Falaknuma Palace

For my birthday, Mike surprised me with a stay at the Falaknuma Palace complete with a carriage ride and dinner overlooking the city lights.  It was unbelievably beautiful!


The Falaknuma Palace is located near the Old City in Hyderabad.  It is approximately 125-150 years old, depending on who you ask.  Originally built by the Prime Minister, it took 9-10 years to complete and 22 years to decorate!  The Prime Minister went bankrupt and sold it to his brother-in-law, King Nizam VI.  The king never lived in the palace.  He used it as a guest house!

Falaknuma" means "mirror of the sky."  The palace is painted to blend in with whatever color the sky is.  It is a blend of Italian and Tudor architecture.

It is approximately 19,400 square meters and laid out in the shape of a scorpion. Apparently the prime minister was a Scorpio. Everything here has some sort of mystical slant.  Good thing he wasn't a Cancer.  A crab shaped castle would have been hard to build.

Courtyard in the center of the palace. This would be
the "body" of the scorpion.

Our dinner table was set up out here!

^ Entrance to the spa

The marble Grand Staircase is cantilevered.  Even the railings and balusters are marble!

Dining Room seats 100 people

One of those chairs down there has my name on it!

African tribal dancers

The gentleman in the middle is still dancing at 87 years old.
He was one of King Nizam's bodyguards.

This is the part of the city that surrounds the palace.  The palace is on the top of the hill, middle right.  Quite a paradox.