Lake

Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue

#8of 10 places to visit in HyderabadHyderabad, Telangana

Also known as Tank Bund · Necklace Road

Quick answer

Opening hours: 09:00–21:00 and 08:00–22:00. Entry: ₹55. Allow 1.5 hrs. Best time: 17:00–18:30.

Updated 18 September 2026 · Compiled by Traveliac, AI-assisted · 4 min read

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Photo: iMahesh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Opening hours: 09:00–22:00; 09:00–21:00 on weekdays, 08:00–22:00 on weekends and public holidays (boating)
Entry fee: ₹55; Ticket from
Time needed: 1.5 hrs
Best time of day: 17:00–18:30
Best months: Oct – Mar
Address: Lumbini Park, Necklace Road, Hussain Sagar, Hyderabad, Telangana 500080

About Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue

Hussain Sagar Lake covers roughly 5.7 square kilometres between Hyderabad and Secunderabad, and it was built as a functional reservoir rather than an ornamental one, engineered in 1563 to supply water to both cities and to form a physical link between what were then two separate settlements. At its centre stands a monolithic granite Buddha statue 17.5 metres tall and weighing approximately 350 tonnes, carved from a single rock and installed on a purpose-built plinth reachable only by boat. Necklace Road and the Tank Bund embankment trace the lake's full perimeter, and the Tank Bund stretch alone carries 33 statues of Telugu cultural and political figures spaced along its length, a state-commissioned public art project separate from the lake's original engineering purpose.

Best time of day: 17:00–18:30. When the Tank Bund promenade fills with evening walkers and the lowering sun puts warm light on the Buddha statue's granite surface for boat-side photography.

Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue timings

Opening hours: 09:00–22:00; Mon–Sun 09:00–21:00 and 08:00–22:00; 09:00–21:00 on weekdays, 08:00–22:00 on weekends and public holidays (boating)
Closed on: Open every day

Mon–Sun	09:00–21:00 and 08:00–22:00

Good to know: Lumbini Park runs an evening light-and-sound program after dark; exact showtimes shift seasonally and should be confirmed at the park gate. Boating is suspended during high winds or lake maintenance without advance public notice.

Opening hours compiled from tourism.telangana.gov.in and public records, last updated 18 September 2026. They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides

Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue ticket price

Entry fees for Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue
Ticket	Price
Indian visitors	₹55
Foreign visitors	₹55
Children	₹35
Camera	Free

₹55 covers the mechanised boat ride out to the Buddha statue for an adult, ₹35 for a child; there is no separate foreign-national rate for boating. Lumbini Park, the main boarding point, charges its own entry of ₹20 for Indian adults, ₹10 for children, and ₹100 for foreign nationals. Jet-ski and speedboat options that circle but don't land at the statue cost extra. As of 2026, verify at the counter, since boat pricing is adjusted seasonally by the operating agency.

Prices compiled from tourism.telangana.gov.in and public records, last updated 18 September 2026. They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides

Best time to visit Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue

Quiet
Busy
Very busy

09:00–12:00
Morning QuietBest time to go
Boating queues are short and the lake surface is calmest before midday wind picks up. Joggers on Necklace Road make up most of the morning foot traffic.
Quiet
12:00–16:00
Midday Heat
Direct sun over open water discourages casual visitors. Boating continues but with noticeably thinner queues than morning or evening.
Quiet
17:00–19:30
Evening Promenade
Tank Bund and Necklace Road fill with evening walkers, families, and street-food vendors. Boat queues at Lumbini Park lengthen accordingly.
Very busy
19:30–21:00
Night Illumination
The Buddha statue and Tank Bund statues are floodlit after dark. Lumbini Park's evening light program draws a dedicated crowd near closing time.
Busy

History of Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue

Hussain Shah Wali, a Sufi saint and courtier under the Qutb Shahi sultan Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah, is credited with proposing and overseeing the construction of the reservoir in 1563, and the lake carries his name rather than that of the ruling sultan who authorized it. The lake served Hyderabad and Secunderabad's water supply for centuries before modern piped infrastructure reduced that role, after which it evolved into the recreational and civic space it functions as today. The Buddha statue's history is considerably more fraught: sculptors completed the granite monolith in 1985, but during its first attempted installation in 1990, the crane-mounted barge carrying it across the lake capsized, and the statue sank along with several workers who died in the accident. The statue was recovered from the lakebed and successfully installed on its current plinth in 1992 under the state government of the time, an operation treated afterward as a significant engineering undertaking in its own right given the monolith's weight and the earlier failure.

