When planning a visit to a museum in Hyderabad, the first name that comes to mind is Salar Jung Museum. Once ruled by Mughals, Qutub Shahis, and Nizams the city boosts a magnificent collection of tourist places, including mosques, temples and monuments. Apart from these, the city also has intriguing museums with a large collection of arts and antiques, royal clothes to cutlery, that help one to the insights that impart yesteryear culture and civilization of the city.

Chowmahalla Palace: Built over 200 years ago, the palace is renowed for its unique style and elegance where the Nizam’s entertained their official guests and royal visitors. Testimony to an era of rule by the Nizam’s is the grandeur Chowmahalla Palace, where Chow stands for four and Mahalla means palace and therefore Chowmahalla means four palaces. The royal lifestyle of the Nizam’s is at its full exclusive display at the place which hosts the life of Nizams’.

• Entry: Rs: 50
• Timings: 10:00 AM to 5:00PM (Closed on Friday)
• Address: Chowmahalla Palace, Khilwat, Motigalli, Hyderabad

Birla Science Museum: The Birla Science Centre boasts an Interactive Science Centre, Archaeology and Doll Museum and a Planetarium. At the Interactive Science Centre, visitors get a chance to experience various scientific phenomena, including optical illusions, sound and light. Popular among visitors of all ages alike is the Dinosaurium that houses the rare fossil of the Kotasaurus – a dinosaur from the lower Jurassic period. But a visit to the science centre is incomplete without spending time at the planetarium which, from time to time, conducts special exhibits, divulging into various celestial wonders.

• Entry: Rs 80; Rs 50 for camera
• Timings: Monday to Sunday; 10.30 am to 9 pm
• Address: B.M. Birla Science Museum,Hyderabad

Nizam's Museum: A visit to Salar Jung museum will leave a visitor spellbound, but not far away from Salar Jung, is the Nizam’s Musuem which was built in commemoration of the last Nizam. Located at Purani Haveli, part of Nizam’s residence, the attraction of the museum is the wardrobe of HEH Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad. The wardrobe hosts a collection of clothes adorned by men, women and children of Hyderabad during the Nizam era.

• Entry: Rs 80
• Timings: Monday to Sunday; 10 am to 5 pm (Closed on Friday)
• Address: H.E.H. The Nizam’s Museum, Purani Haveli, Hyderabad

Telangana State Museum of Archaeology: If you drive past the Assembly building, you are sure to notice a series of white buildings within the Public Gardens compound. One of these buildings houses the Telangana State Archaeological Museum (formerly the Andhra Pradesh State Archaeological Museum). This museum contains exhibits from excavations, with items as old as 2,353 years – the Egyptian Mummy, which is one of the most popular exhibits. It also contains Hindu, Jain and Buddhist sculptures, as well as art and artifacts from the 18th and 19th century.

• Entry: Rs 10 for adults; Rs 5 for child; Rs 20 for camera; Rs 100 for video camera
• Timings: Monday to Sunday; 10.30 am to 5 pm (Closed on Friday)
• Address: Telangana Assembly, Hyderabad.

-Compiled by Pavani Kodati