Weekend Getaway To Lansdowne

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Hi Folks, Back from our anniversary trip to Lansdowne - The cantonment hill station in the Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. We went on this trip from 24th-26th Feb, 2018. We went in our self-driven car from Delhi. All prices mentioned below are in INR(Indian Rupees), for 2 adults. I'm sharing a suggested itinerary for people who are planning this trip below. 

Suggested Itinerary:
Day 1: Start from Delhi to Lansdowne. Reach Lansdowne in 7 hours. (280Kms from Gurgaon. Hilly roads leading to a 7hrs+ drive)

 Day 2: Lansdowne Local Sight-seeing: Bhulla Tal, Santoshi Mata Temple, St.John's Church, St.Mary's church, Tip n Top Point, Sunset Point, Darwan Singh Sangrahalaya, Bhim Pakora

 Day 3: Explore Garhwali cuisine -> Leave for Delhi

Cost of Trip
Fuel Expenses: 2500Rs (For Round Trip)
Hotels: 1800 Rs (The Garhwali Inn)
Food & Sight-seeing & Entry Tickets & Toll: 1200Rs

Total: 5,500 Rs

Trip in Detail:

 We started for Lansdowne from Gurgaon at around 9.30AM, after having breakfast. It is advisable to start as early as you can, to avoid traffic enroute Lansdowne. We took the Delhi-> Meerut -> Najibabad route (The default route shown in Google Maps) to reach at around 4.30PM. We checked into our hotel, freshened up and started for the sightseeing points in the vicinity of the hotel. 

 On venturing out we realized that Lansdowne is a very quaint small hill station, and all the tourist spots were within a 5Km radius. They can be easily covered by foot, if not for the steep altitude in some of the places. 

 I'm jotting down the places to visit in the order of their popularity, instead of the order we visited them!

 1. Bhulla Tal: A must visit lake cum garden cum boating point. It has an entry plus boating fee of 80Rs per person for a civilian (Non Military tourist). The serene lake together with the greenery and the boating experience is one of it's kind.
The Lake
Yours Truly at the Bhulla Lake!
2. Tip n Top Viewpoint: This is the highest point of Lansdowne, which gives great panoramic views of mountains around. A walking distance from Tip n Top is the Sunset view point. It has great views both during sunset and sunrise (But we missed both sunset and sunrise!)
The Wind in my Hair - At the Tip n Top Viewpoint
3. Santoshi Mata Temple: Quiet near the Tip n Top Viewpoint is the Santoshi Mata Temple. It is a temple maintained by the Cantonment funds. It has a flight of steps leading to the temple, and has well demarcated milestones leading up to the temple.
The small hike up to Santoshi Mata Temple
Santoshi Mata Temple
4. St. Mary's Church: This church is open only from Friday-Sunday. When we visited, they were almost closing down, but they let us in, and let us pray/click pictures. They had a projector which is apparently used to show a 30 Minute movie on the Garhwali Rifles. While we could not watch the movie, the church was beautiful in the dusk when we visited.
St. Mary's at Dusk

The Meandering road towards St.Mary's
5. St. John's Church: This is another small, serene church, very close to Bhulla Tal, and the Sunset point. There are steps leading up to this church. It is a very small, peaceful and quiet place. Very few people, and the tranquil allows one to quietly reflect a lot! 
Outside the serene St.John's Church
Inside St.Johns'
Some Candid Photography enroute St.John's Church

 6. Darwan Singh Sangrahalaya: This is a war memorial museum built by the Garhwali Rifles. There is an entry ticket of 40Rs per person, and photography is not allowed inside the museum. It is surely worth a visit for the amazing collection and information on the Garhwali Rifles.
At the entrance of the War Memorial Museum. Photography is not allowed inside
7. Bhim Pakora: This is a unique shaped stone, which is around 500m walk from the Lansdowne Main Market. We skipped this due to paucity if time.

Garhwali Cuisine - For those with an eye for local cuisine (like me), Garhwali cuisine is one of it's kind! It's very unique, the flavors are very distinct, and definitely worth a try.Lansdowne, however is not a very commercialized place yet. There are very few food options, and Garhwali options are even rare! After a lot of googling and searching in the town, we figured out that the hotel we stayed in - The Garhwali Inn, serves Garhwali cuisine, when ordered a day in advance. Check out my detailed post on the lip-smacking Garhwali cuisines we explored in my post here.  

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