Estimated net time	1 hour, but more if going with a guide.
Difficulty	No difficulties. The whole route is done on walk ways.
Drinking water	There is a fountain along the route close to the summit, but it's best to bring your own bottle.
GSM coverage	Coverage throughout the route (November 2011).
Parking	Room for many cars at trail head car park.
Start height	530 metres
Vertical metres	105 metres for the roundtrip.
Trip distance	2.1 km
GPS-file	X
Map		Google Interactive Map
Route photo

Golkonda fort is located in the old part of Hyderabad, and getting you there is something you should leave to the locals. Do not even think about driving there yourself.

From the main car park walk slightly downhill (south) to the ticket office (fees apply), and then head right (north) after you have walked the initial 50 metres. Walk through the open building and bear a little right in order to ascent Golkonda via its public route from north. When you get to the summit you climb the summit building from the open square outside it.

Descend back down to the open square, and then turn right in order to follow the 360 steps called "the king's way" back down to the entrance area.

13. November 2011

First full day in Hyderabad, and Tim and me were trying to adjust to both climate and time-zone before the next few days of hard work. The plan for this Sunday was to be tourists, and then go for a run in the early evening. But in the afternoon Upendra called us, and asked if we wanted to visit the old royal fort of Golkonda. Apart from work, this was actually the only thing on my wish list so I wasn't hard to persuade, in particular since this seemed to be the only top around Hyderabad I would have any chance of visiting during my one week visit.

Upendra picked us up around 15:00 and we drove through the old Hyderabad, with all its interesting sightings, and arrived at the Golkonda car park around 15:45. Here we joined the queues and made our way through the ticket booth, and were soon aggressively approached by guides. The first shark didn't suit us at all, and we managed to get him off our shoulders. And I wasn't keen on a guide at all, so when the second guy started his pushing I hoped he would give in after a few minutes. But it turned out this was a better guy, with better language skills, so we let him guide us. More specifically, he guided Tim and Upendra since I was more into a nice stroll and enjoying the scenery. Hence I eventually drifted ahead of the others and made it to the summit and then up to the view point of the summit building. From here I enjoyed some first class views of parts of Hyderabad, before the others started wondering what had happened to me, and started calling. Hence I walked back to the others and joined them when they also made it to the summit. This second visit to the summit was not as painless as the first visit, since a lot of the locals wanted to have photos taken of themselves together with the foreigners. In particular Tim's height attracted attention, and we were soon keen to descend, which we did via the king's way.

Back down we had some confusion whether to stay for the evening light show or not, since tickets had been bought without my knowledge, and I guess I was a bit of a pain when I wanted to get back to the hotel instead of staying for the show. I'm probably not terribly good at being entertained by sitting down, as opposed to being part of action. So it ended up with Upendra getting money back for the tickets, and he very kindly drove us back to the hotel.

A really excellent day despite the slight hick-up towards the end.
Photos 13.11.2011