Visiting Andhra Pradesh leads you into a vibrant history and stunning way of life that will be hard to beat.

Andhra Pradesh has a long and fascinating history which is revealed in its old cities, Islamic monuments, and temples galore.  It has a deep and rich everyday life that strums along in a rural setting and compliments the city lifestyle while being completely separate.  With much to do it will be difficult to find someone who hasn’t been pleased.

History of Andra Pradesh

The history of the state is long and colorful to say the least.  But if you dig in you will find a rich history of arts, culture and spirituality that run very deep.  The region was once an international center for Buddhist thought which lasted for about 300 years from the 3^rd century BC.  This is evident today through the numerous ruins of Stupas and monasteries spotted around the state.

Andhra Pradesh like most of India has many festivals year round; these have sprung up from throughout the various religions found in the region.  There is also a major industrial exhibition held here early each year. Andhra Pradesh is home to many temples and pilgrimage towns.

Andhra Pradesh can be broken up into four main areas the northern (East Godavari, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam) and southern coasts (Guntur, Krishna, Prakasam and Nellore), and then Telangala (Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda, Karimnagar, Medak, Nizambad, Adilabad, Warangal, Mahaboobnagar and Khammam) and Rayalaseema (Chittor, Anathapur, Cuddapah and Kurnool).

Tourism in Andra Pradesh

While here you will definitely want to visit some of the cities and sites like Bhadrachalam- a major pilgrim town, and Manyam Konda where you will find a 500 year old temple of Lord Venkateswara, and another temple of Lord Shiva.  Mantralayam, Nalgonda- with the largest man made dam made of rocks, and Kolanpaka an ancient Jain temple you will definitely not be short of finding something to marvel at.

You may also want to take in some traditional Carnatic Music which is rich in Telugu heritage, and Kuchipudi dance one of the classical forms of dance found in India.

Andhra Pradesh is relative to the size of New Zealand and one of the largest states in India, Telugu is the official language with Hindi and English also being widely accepted and spoken.

The Borra caves are near Visakhapatnam, and are famous for their million year old stalactite and stalagmite formations. The Belum Caves are the second largest cave system in the sub continent and have large long passages, spacious chambers, freshwater galleries and siphons.

Horsley Hills is a summer hills resort near the town Madanapalle, the mallamma temple is a good attraction here. Horsley Hills is also a good departure point for the Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary which is less than 90km away.

Andhra Pradesh is not like much of India, not as flashy and in your face with it tourism, but there is much to do and much to explore, plenty of history for those with the history bug and plenty to glean from local culture.  In fact the rural culture of Andra Pradesh is centuries old with 8 million people practising religious, cultural and farming traditions on a daily basis.