Expat Insiders Your daily life looks a little different here — we've got you covered
We tried it all so you don't have to: where to grocery shop, where to find your everyday wardrobe, gifts and decor for your new place, the best food in town, and how to stay active while meeting other expats along the way.
Grocery shopping
You'll generally use a mix of four kinds of places:
- International grocery stores — carry imported and Western brands, at a price premium. Good for the specific items you can't substitute.
- Indian supermarket chains — wide selection, competitive prices, and increasingly good produce and specialty sections.
- Street markets — the cheapest and freshest option for produce, and worth learning even if you only use them occasionally.
- Online grocery apps — fast delivery and a genuinely wide range of items, from bar soap to bananas, all from your phone without leaving home.
Most households settle into a rhythm of street market or local store for produce, and one of the bigger supermarkets, an international store, or an app for everything else — few people rely on just one source.
For items like milk or fresh fruit, order in the morning — these are typically restocked early in the day, so a late-day order is more likely to be out of stock or lower quality than what you'd get first thing.
Stores the community shops at most often:
- Ratnadeep — local supermarket chain. The "SELECT" format stores are usually bigger and nicer than the standard ones.
- Star Bazaar — not the cleanest, but reliably the best prices.
- Qmart — on the expensive side, but a good bet for finding specific imported products.
- Foodstories — expensive, high quality, with a nice selection of imported products.
- Lulu Market — best overall quality and variety, at a good price.
- Pure O Natural — for fruits and vegetables.
Add any other community go-to stores and market days here.
The most popular online grocery & delivery apps:
- Blinkit — the market leader by a wide margin, with the broadest product range.
- Zepto — built specifically around speed, often the fastest delivery.
- Swiggy Instamart — convenient if you're already using Swiggy for food delivery, with a strong range of items.
- Big Basket — one of the longest-running grocery apps in India, with a wide selection and reliable scheduled delivery.
- Zomato — mainly restaurant food delivery, but also useful for ordering in when you don't feel like cooking.
- Fresh To Home — specializes in fresh meat, poultry, and seafood delivered to your door.
Restaurants
Hyderabad is a wonderful city for dining out — whether it's a fine-dining evening, a family night out, or just drinks nearby with friends. Here's our running list, and we check back often as we hear from the community, so expect updates and new places to keep showing up.
Cuisine, veg/non-veg, and alcohol details below are from public listings and news coverage — confirm current menus and licensing before a special-occasion booking.
Kokapet
Jubilee Hills
Banjara Hills
Financial District
Madhapur
HITEC City
Knowledge City Road
Falaknuma
Multiple locations
Delivery only
Not listed yet
Clothes shopping
Hyderabad has a great mix of shopping, from everyday ethnic wear to upscale labels and the occasional find you'll want to bring home as a gift. Here's our running list, and we check back often as we hear from the community, so expect updates and new stores to keep showing up.
Handicraft, gift, and home-decor stores now have their own tab (Handicrafts of India).
- Fabindia — fabindia.com — Ethnic & home: block-print kurtas, saris, and everyday wear for men, women, and kids, plus home textiles. Mid-range, reliably stocked.
- Suvasa — suvasa.in — a block-print brand selling both ethnic clothing and home pieces in the same store.
- Nicobar — nicobar.com — Contemporary ethnic & resort wear plus home goods; upscale, relaxed-elegant style.
- Kilol (Banjara Hills) — Facebook — contemporary Indian ethnic wear and hand-block-print textiles.
- Kalanjali — kalanjali.com — Ethnic: sarees, kurtas, and kidswear, sold alongside handicrafts, gifts, and home decor in the same store (Hyderabad, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam).
- Linen Club — linenclub.com — Western/formal: menswear fabric and shirting, upscale.
- Elahe Urban — elahe.in — Upscale: multi-designer bridal and party wear, carrying names like Sabyasachi and Tarun Tahiliani.
Handicrafts of India
Handicraft, gift, and home-decor stores from the shopping list — not clothing, but worth knowing about for décor, gifting, and souvenirs.
- Manglam Handicraft — a handicrafts and gifts boutique in Banjara Hills.
- Tribes India — tribesindia.com — a government (TRIFED) handicrafts and gifts emporium; also carries some tribal textiles and apparel.
- Orient Ceramic — ceramics and home decor.
- Ellementry — ellementry.com — handmade home decor, kitchenware, tableware, and furniture.
- Chumbak — chumbak.com — home decor, bags, and gifts.
- Central Cottage Industries — the government-run handicrafts and home decor emporium (Central Cottage Industries Emporium).
- Telangana Handicraft Emporium — the state handicrafts emporium, now known as the Golkonda Handicrafts Emporium (Banjara Hills).
- The Bombay Store — lifestyle, gifts, and home decor.
- India Circus — a home decor and lifestyle brand (owned by Pepperfry).
- Yellow Dwelling — a sustainable home furnishings brand.
- Good Earth — luxury home decor and lifestyle, with very limited apparel.
Sport Clubs
Staying active in Hyderabad is easier than you'd think, with padel, pickleball, tennis, and more popping up across the city. Here's our running list, and we check back often as we hear from the community, so expect updates and new clubs to keep showing up.
Urban Company — home services, on demand
Urban Company (formerly UrbanClap) is an app worth having installed from week one — it's a marketplace for trained, rated professionals who come to you, covering a wide range of everyday needs beyond just shopping:
- Cleaning & pest control — full-home, kitchen, bathroom, sofa/carpet cleaning, and pest control.
- Appliance repair — AC, washing machine, refrigerator, water purifier, microwave, geyser, TV, and chimney repair.
- Handymen — electricians, plumbers, and carpenters for the small fixes that come up constantly in a new home.
- Beauty & salon at home — haircuts, massage, waxing, manicure/pedicure, and facials, without leaving the house.
- InstaHelp — on-demand household help (cleaning, housekeeping, even meal prep) at short notice, useful when your regular help is on leave.
InstaHelp is worth keeping in mind specifically as a backup for when your regular house help is unavailable — it fills the exact gap that catches most households off guard.
Beauty & Wellness
List of amazing places to relax coming soon.