Uttarakhand and UP tour

I dedicate my first blog to my brother Ashutosh who insisted me to plan this trip. It was a wonderful trip with my family to utterakhand and UP. My parents, bhaiya n bhabi with grandma came to me at kanpur from Maharashtra and then we started from here.

Kanpur-Lucknow-Nainital Review-Jim Corbett National Park Review-Rishikesh Review-Haridwar Review-Mathura Review-Fatehpur sikhri-Agra Review- Back to maharashtra.
(This was the first time i planned the trip, so, though i was with family i reduced religious places and added fun places more. everyone liked the idea.)

Where to stay: Actually before the trip I read that getting hotel rooms is very difficult during vacations, but it wasn’t like that. But ya, if you are going by public transport and with family then it’s better to book in advance. Again, if you are looking for luxury, go for advance booking.

Outlook traveller Utterakhand

           I was having car so it was not difficult to find hotels. I had not booked a single hotel in advance, but I got rooms everywhere easily with reasonable tariffs. I had a book of utterakhand tourism by outlook which helped me a lot, thanks to Sanket and Onkar for that. The book contains information about hotels, govt rest houses with their address and phone numbers, history about the places, main attractions, travelling guidance and much more useful things.
          It was very hot in May, and was difficult to get railway reservations so I booked a car from IIT for all the 7 days.

Innova: If you ask me innova is the best and comfortable for long journeys. Xylo is also a good option but it’s not much stable in hilly region. We travelled nearly 1800 km in 7 days, but we didn’t get bored. Though the back seat bothers sometimes, it's tolerable. It has Dual AC which really helps in summer. Rent was Rs 10/km.

Lucknow: We were in Lucknow only for a half day. Unfortunately Bhulbhlayya was not open, so we visited Chota Imamwada and did some shopping and left for nainital.

Nainital:
         We started from Lucknow at 6 pm (evening) and reached nainital at 4:30 in the morning. It was chilled out there in may but that’s why we were there…
Nainital is called the city of lakes. There are many nearby spots which you can visit. Be aware of Taxi drivers who will force you to come with them. Two taxiwalas first told us 1500 for two cars and they came to 800.

Boating @ Naini Lake

 Naini Lake: Surrounded by a spectacular natural beauty. Boating in wooden boats reminds you of old hindi songs in Kashmir.
Cave park: It’s a fun, you would feel of having done something adventurous. Don’t take old and heart patients in there.

Spectacular view of naini lake

Horse ride: If you are visiting Nainital then don’t miss this ride. 450 per person (after bargaining). They take you to the top of the hill. Riding horse on that stony road is nothing but an adventure. The road is difficult and you will be afraid of falling down but don’t worry, horse won’t betray you…:) They show some places where films were shot which seems funny. One more thing, after ride its bit difficult to walk :) …

STAY: We booked a big room just beside the Naini Lake in the morning for Rs 600. Many reasonable hotels are available there (bargaining definitely helps).

Doing some research before going is always a good thing. There are many places in outskirts of Nainital that you can visit. Here is a link that may help you…

http://www.uttaranchaltourism.in/chamba.html#nainital

Jim Corbett National Park:

Save Tiger

It’s a wonderful tiger reservoir. For animal lovers and for Bird watchers this is the best place to visit. In summer probability of seeing animals is more and also entry to some parts is not allowed in rainy season so better to go in summer. Ramnagar (nearest railway station) is nearly 75 km from Nainital. It took us 3 hours from nainital as it was hilly area plus we stopped at some places.
         I booked a canter for a jungle ride. Online booking is must for canter ride. Its better to book it from its official website http://www.corbettnationalpark.in/
          Don’t forget to take printout of your ticket while going for the ride. It starts at 6 in the morning from Ramnagar Corbett Office and drops you to the same place around 12:30 in the afternoon.

Our canter

Dhikuli where we stayed

Dhikala is the key region in jungle. If you are a real jungle lover then have a 3 day stay in Jim Corbett Park. It’s very difficult to see tiger in just 6 hour ride; we saw all the animals except Tiger. Actually Canter makes so much noise, which disturbs jungle.  You can book a Jeep or elephant rides, but for Dhikala region only canter ride is allowed. Here is a link of all the tariffs http://corbettonline.uk.gov.in/citizen/documents/corbett.pdf

STAY:  I had planned of staying in KMVN lodge (government). But there he suggested a small KMVN resort far from crowd near Dhikuli gate on the bank of the Kosi River. You can enjoy bathing in the river too. We booked 3 tents for Rs 2000 from KMVN centre in Ramnagar. They gave driver’s accommodation and food for free. It was pleasurable time there. Food was reasonable and of good quality.  Service was superb with polite staff. It was very less crowded; among 10 tents only 4 tents were occupied.

