If you're familiar with Ramayana, Bhadrachalam is where you can relive the essence of it. Known for the Sita Ramachandraswamy temple, a historic palace, gushing river, and green terrains, Badhrachalam is about six hours away from Hyderabad (by road) and makes for a good trip.
Of course, it's a temple that holds a lot of religious significance but you can also spot edicts made by Ramdas on stone with guidelines on how to run the temple. Apart from the rituals, the architecture is quite amazing with intricate carvings and stone structures.
Enough about the temple now. Did you know there's a museum there which has royal jewellery and portraits of what went down there during the 1600s? Yup! Want to take a deeper dive into history? 44 km from Bhadrachalam is Parnasala which is said to be the place where Ravan abducted Sita. You will have to cross many tribal hamlets, ruins, and paddy fields to reach a hut with sculptures of Sita and Ravan that will depict the incident.
Phew! That's a lot of history. Post this, if you'd like a break and explore the scenic routes of Bhadrachalam, you can take a boat trip to Papikondalu. Also known as Papi Hills, this is a series of mountain ranges in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. Ferry through the Godavari river over a boat and explore the beauty.
They also have night camping provisions there, so make bookings in advance if you've got time for that (make time for that, guys). Awesome, right? The Godavari River flows through Bhadrachalam in general, so you can be sure you'll have a scenic trip with a lot to explore.
Sita Ramachandraswamy temple timings: 4 am - 12 pm, 3 pm - 9:30 pm
