Hyderabad travel guide

Hyderabad, also known as Neroonkot, is the capital and largest city of the Hyderabad Division in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the second-largest city in Sindh, after Karachi, and the 7th largest in Pakistan.

Hyderabad's early history dates back to a small fishing village on the River Indus known as Neroon Kot, named after its local Sindhi ruler Neroon. Later, Hyderabad was founded in 1768 by Kalhora ruler Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro on the ruins of Neroon Kot and the city was made capital of Sindh. It started to expand, progressed and flourished, and obtained the nickname of Heart of the Mehran as the Kalhora ruler Mian Ghulam Shah was said to have fallen in love with the city. After the death of the last Kalhoro ruler, the Talpur dynasty conquered the region.

There are many cheap lodgings and hotels at affordable charges scattered outside and near the Hyderabad train station. Allegedly, none of the hotels near the Pakka Qila accept foreigners. If foreigner, the advice is to go to area by the Autobahn Rd. There are a lot of guesthouses accepting foreigners there, with prices from 4,000 PKR.

Getting in

Hyderabad is connected with rest of Pakistan through National Highways # N-5 and # N-55 (the Indus Highway). Travellers coming from the north of Pakistan, usually prefer to come via the N-5, whereas travellers coming from the north-west of Pakistan prefer to use the N-55. Hyderabad is connected with Karachi both via a highway and motorway but travel by the M-9 motorway (Super Highway) is preferred. It's 150km long and the journey take about two hours. Plenty of air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned buses and vans run to Hyderabad from other major cities of Pakistan.

Getting around

Transportation is by private car, taxi, or rickshaw. Unlike in Karachi, black and white taxis do not operate in Hyderabad. Taxis are generally private cars and operated by taxi companies, so they cannot be hailed on streets, since distinguishing between a taxi and a private car may be difficult. You can ask at a hotel to arrange a taxi, or call the taxi company offices. These taxis are usually air-conditioned, modern and clean fleet which makes them the most comfortable, luxurious way to navigate around the city of Hyderabad especially in the blistering hot weather of Summer.

Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.