Andhra Pradesh!

Hey, I've been browsing through the various sub-forums, and have noticed there is zilch on Andhra Pradesh - nothing in the minor destinations section, so I've put this in the off the beaten track section.
Fair enough, I heard someone say there isn't much to see/do on the east coast, but surely this large state must have its charms.
If I missed a thread on this, then please correct me, but what I'd really like is for a local or foreigner with a passion for the state to write back and give us all the low-down, much like Digital Drifter did with his excellent post on Tamil Nadu.

Note
Thread transferred to new Andhra Pradesh section
Alan D

A little flattery always get help. Search the forum for Vizag or Visakhapatnam.

This link below seems comprehensive in a 'nerdy' sort of way. But I'm planning to go sometime.

http://www.vizagcityonline.com/vizag.../netshell.html

Apparently that's the only other place I can come up with apart from Hyderabad & Tirupati which are part of Andhra Pradesh; both of which have also been dealt with here. The bigger picture sorry, you'll have to wait a little longer for a more experienced person to dish out.

Use the search engine (link at bottom of post) and look for Hyderabad then look for Tirupati, I'm sure I remember these places being talked about a while ago.

Thanks Steven, I did this already, but I'm more interested in those 'off the beaten track' places, and perhaps a general summing up of the state.

AP has not had much visibility in the typical tourist circuit, but the state offers some surprises for the traveller looking for an off-the-beaten track experience.

I am not an expert on AP, so i will limit to a few places i know or have heard of.

- Vizag and Araku valley : vizag is a nice coastal town, and araku valley is a few hours off vizag, on the eastern ghats. nice green place, with tribals and a cave thrown in. enjoyable train ride from vizag to araku.

- AP has some beaches, none of them famous in the Goa-kerala category. havent been to any of them, so i cant comment.

- AP has a number of old buddhist/hindu/jain temples/ruins. has some excavation sites dating to 300 BC. Nagarjunasagar reservoirhas an island that has a museum which holds buddhist artifacts from an old budhhist site that was submerged in the reservoir.

- to a rock ( not the music type ) enthusiast, this is heaven. has a number of places especially around hyderabad that have the weirdest rock formations

- srisailam has a sprawling tiger reserve forest, and you may chance upon one if you are lucky. has leopards, deer etc as well. the whole area is spread over a series of hills above the plateau, with a gorge in between, which has a dam across the krishna river. a huge reservoir, which is a sight to behold in the rainy season. also has an old Siva temple, which is quite popular. the temple itself is a very interesting one, built out of granite.

- pulicat is a bird sanctuary. dont know more details.

- pochampally and gadwal are weaver villages where you can go and buy "loom fresh" sarees from weaver's homes.

- tirupati - of course, the most famous religious destination in AP. arguably the richest temple in india.

- hyderabad - capital city, nice place to be around, with quite a few sightseeing options - including the nizam's museum holding all kinds of artefacts, golconda fort, and a number of decent pubs to chill out. increasingly cosmopolitan.

last but not the least, AP is a sprawling state with wide, open spaces, and very decent roads. pleasure to drive across.

------ attached picture is of Srisailam reservoir, seen from near the temple.

Lot of good places to see in Andhra Pradesh.

1. Amaravathi Caves.
2. Srisailam
3. Vizag (Visakhapatnam)
4. Araku Valley (near Vizag) (Good Train Journey)
5. Borra Caves (near Vizag)
6. Tirupathi (Marvelous Temple and Crowd)
7. Hyderabad (Old forts, charminar etc)
8. Horsley Hills
9. Bheemli (near Vizag) and Rishikonda beaches
10. Lepakshi (The sculptures and paintings, next only to Ajanta and Ellora) (Rather very near from Bangalore).
and many more temple towns.

We will be heading to Guntur in AP this February for our wedding. Hauling about ten India-virgins along in our wedding party.

The future Mrs Shaktipalooza will be picking up clothing/bangles in Hyderabad and we will all be going to Tirupati for the post wedding pujas. I'll be sure to post info in the blog section as we make our way through the region.

The most important thing I know about AP is that the food there is considered the spiciest in the country, and Guntur is renowned as the hottest in AP.

Good stuff folks, just what I was after. Thanking you

http://www.indiantravelportal.com/andhra%2Dpradesh/

brief on hyderabad city and tirupati are available on my websites: http://peekayjee28.blogspot.com
http://peekayjee33.blogspot.com

there are nothing else of interest in AP.

I was in Vizag in the summer of 2003. It's the only place in India (in the World?) where you can visit a Russian nuclear submarine!

the Jet Airways inflight magazine had something about the 10 best beaches in India & Vizag beaches were awesome(at least going by the photos). Wanted to tear the pages up and post them there after scanning but didn't. If someone whacks the mag, you'll see the recommendations. It's either the Nov or the Oct issue.

Haven't been to the coast or the northern part of the state, but the south-western andhra countryside is beautifull.
think hampi, without the tourists , and if they haven't had rain for a while without the bananatrees.
if you really want to go off the beaten track, check out some of the hillforts in anantapur district (close to sai baba's main ashram). i'll post a picture soon. lepakshi is nice too, close to b'lore.
sadhuji, you're so wrong, go and see for yourself. AP really deserves a better reputation.

Lepakshi is a convenient day trip from Bangalore. It has a 16th century temple, carvings on pillars and frescoes on the temple roof. There is also the largest monolithic Nandi (Bull) statue here. I have some photos of the place at

http://community.webshots.com/album/175651065OrvXUi

Cheers
SLN

nice pics sakhs. i also posted some in my gallery