First of all, sending my good wishes to all of you to stay safe and to fight against Covid. We all know how terrible 2020 year was. I tried to end it with positive vibes which I always get by traveling around. So finally after a long wait of 2 years I got the chance to take myself on a long trip. I chose the peace of hills in the purity of Dev Bhumi – Uttarakhand. And I am back with my adventurous chilly write-up with endless beautiful pics. After brainstorming for almost a month on the planning of our next trip we got many options. But our travel destiny brings us to Uttarakhand from nowhere. Uttarakhand is way beyond if we want to explore its serenity and beauty.
We started from 4-days planning but after searching a lot we planned it a week-long trip. Keeping the weather and tiredness in mind while doing long drive by our car and then taxi. We planned for the trip on the week that was starting from Christmas and ended on New Year. I would say a clever plan due to office long weekend holidays :-P.
Trip Plan Teaser :-)
Due to Covid and work from home didn’t get any opportunity to get out and spread our wings. But then we took a healthy risk to travel with hygiene and safety. So the travel dates were 25-Dec-2020 (Friday) to 01-Jan-2021 (Friday). I found only one disadvantage while travelling to hilly area in winter season – too many heavy winter clothes. The plot is set now be ready for the show time without wasting any more of my readers time in the teaser. I will cover my adventure in two parts as for a talkative person like me it will not be possible to cover all adventures in one go :P So here we go with the Part 1 of our trip.
Day 1: 25-Dec-2020 (Friday)
So we started our journey in the chilled foggy morning of Friday at around 6:30 am from Greater Noida by our car so called our travel partner from a long time. We planned to travel till Dehradun by our car and then by taxi so that we both can enjoy the scenic view of hills without getting tired of driving the car. We took an hour break for breakfast at Muzaffarnagar in a crowdy dhabha ‘Alaknanda’ and ordered parathas and tea to end our hunger. And then we proceed ahead towards Dehradun without taking any other break.
It took us almost 6 hrs to reach Dehradun. We started our drive in a chilly foggy morning and ended it with pleasant afternoon with a shiny sun over us. We dropped our car at one of our friend’s house in Dehradun only. Our next stop was Kanatal near Chamba a hidden gem. We have already booked a taxi so we called our driver bhaiya (Rajesh – 9149083211) and started our trip. We started at around 2:00 pm from Dehradun and it took around 6 hrs to reach Kanatal. Took small maggi tea breaks in between and also started our photo session from there. Did not click much pictures because were getting late and as it was December month so the darkness was about to be there.
Peace at Peak
Finally we reached to our resort a new one opened up there named as ‘Peace At Peak’ in Kanatal. As its name so the location of the resort. In my travel history so far this resort was one of the best stay for us. I have to give hats off to those guys who suggested or designed this resort a unique one in its own style to give peace to the tiring travelers at peak of the hills. It has cottages and Swiss tents and as it was a chilly December month end so we chose cottages to spend a part of our trip.
As soon as we enter the resort, the manager gave us warm welcome with a welcoming smile. Our room was ready and cleaned already, the room were cozy with a room heater and a geyser in the restroom which are the essentials for a traveler while visiting a hill station. Also there was a bouquet of flowers and a bunch of chocolates and fruits to welcome the guests. As soon as we opened up the curtains of our room window there was a mesmerizing view of the scenery outside. What else you want when you see the sun going down and coming up from the hills just sitting in your room.
Now it was the time for our Christmas night dinner. The dinner was delicious with proper hygiene and quality. There were other families as well from Noida/Greater Noida only. After dinner we cut the Christmas cake and danced on the Punjabi songs. The bonfire was ready and we as well to fight the cold outside.
It was late for us so went to bed for a long nap. We let our driver stay in resort itself. We have to go with him the next day.
Day 2: 26-Dec-2020 (Saturday)
The plan of visit and having fun at Tehri Dam was already set so we got early in the morning, requested the resort manager to get our breakfast ready little bit early which they did.
After having our breakfast we called our taxi driver whom we have settled in the same resort in the driver’s room to get ready with this taxi. Coincidentally there were other families in the resort who were also planning for Tehri Dam. As it was a long weekend so good number of crowd was expected at Tehri Dam that’s why we planned to leave early like around 10 am so that we can enjoy there for like almost whole day. It took around 1.5 hrs- 2 hrs to reach Tehri Dam from our resort. And as expected a huge crowd was there and wow what a mesmerizing view out there. I would suggest that if anyone of you planning for a trip to Uttarakhand then must visit Tehri Dam.
Tehri Lake – A must visit place
It is such a beautiful place with hills around, clean lake Bhagirathi water with length of almost 45 kms. The visitors will not be allowed to visit actual Dam due to obvious security concerns. However, you going to enjoy for sure with your family, kids and friends on a boat ride in the man-made lake water. There are a lot of options for boat rides, water sports/adventures available. Moreover when you will take a boat ride around the whole lake you will also get a view of floating huts. I was mesmerized by the scenic views around and did not stop myself clicking pictures again and again. It was like oh my god I should the click from this view that view :-) For sure I will go again there whenever I get a chance to visit Uttarakhand.
It is a full day small picnic where you can enjoy hilly scenic view, boat rides and various other sports adventures. The parking space is also available there and there are a few Maggi, tea and snacks points as well. We didn’t come to know when the sun set and it was almost 6 pm. From the locals we came to know that near Tehri dam/lake there is another viewpoint for tourists which should be visited in the evening time only. It is a suspension bridge “Dobra-Chanti bridge” India’s longest motorable single-lane bridge. The timings of lightning show was around 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm in which the whole bridge lightened up with different colors one by one repeatedly. I would say a creative idea to attract the tourists :-)
Back to pavilion
Once the show got over we started returning back to our resort “Peace at Peak” in Kanatal as it was late night (if we are traveling on hilly roads). Once we reached the resort we took the dinner which was ready with bonfire. After enjoying our gossips with other families around bonfire we returned back to our room to take a relaxed nap after a long tiring adventurous day.
Day 3: 27-Dec-2020 (Sunday)
So next day early morning we started packing our bags as our next destination was Chopta. We were waiting for another family from Noida who had plans with us for further journey to Chopta and Auli. So after getting ready we were having enough time to wait. Now we decided to explore our resort surroundings and to our surprise we got to know from one of the hotel employee that a famous tourist place known as ‘’Kodia Jungle” which starts nearby our resort.
We started climbing through the stairs and pathways that going towards Kodia Jungle with some other youngsters who were staying in our resort only. It is a dense forest but there is proper ground in the middle of the forest which was cleared and where one can play sports like cricket, badminton, etc. We had a little bit of fun there to spend our time well. Once we got the call from our friends on their arrival to our resort we got down for breakfast with them.
About Peace At Peak resort I would day like the name like the services seriously. One of the best resorts so far stayed at peak in hills. The quality of food, the timely services and the quality of services all were beyond our expectations.
After having our breakfast and having a few clicks there at resort we bid goodbye to our taxi driver Rajesh bhaiya. Because our friends were ready with other taxi so we got settled our bags and ourselves in new taxi. Now it’s time for another adventurous journey towards Chopta which I will describe in details in Part-2 of my Uttarakhand blog.
Be Safe Guys!!
Thank you guys for spending your precious time over my blog. I hope it gives some lively feeling in this pandemic crisis Covid situation. But please wear your masks and be sanitized always while traveling. And also request not to throw garbage and plastic bottles here and there as it only ruins our country’s beauty.
**** We wore masks while traveling but dropped it off only when clicking selfies or photographs of us. Be safe and stay well !!
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Excellent
Such a amazing feeling of Tehri Dam pics. Keep it up..