Stay away from madding crowds on your Holiday

So DANGEROUS to get caught in the hills amongst the madding crowds in Summer!

Even preparing for a holiday brings the entire family together, only an excuse to have a meal and a drink together. Yes, that’s how happiness starts filling the air days before one departs for the holiday.

Recently, my family and I headed out to a different hill destination, the summer heat was getting unbearable and kids’ vacations started. The idea of visiting Nainital or Mussoorie and facing the crowd, limited parking etc. was scaring the day lights out of me as I wanted to drive myself. ‘No more malls roads’ everybody said. I was happy to know everyone chose to go close to nature. My family is filled with corporate honchos, so I know how stressed and fearful they always are. They realize it themselves but this is the first time they all wanted to stay away from their laptops and wanted to spend some quality time with each other. We are five of us by the way, my parents, my elder brother and sister and all work except me. I’m still in college and not looking forward to getting out of it, considering what’s happened to my elder brother and sister. Although I’m the youngest I get to plan and book all holidays… Only book, dad pays. Searching for the perfect place was difficult – I mean - Mom, Dad, Brat Bro and my 2nd Mom - my elder sis. Too much to handle when it comes to holiday planning.

Read travel websites, online material was turned upside down and then finally we shortlisted Binsar, Naukuchiatal and Mukteshwar. All in the hill state of Uttarakhand and about 2-3 hours apart. Quick round of elimination over dinner and Naukuchiatal was rejected as it was reporting +40 Deg C during June first week and we sure were wanting some place much cooler. Binsar was sounding wonderful in all aspects but then my, ever demanding, brother was not happy as it did not have much to offer in terms of activities. I was not very happy really, had read great things about the views from Binsar. So Mukteshwar, not very far from the lake towns of Nainital and Bhimtal, say about and hour and a half drive from both lakes, was finally the hill station everybody liked. Dad was very happy about the temperature, which was showing a cool 16-28 Deg C and the height of the hill station, which was 8000 ft. Mom was gaga, even before she tasted them, about the Chocolates which were being handmade at the resort we had finally selected. My elder sis was very happy that we would be staying inside a fruit orchard as the resort, fortunately, was spread out in one and my brother, the brat that he is, was excited about the adventure activities that Mukteshwar offered like rock climbing, rappelling and trekking. Well for me, I think I was happy because everybody was happy. I was happy because finally we would be spending some great times together as a family. Forgot to mention the one thing I liked the most about this place – They had no TVs in the rooms. Sad part was that the mobiles worked here full signal but then it can’t all be great.

We stayed at this resort in Mukteshwar called MountainTrail. It was a nice place, natural, green, gave you a feel of being in the hills. I mean it had a character to it unlike regular hotels in Nainital etc. The best part about them was the personalized service, the ever-smiling staff and the great food. My mom made friends with the owners. The wife made the chocolates my mom so wanted to taste and trust you me…. If you ever visit this side of the country, don’t miss these delights, they are from heaven. The chocolate shop had some brownies as well - my favorites and they were clearly were the best I’ve ever had. There was loads that we carried back home.

So Mukteshwar is about 8-9 Hrs. from Delhi. Same Nainital Route. Although we drove but I later realized, didn’t share with my family else I would have been disowned, that the better way to travel is by train. There are three options and the best being the Shatabdi which reaches the last station, Kathgodam in under 6 hours at about 11:40am. From here Mukteshwar is about 2 Hrs drive and you get taxis easily, book in advance if you want things hassle free. This Delhi – Nainital highway was mostly impressive except a few bad patches and some dense villages en-route. The hill drive beyond Bhowali (a junction) was just wow.

