The Charminar is Hyderabad's icon, the four-minaret gateway that Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah built in 1591, the monument around which the old city grew. The legend that he built it to commemorate the end of plague, the reality that he built a city planned around it - the Charminar is where Hyderabad displays its Islamic heritage.

The area around Charminar is old Hyderabad preserved - the bazaars where pearls and bangles sell, the mosques where call to prayer sounds, the narrow lanes where the city's Muslim population concentrates. The Charminar is starting point for exploring what Hyderabad was before tech arrived.

Hyderabadi biryani is what the Nizams' kitchens perfected, the rice and meat dish that local chefs claim no other city makes correctly. The dum method that slow-cooks the dish sealed in pot, the spices that define the local style, the meat that falls from bone - biryani is what Hyderabad contributes to global cuisine.

The biryani restaurants where tourists and locals gather, the debates about which is best, the prices that range from street to elite - biryani is how Hyderabad eats. The dish is serious business; criticism of local biryani is not taken lightly.

HITEC City is Hyderabad's answer to Bangalore, the tech park district where Microsoft and Google and Amazon established presence, where Indian IT companies built campuses. The tech industry that arrived in the 2000s transformed Hyderabad from declining princely capital to competitor for Bangalore's crown.

The tech industry created new Hyderabad - the towers that rise from what was farmland, the traffic that connects old city to tech city, the wealth that concentration of well-paid workers creates. The tech industry is why young Indians now consider Hyderabad destination.

The Nizams ruled Hyderabad from 1724 until Indian independence in 1948, the princes whose wealth was legendary and whose state was India's largest. The palaces they built, the collections they accumulated, the administration they created - the Nizams made Hyderabad what it was.

The Nizam heritage survives in monuments and museums - the Chowmahalla Palace where the family lived, the Salar Jung Museum where one family member's collection fills building. The Nizams' wealth created what tourism now shows; the descendants live more modestly than their ancestors.

Golconda Fort predates Hyderabad, the citadel that the Qutb Shahi dynasty built before founding the city below it. The fort whose acoustics allowed clapping at the gate to be heard at the top, whose walls withstood siege until betrayal opened them - Golconda is where Hyderabad's history began.

The fort provides the excursion that tourists make - the climb through gates and gardens, the views from the top, the sound-and-light show that evenings offer. The fort is what remains of the dynasty that the Mughals displaced, the power that preceded the Nizams who followed.