Urban lifestyles have chomped down the fun in the lives of people with corporate jobs. Not much time after you go home from office to spend with your family and there is no way you get a long leave to run away from the job and stress for a week. So, how about a weekend getaway with your family or friends? Is there an ideal location for a place that is suitable for family or friends? Yes friends, there is one place.

Not an extremely touristic place, Laknavaram lake is one of the few places in AP which offers such fun. Laknavaram is only 146 km away from Hyderabad and can be reached easily by different modes of transport. Cheapest way to get there would be by train to Warangal and a bus that goes towards Mulugu. From Mulugu you can take a share auto or there are a few buses passing in the way of Laknavaram too. From this drop off point, there are several autowalas who will charge around Rs 300 for a group of 6 people. 

A small tip is that try to gather a group before bargaining the price with the auto drivers.
Alternatively you can go on a bike or car if you wish to. From Hyderabad get on the NH 202 and drive until Mulugu. Proceed 8km further and you are in the village. Take right at the junction and drive around 8km further to reach the lake. There is ample parking space in the area.

Altenatively reach Parkal bypass if you are traveling from Karimnagar.

Enough about how to get there. Get out your smartphones fanboys and just drive.

What does Laknavaram offer for a tourist? It is important that you don't view this place like a tourism site. All it offers is respite. Now, respite can come in several ways, and Laknavaram has a few of them. On the way to Laknavaram are several lush green paddy fields the undulating waves of which are so soothing that you get lost in the bliss of grass swaying side to side. Laknavaram Lake has splendid views itself and the major attraction here is a suspension bridge that connects one of the island like pieces of land in the lake to the main land. Completely isolated from the rest of the city and the village in itself, the scenic beauty of the place cannot be expressed in words. Neither can pictures justify the quality of time spent here.

You can swim around as much as you please. Beware of the sharp pieces of rock near the shore. You can cut yourself pretty bad. Take a kayak and go around the lake. Or merely sit in the island covered in trees and look at the horizon all day. Let the fatigue of the fast paced lives drain out of your bodies. Become one with nature and the 10,000 acre lake, with trees and with the life of the place.

There are boat and jetty services offered. Check around for a good place to put on a camp fire. Go along the lake and you can find something in the lines of a waterfall, which is merely a small gush of water downhill on tunnels dug out by man. Drive through the gush of water if your heart tells you to do it.

Take your time out to visit the Ramappa temple too if you wish, but you may have to spend a night. Where can you stay near Laknavaram? Nowhere. There is not much development around here, and we seriously hope it stays this way. Go back to Warangal and there are a choice of hotels and good eateries too. Laknavaram doesn't offer anything decent enough to eat. Take a good amount of snacks, or anything you want to full your belly with. Water is an absolute must.

It is best if you avoid the lake in the peak summers and travel just after the rains. September through Feb or even March would be a great window for traveling. Share your travel experience with us here in the comment section.

(AW- Anil)