The City of Pearls Walking Tour

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the tour led by John. The tour wasn’t merely informative but also immersive and enabled us to observe and feel the daily rhythm of life in the Charminar area. Any guide can regurgitate dates, names and historical facts.. what we loved about this tour was the storytelling, dialogue and focus on getting a taste of local life. John was great with answering questions and went above and beyond with tips and other help. Highly recommend!

The walking tour was amazing. My guide, Ramu, was terrific. We went not only to the main bazaar at Charminar, but to several other small Hindu shrines and Muslim mosques and Nimrah's cafe & bakery (a must for some special tea and cookies). The Palace complex was fascinating and Ramu's knowledge of the place and history of the area was incredible. this is a definite must if you visit Hyderabad. .

Madhu was a fantastic guide, really knowledgeable and passionate about the city, its monuments and its history. We had great conversations and I learned a lot. He did not try and take me to places where I did not want to buy anything, which I really appreciate.

The walking tour around the old cityis worth taking. Ramu, the guide, was very knoledgeable about each of the places visited. I enjoy savouring the city bust and the people. The buildings are incredible

Here are the reasons I cannot recommend this tour: I booked the tour several weeks in advance, but it was not until I was in the car with the tour guide that I was told that the Chowmahalla Palace and Mecca Masjid were closed on Fridays. Maybe the tour should not be offered on Fridays, or maybe they should notify you before you book a tour on a Friday that these two major attractions will not be included. From the first few minutes I was in the car with John, the guide, he was relentlessly selling me on going to a pearl jewelry store after the tour to get the best quality and deals. Despite repeatedly telling him I was not interested buying pearls, he continued to propose that we go to buy pearls after tour. I received a confirmation email for the tour that recommended having a hearty breakfast for the walking tour. However, our very first stop was a café where we were coerced into eating a variety of local cookies and drinking chai tea. For a walking tour, we spent a lot of time in cars—from the hotel to the walking tour area, from the walking tour area to the British Residency (the very disappointing replacement for the palace that was not worth the time or effort it took to get there) from the British Residency to the souvenir store, from the souvenir store back to the hotel. Not much walking; a lot of riding. In case you’re wondering, I did not let John take me to buy pearls—after the very aggressive salespeople in the souvenir store, I was done and insisted that John take me back to the hotel. For five hours and $120, I do not feel like I got to see very much of Hyderabad, and I did not have a very pleasant experience.

I booked last minute and appreciated that Navin and his team responded quickly and accommodated my schedule. John, my guide, was eager to please. As a solo female traveller, having the hotel pickup and drop-off and guide at my side throughout the trip were important to me to feel relaxed and deal with any hiccups (like the ATM not accepting my card, or random man asking for pictures). My recommendations for other travellers considering the City of Pearls tour is to go for it. If you're going to get a hotel pick-up, consider asking for the guide to come with the driver to pick you up - some drivers don't speak English and havingnthe guide there for the ride gives some extra time to ask questions and hear more about Hyderabad. Navin recommended eating a hearty breakfast before the tour to fuel up for all the walking. I would suggest instead to have whatever you normally have for breakfast, as you should have the opportunity to fuel up on delicious chai and cookies at the start of the tour. I went on a Friday as that was the only day available in my schedule. I suggest booking a different day if you have the flexibility, as some attractions are closed or not accessible on Fridays. The alternative that we did (British Residency) was a good substitute but I suspect the regular itinerary would be the way to go. And my last recommendation is don't be shy to ask John (or your guide) for anything. He's eager to please and can give good recommendations if you want to find a good biryani, try a custard apple, or take care of haggling for prices on your behalf and much more.

I very much enjoyed the tour in the old city of Hyderabad and learn about the history of the city, the laad bazaar and the Nizam rulers. The tour guide John was really great and guided me well through the streets and the bazaar. I very much liked climbing up the Chaminar and have chai tea and cookies at the local bakery. I had an excellent time during the tour.

Had a lovely stay everything was amazing our checkin was very fast and they given us a neat room all the staffs are very polite receptionists are very friendly and they describe us about the membership it is very good

While in Hyderabad on a business trip I had a Sunday free and decided to book the City of Pearls walking tour. I chose to include the transportation to and from the hotel and highly recommend this option. My guide joined myself and the driver in the car and received extra tidbits of historical information as we drove to the drop off. The driver and my guide Mohan were extremely professional. Mohan is very knowledgeable and I felt safe and supported with him during the tour. The site seeing was excellent and it was cool to experience the raw Hyderabad. Recommend anyone with time to book this tour and enjoy the experience!

It was a very nice trip and a nice guide. The only sad thing was that both Mecca Masjid and Chowmahalla Palace was closed due to a Friday. So I wasn't able to see this. But the guide did some other presentations instead. But still this was a little bit sad.