Running Tracks in Hyderabad: KBR, Necklace Road, Gachibowli and When to Run

Running track in Hyderabad: where to run in each part of the city

Hyderabad is a wide city, and most runners pick the loop nearest home rather than driving across it. The good news is that each part of the city has one: the lakes and KBR Park in the west, Hussain Sagar in the centre, and campus and cantonment roads in the north and east. The table below gives the main options with distances from route guides and encyclopaedia entries (checked October 2026). Measure your own route once with GPS, since the distance depends on where you join.

KBR National Park: Jubilee Hills’ 5 km loop and its pass system

Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (KBR) National Park is Hyderabad’s best-known running loop. It covers about 390 acres across Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills, and was declared a national park in 1998, which put most of the land under the forest department. Great Runs describes a 5 km jogging track with plenty of interior paths, so you can run a steady lap or two and add distance inside.

Because it is a national park, KBR is not a free public park. In January 2023 The News Minute reported that the forest department had raised prices by 10%, to at least ₹45 for an adult single entry, ₹770 for a monthly pass and ₹2,750 for an annual pass (₹1,870 for senior citizens). It also reported limits: no new passes once 5,000 are active, and monthly passes capped at 500 and issued only in the first five days of a month. Those are the most recent figures we could find, so check the current rate at the gate. If you run here three or more times a week, a pass works out far cheaper than single tickets.

Durgam Cheruvu and the Botanical Garden: running near HITEC City

For runners who live or work in the IT corridor, two green spots sit within a short drive of HITEC City. Durgam Cheruvu is an 83-acre lake between Jubilee Hills, Madhapur and Raidurg. Wikipedia describes a 2 km walking and running track built during its tourism upgrade, while Great Runs describes a 4.4 km dirt track around the waterfront; the difference is likely how much of the shore you include. The Durgam Cheruvu cable bridge, opened in September 2020, links Jubilee Hills to Madhapur and makes a good landmark for the turnaround.

The Botanical Garden in Kondapur (Shri Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy Botanical Garden) has, according to Great Runs, a 3.5 km loop of smooth, runnable dirt trails. Great Runs suggests linking it to the roads around the GMC sports complex in Gachibowli and the University of Hyderabad campus for a longer run. Dirt trails are kinder on the legs than the IT corridor’s roads, which helps on easy days.

Necklace Road and Hussain Sagar: running the lake in central Hyderabad

Necklace Road is central Hyderabad’s classic running route. It runs for about 5.5 km beside Hussain Sagar, from NTR Gardens to Sanjeevaiah Park, and Wikipedia notes it is frequented by early morning joggers and hosts marathon events. At the Sanjeevaiah Park end it meets Tank Bund Road, which leads back to NTR Gardens and completes a circle round the lake. Running it regularly is also the best preview of the city’s August marathon, which uses Necklace Road (see marathons in Hyderabad).

Sanjeevaiah Park, at the north end of the road, and Indira Park, across the lake in Lower Tank Bund, are both training locations for Hyderabad Runners’ beginner program, so you will find company there early in the morning. Necklace Road is a road, not a park, so it is best in the first hour after sunrise, before traffic and heat build.

Synthetic running track in Hyderabad: Gachibowli stadium

If you searched for a synthetic running track in Hyderabad, the main one is at the G. M. C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Gachibowli, beside IIIT Hyderabad. It has an eight-lane, 400 m synthetic track, a ten-lane 100 m sprint straight and a four-lane synthetic warm-up track, and it hosted the 2003 Afro-Asian Games. The stadium is owned by the Sports Authority of Telangana State (SATS) and is mostly used for football today.

We couldn’t find a published fee or public access policy for runners, so ask SATS or the stadium office before planning regular sessions. If you get access, a track is the best place in Hyderabad for measured intervals, such as 6 × 800 m, without traffic or walkers.

Longer routes: Osmania University, the Financial District and Secunderabad

• Osmania University: Great Runs maps a 9.4 km loop through the campus, with shade that matters on hot days. A good option for east Hyderabad runners and for long runs.
• Nanakramguda Financial District: an 11 km mapped route past the Indian School of Business and small parks, on some of the best-kept streets in the city according to Great Runs. Quiet early on weekends.
• Secunderabad Cantonment and the Parade Grounds: well-maintained roads for steady running in the north, also listed by Great Runs.

