I am attending a meeting at the Hyderabad Convention Center. There is a Novotel hotel attached. Has anyone any experience with this hotel?

There seem to be *no* other lodging options within walking distance. Most are in tech city and I'm told the taxi rides are long at rush hour.

I usually like B&B type places and to walk (up to half a mile) to meetings.

Any suggestions?

Are there non-hotel restaurants and shops around the Convention Center?

Sylvia

Sylvia - I just arrived in Hyderabad and am staying at the Novotel. It is a fine hotel and there are no other options that are "easy". The perimeter of the grounds are fenced and there is much more security than you would typically find in the West. As such, I would suggest that you stay at Novotel or if you need to stay at another, either the Marriott or one of the Tajproperties. You may want to look into hiring a full time driver via Premier rent a cab. I have not see any restaurants close by, again I do not think walking outside the perimeter is a wise option. This is India and the convention center is just away from the center. As such, it has it's advantages and diadvantages. The food here at Novotel is varied and good. Friends who have travelled here recently have given me a list of places to eat. I'll post more as I leran more.

"I do not think walking outside the perimeter is a wise option" Why not? Is this an especially bad part of town? I walked in a number Indian cities quite safely... If you spend all your time in Intercontinental hotels and driving around, you'll miss the real flavor of India.

Hyderabad is one of the most pleasant and relaxing Indian cities we have visited.
Here is a small trip report I posted on another forum 1½ ago.
I do not know where the convention centre is located, so maybe the hotels I mention will not be of interest for you.

We have just spent a week in Hyderabad, we choose this destination because of the direct flights from Europe, so going there for a short time seemed OK
It is not a city for people coming to India for the first or even third visit; we have been to India several times so we like these out of the way places.
We really liked the city, very helpful and kind people, only saw 6 tourists during the week.
The prices for hotels are quite high, as many places in India but we stayed in 2 hotels, that we found reasonable priced.
Because of the Diwali causing a lot of traffic jams, we divided our time to different parts of the city.
Woodbridge Hotel in Lakdi-ka-pool, paid 2240 Rps for double aircon including breakfast.
The room was OK, a bit of traffic noise, staff quite helpful, breakfast very Indian.
The next hotel we consider a real find: Minerva Grand www.minervagrand.com
has only been open 6 month, Japanese style, red and black and a lot of open space, we had a suite, 50-60 m3, paid US$ 125, no traffic noise at all. The staff has been very well trained.
The hotel is in the Paradise area of Sekunderabad, 10 min. walk to Paradise restaurant, lively street with a lot of local shopping.
What really made our trip, was our taxi driver, he just happened to be driving, the first time we called for a taxi. He drove for us every day, a very pleasant young guy with a good sense of humour, knew the city in and out, and walked with us through several markets, so we did not get lost.
His name is Susheel, works for a taxi company: Apple Cabs 55992225 – 55992226
His mobile number 09701024420
We spent most of our time driving / walking through streets and markets, people watching, enjoying the decorations for Diwali. It is one of the most pleasant and easy going cities we have been to in India.
Colkonda Fort was a nice trip out of the city, we did not stay for the light show
Ramoji Film city was in our opinion a vast of almost a whole day
We also a bit of shopping:
Pearl jewellery: somewhere on the internet I had found recommendation of this shop:
Princess Pearls, Peshwar Plaza, South Abids. It is a whole sale / retail shop, did not buy any expensive stuff, but quite a lot of earrings 200 – 450 Rps each to use as presents. To us it seemed very good prices compared to other shops. If you do go there say hello from DK for us.
Check out this site for information http://www.channel6magazine.com

The convention centre is not located near the city centre of Hyderabad, it’s about 10-15 miles or so from those areas. I am not too familiar with the area, but I would not say you would find it unsafe, just possibly not too much of interest in the immediate area. The convention centre and hotels/offices were purpose-built as part of HITEC City, and I believe this land was mostly farmers’ fields and small villages until about 15 years or so ago, so that is why you may not find much of historical or cultural interest. There are many other large corporate parks campuses there and there are some shopping malls, in the latter you could find local restaurants.

If your meetings are there, I would stay there and then go out at night to downtown areas of Hyderabad for restaurants and shopping, you might find this more interesting, esp the Chaminar and the old bazaar areas around it which are very interesting, IMO. I would agree with comment that rush hours can be bad, so staying elsewhere and commuting to the convention centre from Hyderabad may turn out to be quite a pain for you. You could also arrive early or stay on a few days, and move to a hotel in Hyderabad itself which might give you the more local experience you may be seeking.

I don’t believe you will find any B&B options that would work for you that would be near to HITEC City, but do take a look at http://sawdays.co.uk/ (click on the book for India), which usually has good suggestions for more unusual places to stay. You can also buy the book, <i>Special Places to Stay India</i>, but the website will give you a very long list of hotels to start with. Your idea of walking from a hotel to the convention centre is quite quaint, but a bit impractical IMO, as in many cases you won’t even find sidewalks to walk on, although within the confines of HITEC City infrastructure is pretty good, I just don’t think you will find any small B&Bs in that areas, but I could be wrong.

Hyderabad is a very interesting city and if you have time seeing the old city parts is well worth it. There are some wonderful buildings throughout the city, the courthouse (built by the British) is like something out of Arabian nights. I thought that the Nizam’s Museum in the Purani Haveli (one of his former palaces), was very interesting, and is easily combinable with a tour of the old city. The Salar Jung Museum has a huge collection of Indian and other items. Golconda fort, mentioned above, is also worth a drive out to see. Note that most museums are closed Fridays, although I think Golconda is open everyday.

All of this is fascinating, but possibly escaping the OP's attention, as the latter's post was about 390 days ago.

hi,

ive attended conferences at the Novotel twice so far and will do so again in Nov this year.

the hotel is the best option to stay if you are attending conferences at the Conv center. makes life very comfortable.

i have taken cabs/autos to the airport at night and have had no trouble, i didnt find the area unsafe at all, however there isnt much of anything around.