Nagarjuna Sagar | Itinerary to One of the Largest Masonry Dams in Asia

DAM as seen from Motorboat

If you are in Hyderabad or planning to visit Hyderabad or going to move to Hyderabad, by this time you must definitely have had a conversation about going to Nagarjuna Sagar, which is famous with name ‘Sagar’ among Hyderabadis. Especially if you have only one day in your hand, which was the case with me, it’s one of the best places to choose for.

Plan to visit Nagarjuna Sagar was there since long but it actually came in action when one of my friend was there in the house and I could not find any time to roam with her until she was only 24hrs away to leave my place. So we decided to visit a place which could fit in this time period.  Although it was middle of October which is supposedly the peak season to visit Sagar but we were still in doubt, if we would be able to see water in the dam, as there was almost no rain in 2015 in Hyderabad. With little reluctance, journey for Sagar started which came to a contended end on next day.

Counted among the largest masonry dams in Asia, located around 180kms from Hyderabad, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is straddling in 2 states of India, viz. Nalgonda district of Telangana and Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh as river Krishna on which Dam is standing, is forming a boundary here. Dam completed the construction in 1967 with 26 massive flood gates. People say that view is jaw dropping when all of those gates are opened during peak monsoon.

Day One to Sagar

Journey started in the evening of Saturday around 6PM from my home, picked up the friends one-by-one and could touch ORR by 7PM, all thanks to the weekend traffic.

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We were in no hurry. First stop we took at Sai Baba Temple which stands on the side of the road at Chintapally. Locals call this temple as Second Shirdi and like all other Sai Baba Temples, this temple was also full of peace. Temple premises has many idols including Lord Ganesha, Goddess Saraswati etc. alongwith a big Goshala (cow shed) and a big garden.

Timings of the Temple :- 5:30AM to 9:00PM everyday

Sai Sannidhi Temple, Chintapally

Next halt was to have dinner in the nearby village on roadside Dhaba.

Around 11:00 PM we reached Nagarjuna Sagar and hunt started for a nice place to stay overnight. Like most of the other people, we first went to Haritha Resort which was as expected full due to the weekend. Next property we entered in, was the nearby Hotel Siddhartha and booked a big cottage over there. This resort is very spacious as all the cottages are on significant distance which will give you the feel of staying in an individual house in the middle of the jungle. Although we were very late so could not get good room service but it was good enough to spend a night over there.

Next moment we all were again in the car to have a night view of the Dam. It was around 12 in midnight which was perfect time to have a different view of it. Dam was illuminated with lights and those lights were depicting the name of the dam on the top of it. So if you are also planning to stay overnight, visit the Dam in night once.

This was not the end of the day as we were still in mood to have some more fun. So we started to walk inside the resort and after a while we sat on the road below the street light which ended up with a non-stop session of storytelling.

Good night to Day one…. :)

Day Two at Sagar

Day 2 was quite a long day. In early morning, planned to see the Dam again and it was tough to believe that your eyes saw same Sagar Dam last night. It is really massive having 26 gates. Although water level was really low on this side of the dam, so we tried to went close to it, where we were stopped by guards which were posted there to stop the people like us.

 Massive Nagarjuna Sagar Dam with 26 Gates

Dam was posing for us and we were busy; clicking pictures of it from every possible angle. There is a very small temple at the reservoir bed so we visited the temple. But the main purpose to go down to the bed was to enjoy water of Krishna river. With our legs in the cold water of Krishna, we sat there for some time.

Like every other group, in this group also some people were there who never feel fresh until they have morning tea. There were many local shops, we entered into the one where we could get some snacks too.

Only 11kms away from Sagar Dam towards Macherla, Chandravanka river is cascading down from 70 feet resulting in the formation of Ethipothala Waterfalls. It joins the Krishna river later in its course.  It is said that trekking was allowed to the base of the falls earlier, but because of some mishappening, it has been discontinued. This place is also the breeding ground of the crocodiles and we were lucky to spot one.

Even Ethipothala was having less water...

Waterfalls are illuminated in the evening from 6:30PM to 9:00PM, so you can plan accordingly if you are staying overnight.

In the vicinity of the falls, two temples are located, Ranganatha Swamy and Dattatreya Swamy. There is a gate at the side of the main gate, which takes you to the temples and also to the flowing water of Ethipothala waterfalls. We sat by the side of the water and enjoyed for some time. Then started a little trek inside the forest and visited both the temples. There were some caves near the temple, it is said that through these caves one can reach Srisailam... 

Dattatreya Swamy Temple in the middle of forest

By the time we returned to the hotel, we were still in our night dresses & were dying out of starvation. We took a while in packing our bags and had lunch in the main cafeteria of the hotel (Hotel Siddhartha) which tasted much better than our expectations. So you can also visit it once if you are searching for the place to have lunch near Sagar.

Our tummies were fully satisfied and we started for the next and last point of the day, the Boat Launch Station operated by AP Tourism. There are motorboats which take you to an island called Nagarjunakonda which is a historical Buddhist town. The site has a 14^th century fort, medieval temples and a museum constructed like a Buddhist Vihara. One-way boat journey takes about an hour and there is no fixed duration to explore the island. But the last boat from island to mainland is at 5:30PM, so you should plan accordingly.

One of the motorboat coming back from Nagarjunakonda

After coming back to the bank of reservoir, the only thing that we could think of.. was to reach Hyderabad in time so that my friend could catch the bus for her return journey...