Rules & etiquette at Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue

Hussain Sagar Lake's boat queues at Lumbini Park move in batches tied to each mechanised boat's capacity, and life jackets are mandatory and provided at the boarding point — refusing one is not permitted regardless of swimming ability. Alcohol consumption is prohibited on the boats and around the Tank Bund promenade, and enforcement by lake-area police is active, particularly in the evenings. Feeding the lake's fish or birds with purchased feed is generally tolerated at Lumbini Park's designated spots but discouraged elsewhere along Necklace Road, where litter from feeding has been a recurring civic complaint. Swimming in the lake itself is both prohibited and unsafe, given industrial-era sediment contamination that the state has worked to address through periodic desilting but that has not been fully resolved.

Tips for visiting Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue

1
The mechanised boat to the Buddha statue does not allow disembarking onto the statue's plinth itself in most operating configurations, so the experience is a close-approach viewing rather than a landing — worth knowing before expecting a walk-up photograph at the statue's base. NTR Gardens sits immediately adjacent to Lumbini Park and makes a reasonable add-on for travellers with children, given its topiary and smaller-scale attractions separate from the lake itself. Evening visits reward patience: the Tank Bund promenade genuinely comes alive after 17:00 with joggers, families, and street-food vendors, a markedly different atmosphere from the quieter, hotter midday hours. Photographers chasing the classic silhouette shot of the Buddha statue against the sunset should position on the western Necklace Road embankment rather than at Lumbini Park itself, since the angle there faces the statue more directly into the setting sun.

How to reach Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue

The red star is Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue; the numbered pins are the 7 nearest places in our guides, each showing its rank in its city. Tap a pin for details.

Lumbini Park, Necklace Road, Hussain Sagar, Hyderabad, Telangana 500080Directions in Google Maps

From Secunderabad Junction Railway Station
₹80–₹120
4 km · 12–18 min
Auto-rickshaw, negotiated); ₹120–₹160 (app-based cab
From Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (HYD)
₹750–₹950
32 km · 50–70 min
Prepaid cab); ₹500–₹650 (app-based cab
From Charminar
₹100–₹150
6 km · 18–25 min
Auto-rickshaw); ₹150–₹200 (app-based cab

Nearest airport

From Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (HYD)

32 km, 50–70 minutes.

Nearest railway station

From Secunderabad Junction

4 km, 12–18 minutes; Khairatabad MMTS is closer to the Lumbini Park side at 2 km.

Hussain Sagar Lake & Buddha Statue FAQs

Can visitors actually get onto the Buddha statue's plinth?

No, not on the standard mechanised boat ride. Boats approach and circle the plinth for close viewing and photography but do not typically allow disembarking, since the statue stands on an isolated platform in the middle of the lake reachable only by water.

Did the Buddha statue at Hussain Sagar really sink once?

Yes. During a first installation attempt in 1990, the barge carrying the completed granite statue capsized in the lake, and the statue sank along with several workers who died in the accident. It was recovered and successfully installed on its current plinth in 1992.

Is Hussain Sagar Lake safe for swimming?

No, swimming is prohibited and unsafe. Decades of urban runoff have left the lake with sediment contamination that periodic desilting has not fully resolved, and boating operators enforce the no-swimming rule strictly for both safety and regulatory reasons.

What is the best time to visit Hussain Sagar Lake and the Buddha statue?

Late afternoon into early evening, roughly 17:00 to 18:30, offers the best combination of cooler temperatures, active promenade atmosphere along Tank Bund, and favorable light for photographing the statue. Midday hours are hotter and comparatively quiet, useful mainly for visitors prioritizing shorter boat queues over ambience.

Compiled with AI assistance from official sources and public records, and published only after the checks in How we write these guides. Nobody from Traveliac has visited this place. Last updated 18 September 2026. How we rank and check places