Whenever we are at our second home Haridwar, we try to visit nearby places in the hills of Uttarakhand. The hilly state of Uttarakhand,India, located in the Himalayas, has some lovely places and they make for an easy road trip. This time we went on a road trip to Chamba, Tehri and Kanatal, three lovely hill towns in the Tehri Garwal district of Uttarakhand.
We started our journey from Haridwar and it was a lovely drive up the hill roads. We found a profusion of jarcanda trees in bloom along the roads, which made for a pretty sight!!
We chose to make Chamba our base for stay, we had pre-booked Garhwal Vikas Nigam Mandal (GVNM) Guest House, which was a gud idea because summers are high season and it is not easy to get accommodation.
Chamba is a small town and there is not much one can do here, however, since it is midway between Tehri and Kanatal, it makes for a good place to halt.
The best place to stay here is ofcourse the GVNM guest house, situated on the top of a hill, offering vantage views and one of a kind windy experience!!!
There was a profusion of flowering plants at the guest house and I had a lovely time clicking my favorite subjects – flowers!!
There is a quaint temple at the guest house, makes for a pretty picture 🙂
The next morning, we got up early to enjoy the sunrise, the chill in the air and the lovely breeze, to be able to do that in the middle of summers is quite a thing(especially when the plains of North India were literally scorching under the sun!!!)
We first took off towards Tehri Dam, the drive was lovely and fun.
The Tehri Dam is one of the largest rock filled Dams and the town of Tehri got submerged due to its construction. No worries though, they did relocate people into a new town first – The New Tehri. The roads at Tehri are awesome to drive.
We then decided to drive off to Kanatal. The road leading to Kanatal and Kanatal itself is more serene and green. As compared to Tehri, where the traffic was quite substantial, we found empty road and almost nil traffic on our drive to Kanatal.
We thoroughly enjoyed this part of our drive!!!
Kanatal has verdant pine forests and we had a most refreshing experience walking through the forests. The breeze was just too amazing!!
On our way back, we stopped At Surkanda Devi, a sacred temple of Sati Mata. We could not make it to the temple itself as it was way too high a climb and we were in a hurry to drive back. but I made up my mind to come here again some time soon!!
From Kanatal, one can also drive to Dhanaulti, another lovely place which is surrounded by deodhar forests and great for a weekend break. however, since, we already had been there during Diwali Holidays last year(read here), we did not go this time.We came back to Chamba and rested for the night.
The next day, we returned to Haridwar, via Rishikesh and boy was it crowded!!
We were so glad that we did not make a rest over for the night here as originally planned. I love Rishikesh , but definitely not visiting here in the peak season.
We had our lunch at rishikesh and topped off our journey back (second) home with a nice cold coffee @HoneyHut rishikesh(do try this place if ur in Rishikesh, gonna definitely love it!!)
I simply loved this road trip and it brought a common consensus among the family members to go for such more trips in the hills.
so, yay!! for Chamba-Tehri-Kanatal 🙂
beautiful concept, lovely pictures…..
beautiful concept lovely pics….
beautiful pictures!
I love the flowers 🙂
Claudia X
lovely pictures of the valley, wanna makes me visit it rite now 🙂
~ashy
http://thezingofmylife.blogspot.com/
beautiful photos =)
love from the NANA girls xoxo
How wonderful to have those views and I love all the flowers too! Thanks for the virtual tour!
xoxo,
Chic 'n Cheap Living
Chamba to Dhanaulti? Must have been some road trip.
Great pictures, and it was nice to learn more about where you are from.
*Erin
Beautiful photographs, fantastic views, flowers are unusual. I am greeting
Beautifully written and great photographs. It is lovely to see it through your eyes….
The landscapes and flowers are very beautiful.
Thats a lovely road trip. Amazing photos!!
http://www.rajniranjandas.blogspot.com
What a review! Gotta make a trip here soon 🙂
You transported me to the Himalayas! If I enjoyed it so much just by reading it, I can only imagine how awesome it must have been in real for you! Excellent pictures and commentary! 🙂
What an amazing place, right? Beautiful pictures, Sush.
I went to Rishikesh-Chamba-Theri and then back to Dehradun three years ago. Visitinh Tehari was a memorable experience. Nice Pics.
Beautiful shots of the exciting trip. Very scenic.
Jarcanda Trees in bloom are just awesome! Even the ground gets beautiful when flowers start to die.
awesome pics!!!!!!i've flown a lot in this area(about 10 years back)your pics brought all my memories alive!
Beautiful pics Sushmita !! Wanna go for a vacation now 🙂
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The pictures are gorgeous! And it goes without saying, the drive must've been amazing!
fantastique! superb pics! now I want to go to the hills too!
breathtaking views!
this blue flowers grow also in my parents' garden:)
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Thank you for the lovely virtual drive!!
Your travel pictures always make me super happy and add things to my travel wish-list! Lovely pictures as usual 🙂
You travel a lot,don't you? LOVED the pictures!
lovely pics sush
each time u write abt these places
i feel i have so many places in north to cover 🙂
awesome photography…loved the place 🙂
Love,
Bong's Belleza