When to run in Hyderabad: the heat calendar

In Hyderabad, heat decides when you can run. Normals for 1991–2020 show May is the hottest month, with an average high of 38.8 °C and an average low of 26.0 °C, so even dawn runs start warm. April is close behind at 37.6 °C. The city gets about 860 mm of rain a year, most of it from June to October, and August is the wettest month, with about 204 mm over 11 rainy days. December and January are the coolest, with lows of about 13–14 °C.

• November to February: the best running weather, with lows of 13–16 °C and almost no rain. This is the season for long runs and time trials.
• March to May: the hard months. Finish by 7 AM, carry water, and move speed work to a treadmill or an indoor session. With May lows averaging 26 °C, there is no cool part of the day.
• June to September: cooler and wetter. Highs fall to about 30 °C by July, which makes this a good time to build mileage, and it is also when runners train for the city’s August marathon (see marathons in Hyderabad). Expect wet roads in August, the wettest month.
• October: the changeover, still humid, with the last showers.

Air quality on Hyderabad runs: worst from November to February

Hyderabad’s air follows the opposite calendar to its heat. On the AQI.in dashboard, which compiles monitoring-station data on the US AQI scale, every day from May to September 2025 was rated “moderate”, and August had the lowest monthly reading of the year. In winter it turns: November 2025 had 20 “unhealthy” days and December 2025 had 28, with the year’s worst reading in December. The 2025 average was 106 on that scale.

So the cool months that are best for running are also the smoggiest. Run inside KBR Park or the Botanical Garden rather than beside main roads, check the AQI on the CPCB’s Sameer app before a hard session, and move intervals indoors on poor days.

Running clubs in Hyderabad: Hyderabad Runners and Kouch to 5K

Hyderabad has one of India’s most organised running communities. Hyderabad Runners Society organises the NMDC Hyderabad Marathon, and Telangana Today reported in August 2026 that it has more than 30 running groups across the city and that its beginner program has helped more than 7,000 first-time runners.

That beginner program is Kouch to 5K. The 2026 edition, a women’s special, ran for 8 weeks from 7 September to 1 November, with three sessions a week from 6 to 7 AM at 16 locations, including KBR Park, Indira Park, Sanjeevaiah Park (open to all), the HITEX campus, Nallagandla Lake and Malkam Cheruvu. The training was free with a ₹700 registration fee. The club also lists a Stadium Run on Saturday 14 November 2026 at 6 PM and a Kids Run on 22 November 2026 at ICRISAT. We couldn’t find a parkrun in Hyderabad, so clubs are the free option.

Strength work for running in Hyderabad’s heat

Hyderabad runners lose more training to heat than to anything else, so strength work does double duty: it makes you a sturdier runner, and it gives you a useful indoor session on the days that are too hot to run. Do this 25-minute routine twice a week. Our national guide to strength training for runners explains the progressions.

1. 1

   Goblet squats, 3 × 10

   Hold a dumbbell, a full water can or a backpack at your chest. Builds the quads and glutes for long runs on Necklace Road.

2. 2

   Single-leg Romanian deadlifts, 3 × 8 each leg

   Hamstrings and balance, which keep your stride steady when you tire.

3. 3

   Calf raises off a step, 3 × 15

   Calves and Achilles tendons take most of the load on hard road surfaces.

4. 4

   Dead bugs, 3 × 10 each side

   Core control that stays good late in a run, when heat makes your form slip.

If your gated community in Gachibowli or Kokapet has a clubhouse gym, Personal Gym Training in Hyderabad puts the same coach on your phone there. Training with your running group? Group classes in Hyderabad are ₹499 per person for a live session. If you’re coming back from an injury with your physio’s clearance, see Rehab & Recovery in Hyderabad. To fuel your running around biryani and dosa, our guide to healthy food in Hyderabad and the protein intake calculator help. For everything else, see online personal training in Hyderabad.