“Life is so simple& fulfilling” – These words echoed many times inside my head & heart during my stay at Bhimtal in Uttarakhand(India). Located at an altitude of 1370 meters, this small hill town is lesser known but far more prettier cousin of the popular hill station of North India – Nainital. I opted to visit Bhimtal on a long weekend break out of Delhi Last month, because I wanted to lose the crowds (especially the Delhi crowd which goes all over the popular hill stations in Uttarakhand during such long weekends).
Bhimtal turned out to a good decision as I relaxed & rejuvenated among green hills, blue skies, clouds, thunder and rains – all within 3 days!!

We chose to stay at a small village called Jungaliyagaon, in the interiors of Bhimtal in a homestay. It was my first time choosing a homestay as an accommodation option and Emerald Trail cottage turned out to be pretty & homely experience!!

The cottage was an old colonial one, with lots of open area, growing their own vegetables and having their own cows!! I fell in love instantly with the cottage and clicked a lot of pics on arrival.




Since, it was a long & stressful drive from Delhi to Bhimtal, we slept off after a heavy & delicious lunch. We woke up after sunset and spent rest of the evening having wine & chatting about life on the porch. The star studded sky & view of the blinking lights of the town was perfect accompaniment.
The next day, we decided to go for a walk in the surrounding forest and the manager of the cottage kindly offered to accompany us (which we took up promptly!!). The walk was awesome, we passed through a pine forest, remote fields & huts, ridges and dense silver oak forest. There were lot of wow moments and we completely lost the track of time


Thankfully, we completed the walk by noon and came back to the cottage to a wonderfully delicious home cooked lunch. Since the husband was dead tired with all that walk, he slept off immediately after lunch. Me and the brother relaxed on the porch and then we heard rumble; clouds were gathering and soon it was all grey sky. Feeling tired and chilly, we slept off the rest of the afternoon.

It was raining & chilly when we woke up; feeling thrilled at the change of weather (after all it was HOT back in Delhi), we sat down in the porch again enjoying another round of wine before dinner. As the thunder & rains continued, we all felt cozy& warm tucked inside the blanket with a book. Day 2 had been real good!!!
The next day, we had to drive back to Delhi, in the afternoon. We decided to visit Bhimtal Lake on our way back to Delhi and started off after a late breakfast. Driving from Jungaliyagaon to the Lake, one gets a fine view of another lake in the district– Naukutchiyatal.
Driving down the hilly roads, I was already missing Emerald Trail and that awesome childhood memories invoking swing!! Anyways, we got down to Bhimtallake, it is big, but not crowded. A sense of peace pervades the lake and it was nice time clicking shots, though we skipped the boat ride.
After our time at Bhimtal Lake, it was again back to the hectic drive back home Delhi.

The time I spent in Bhimtal taught me the importance of losing one self from crowds & urban environment at regular intervals!! After all, I am hopelessly in love with Travel & off the Map traveller for life J
I passed Bhmtal en route to Almora this monsoon and it looked awesome… sadly I did not have time to stop there… will have to make another plan…
best shots.
Morris
Wow! They are so beautiful! I loved the homely feel of the Cottage you stayed! And the view of the lake is gorgeous! I'm sure it's a great break from the scorching Delhi summer!
Amazing !! Your pics always left me lusting for a vacation 🙂
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This looks like a place I'd really like to go. It's good you have this kind of retreat away from the heat and crowd in a big busy city.
One word simply – Awesome! 🙂
Looks like a cool place to avoid Delhi's scorching heat.
love this post so much! ^^
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Lovely place…seems like a place to go to escape the heat of delhi…how far is it from delhi?
Mind Blowing Spots.There are lot of natural scenario in Bhimtal . it is fully greenery place. I like to go there and passing at least one week time there.
The place is just heavenly as I too was in Nakauchiyatal last autumn and the tranquility of the place just sweeps you off the feet:)Lovely narrative and pictures!
That's a beautiful shot you've taken of Nakauchiyatal.
My favourite taal is Sattal. It's just a 20 minutes drive from Bhimtal.
It looks absolutely delightful, a real oasis full of nature's soothing notes! I would love spending time there myself:)
Nothing like a break in Hills away from Heat and Dust…..beautiful pics …
Beautifully captured!! Lovely place..
Sounds like just exactly what you needed to recharge your batteries SS, hope you were refreshed and ready to get back into the busy life in Delhi :)you'll have to make sure you take a break regularly oui!
The photos look exotic.
Pages off Life
Great place to be in weekend…. No doubt you enjoyed to the fullest…..
Thank you for letting me travel with you, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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You are taking tooo many wonderful breaks I say!
Great shots!
Looks like a lovely and quaint place to visit!
Lovely shots! I especially like the last one with the boats lined up.
Thanks for your visit! 🙂
the woods are beautiful. love the water, too.
nice pictures
you have travelled to so many great places!the last vacation i took was a couple of years ago..every time an exam comes up or we don't get tickets..
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Nice narration and captures. The place looks so beautiful and serene.
http://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in/2013/05/juhu-beach.html
Excellent travel description
Wow! Looks like a splendid break from the rush of the Capital. Lovely snapshots of the place and beautiful pictures which make me want to go there but then it's so very far.
Glad to have stopped by, Sushmita.
Joy always,
Susan