Landing at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport

What HYD is like

Hyderabad grew from a historic city into a technology and pharmaceutical hub, so the arrivals hall mixes people reporting to multinational offices with travellers heading for the old quarter. The terminal is laid out so the walk from aircraft to exit is fairly direct rather than a maze. The real distinction is that the airport sits well outside the city but is connected by an expressway straight in, so the travel time varies far less than anyone used to other Indian cities would predict. You can plan around it, which is rare.

On arrival

Enable the line at touchdown and follow a corridor that is shorter than at India's very largest airports, which means many people reach immigration sooner than they expected. In-terminal reception is ordinary in the good sense, with no tunnel sections to worry about. After reclaim you come out into an arrivals concourse that is fairly orderly, with the taxi queue and app pick-ups handled separately, so follow that day's signs. The thing to finish before you leave the building is confirming the destination with your driver or typing the address into the app, because once you are on the expressway there is no convenient moment to stop and fix it.

How far the airport Wi-Fi gets you

Terminal Wi-Fi is decent, and because passenger volumes are lower than Delhi or Mumbai the sign-up page usually loads faster. It is still a time-limited session behind a verification step. The problem is not inside the building but everything after it: there is no Wi-Fi on the kerb or on the expressway. If you need to send a pin or change your destination mid-journey, you are going to want your own line regardless. Think of the airport Wi-Fi as somewhere to download a map, not as connectivity for the ride.

Getting into town

Almost everyone goes in by road, whether that is the airport taxi queue, a car booked in an app, or one of the airport coaches serving the main districts. Most of the route is expressway that moves well before slowing once you enter the inner city. The distance is long enough that you will be in the vehicle with music, messages and a map all going at once. If you are staying in the technology districts to the west, your route is completely different from someone heading for the old city, so check which before you book. Allow roughly 300 to 500MB for that first leg into town.

What people ask about this airport

• Finish the address before you ride — Once the car is on the expressway, changing the destination mid-route makes the trip longer than it needed to be.
• West side and old city are far apart — The office districts west and the historic quarter lie in opposite directions, and booking a stay without checking the map costs you time every day.
• No Wi-Fi on the expressway — The stretch where you might need to send a pin to whoever is meeting you is exactly where your own line is the only option.