Rishikesh: If you want to see marvellous beauty of river Ganga then Rishikesh is the best place. I understood the holiness of ganga here. You can watch her for hours and hours…

Ready with Raft

Rafting:  Rafting… Rafting… Rafting…. Don’t ever dare to miss it in Rishikesh. Chilled and 100s of feet deep water of holy ganga, through mountains gives you a memorable day. Rampuri and Brahmpuri are two well known places for rafting, but you have to book a raft in Rishikesh itself; there u can find many adventure clubs. They take you to that place by their jeep and bring back in your raft. They have dry bags in boat so you can carry your cameras too. Just think about Zindagi Milegi na Dobara and enjoy the ride… It was of Rs 500/person for Brahmpuri but we settled down him on Rs 300 per person. Rafting is not allowed on sari for women, so carry a Punjabi suit.
Rampuri: Young in the age group of 20-40 prefer Rampuri. Boat becomes 90 degree here, a real adventure.
Brahmpuri: If you are with family go for Brahmpuri. Kids of age more than 5 years are allowed here.

As I was with family, i preferred Brahmapuri which is 12km ride (nearly 2 n half hour ride). That was also not much easy. Body rafting was again a nice experience. Can’t express much about rafting you have to go and experience it…

at Parmarth Niketan ashram

Ashrams: Rishikesh is a yoga capital of the world. Many ashrams provide yoga training. Some provide free accommodation to pilgrimage for stay of more than 7 days if they fallow their rules. You can find all the information online for most of the ashrams. They are pleasant and must visit places. We skipped some temples and went to see ashrams. Parmarth Niketan was one of them.


STAY: we stayed here in a hotel. We reached Rishikesh at night so we didn’t search much but after I realised that so many ashrams and dharmshala were there. In hotel, Service was OK but not better than ashrams that we stayed in Haridwar and Mathura.

Haridwar: We came to Haridwar in the evening from Rishikesh. It took half an hour if you find road empty. Haridwar is a place where Ganaga comes to plane land from mountains.

Just befoer the Aarti at Har ki Pauri

Ganga Aarti: Though having a rush of thousands of people around, once Aarti starts, it feels very pleasant. It unites them all and enraptures their hearts. Crowd starts gathering from 5:30 in evening at Har Ki Pauri ghat. Aarti starts nearly by 6:45 pm. It’s better to go early and have a good seat for better view.
          We visited Chandi Devi, Mansa Devi (both by rope way). You can book a bus for 200/- for two temples which includes ropeway tickets + chandi devi to mansa devi travel. You can buy a combine ticket for two ropeways by yourself at any of the counter.

Pleasant stay

STAY:  Stay at haridwar was really pleasant. We stayed in the Lajja Ram Ashram. We booked 2 rooms for 300/- each. Rooms were clean and neat, their followers were really polite. Food was homemade, simple and very nice. If you ask me, it’s better to stay in ashrams than in hotels. You won’t get this much cheap rooms with this quality anywhere in hotels. Hoteliers again apply extra taxes. There are many ashrams in haridwar and rishikesh which also provide AC rooms. Many ashrams provide online booking too.

Mathura: Haridwar to Mathura was of nine hour journey. We reached at Mathura at 3 in the morning.

Beautiful Prem mandir in the evening…

There are so many temples, those you cannot visit in a single day. We visited some selective 3-4 temples and then went to Fatehpur Sikri.
         Most of the temples are closed in the afternoon Between 12 to 4. So for one day tour: Before 12 visit old temples, in afternoon go to fatehpur Sikri(50-60km from mathura) and in the evening visit other temples like Prem mandir, Durga Devi statue.

STAY: We booked big room in Radha-Krishna ashram for Rs 700. Service and food was way better than hotels. Room was AC, you won't find any AC 6-bed room in any hotel with this tariff that too in vacation period. 

Agra: No need to tell much about Agra… just one thing; in TAJ MAHAL, most of the  times you will find rush on the main gate. So take ticket and go to south gate which is at a walking distance of 5 min where you would find fewer crowds. I visited twice; both times I did the same.

We boarded the train at midnight of 12th may to maharashtra.

last pic with our driver Raju(second from left)