total distance came out to be
We started around 7:00 a.m from Hyderabad and even though we expected around 2 hours of driving it turned out to be 3 hours as we took a pit-stop in the Haritha Restaurant (APTDC) for breakfast. The restaurant came around 60-65 kms from Hyderabad. The choice of food was limited but the Poori and Idli we had was steaming hot and sumptuous. The bathrooms were clean as well :). The stop is highly recommended.
The road was excellent all the way and traffic was sparse, I could drive easily at 100kmph. Just before reaching Bidar there is a reserve forest and when we were driving through a tiger leapt in front of our car. Ok I was kidding the forest is there and my daughter was trying to see a tiger :)
In Bidar
We took the following route plan inside Bidar
Our first stop was the remains of the ancient theological college (B), Mohamad Gawan Madrasa. Built in 1472 by Gawan, a Persian exile and scholar of the Bahmani court, this was one of the greatest centers of Islamic learning of its time, attracting students from all over. We got some nice shots of the place and the beautiful green parrots hovering around added to the color.
From this we drove another km to the Bidar fort (C), which comes straight ahead. After getting through another set of fort gates we got into the fort.
Do note that the whole idea of fort gates is to make entry difficult and not allow you to see what is ahead, so drive carefully and honk (there is a sign that proclaims horn-mandatory).
Inside the fort we first went to the museum and then asked the folks their to show us around the fort. The fort is kept under lock-key to prevent people from scribbling pappu-loves-pinki on the walls and you need to explicitly ask to be shown around (and tip them at the end). We were shown around the various Mahals, especially the Rangeen Mahal took our breadth away. The museum also has some interesting pieces like locks which are bigger than my door and huge guns which could be carried only by people who anyway didn’t need them.
Just outside the museum is the canteen where we grabbed some food and coffee. The whole area around Bidar cultivates sugarcane, and if you are not explicit about it they’d put all of that in your cup of coffee. Energized with all that sucrose we ventured out to the back of the museum to see the diwan-e-aam and diwan-e-khaas.
After that we drove down to the Barid Shahi tombs (D). It has a nice little park and our daughter enjoyed the welcome break from seeing old buildings and enjoyed the slides and slings.
We asked the Sardarji security guard for some pointers for good food and we pointed to a fantastic restaurant. It’s called Rohit Restaurant and is on the road that leads to the Gurudwara from SH4 and is just beside the police chowki. It’s Punjabi cuisine, vegetarian and is clean and the food proved to be excellent (their naan/daal-fry can hands down beat any 5-star restaurant). Highly recommended.
It was around 3:30 when we finished our Bidar tour and drove back to Hyd.
Tips:
- Carry a map (print-out from Google) for Bidar city if you do not have GPS
- Start early so that you can finish the fort before it gets too hot
- Ask to be shown around inside Bidar fort and tip at the end
- Carry cloth to cover head if you plan to visit the Gurudwara
- The Rohit restaurant close to the Gurudwara is highly recommended.
- Do buy some Bidriware (small pieces comes for around Rs.200). However, you need to go to choubara area to buy them.
If you visit Bidar and want to get something added/updated to this post do leave a comment.