Mukteshwar is known as the fruit basket of Kumaon and it truly was, nothing much was ripe for plucking but it was all there, hanging on the trees and looking wonderful, Apples, Apricots, Peaches. We were about 10-12 days before they could be actually eaten but the manager at the resort made sure we tried some from another orchard lower down in the valley. It was very thoughtful of him. Visit this cute little hill station if you’d like to just unwind, distress, spend time with your family and just chill. It’s really pretty, with dense forests, scenic views. The most spectacular sunrise where our guide even served us hot tea with Tiger Biscuits. Remember dipping these into my milk when I was much younger. Took us all down the memory lane actually. Super cute experience. The highlights for all of us were the nature walks and stream picnic. The resort packed us delicious food and hot masala tea was made at the spot. Must ask these guys to organize outdoor activities as they know their job well and it becomes a truly memorable experience.

By Ashish Kumar 

Phone : +91 8010450000
Email: info@asianadventures.in
https://linktr.ee/aatoursandlodges

A holiday off the beaten track to the scenic Mukteshwar near Nainital.

I have always been fond of traveling to lesser known, offbeat places, places away from crowds and in the midst of nature. It’s never been too difficult to plan weekend getaways from Delhi nowadays as you have a long list of options towards any direction but you have to be mindful about which season you are traveling in. Summer Holidays is obviously all for the hills, cool, scenic and relaxing. And trust me, don’t follow the online reviews blindly, they can be really misleading at times. This one particular trip that I went on seemed to be a tough one because I was travelling with four friends and getting everybody on the same page, setting and meeting every specific expectation, ensuring nobody has much to complain about, kept me nervous initially. I had read about this nature retreat, Mountain Trail, at a hill station called Mukteshwar - 45 Kms from The Lake Town of Nainital. As the legend goes Lord Shiva gave Mukti (eternal freedom) to a vicious demon who was troubling the poor village folk of Mukteshwar and hence the name - Mukteshwar. Sounds pretty religious but you’d be surprised how much fun this sleepy little hill hamlet has on offer and we loved every bit of it. Not only for adventure and offbeat seekers like myself but most types of traveler. This is the first time I experienced a holiday destination covering such a wide bandwidth. We went trekking, did some rappelling at the Chauli Ki Jaali Cliff, enjoyed a stream picnic, a night jungle walk and every evening sat by our own bon-fire with our guitars, plural mind you, we were all, once upon a time, a great band. Happy to be together again. The resort manager, just a young local hillbilly, always smiling, actually offered us a long list of activities that we could enjoy like bird watching etc. but we only had 2 clear days so there’s only so much we could have done as the primary aim was to chillax. We were actually surprised with ourselves on how much we had packed into our three nights but that credit goes to the excellent team at The Mountain Trail Resort. If you’re looking at a nature friendly place, this is it but if you’re looking for star luxuries please consider Nainital or even Bhimtal as you have some high end hotels there. I was deliberating to stay away from TV, Mobiles and Luxuries, could manage to evade two but mobiles worked here 3G+ and my friends were delighted to discover that. I of course wasn’t happy about it at all. The resort is spread out in a fruit orchard facing the Himalayan Range. It has spectacular valley views which we enjoyed the most while having breakfast in their restaurant lawn. Two of my friends had experienced an orchard laden with fruits, for the first time. I mean plucking them right off the trees, with due permission of course and biting into the juiciest, most delicious peaches and plums ever…. It was something!

Before I had formally booked our holiday I had the pleasure of speaking with the owner of the Resort - Mr. Mayank Gupta, who seemed extremely professional along with exuding a lot of passion and honesty. His love for the hills, his in-depth knowledge about the region and the activities, convinced me enough but there was still a little bit of nervousness realizing I was traveling with a lawyer, an architect, a pilot and a dentist. Now that’s as diverse as it could get and surely professional profiles don’t really matter but I had known them since school and that was enough reason for me to be worried for somebody who’s organizing the trip.

Shatabdi from Delhi, a 6am departure from the New Delhi Railway Station, 11:45am- 12Noon arrival at one of the cutest, cleanest railway stations ever, Kathgodam. We were told this station was an award winner and we had no reason to doubt that. Once we got out of the station we spotted a slightly stressed out, middle aged man holding a placard with our name on it. When we waived at him suddenly a wide smile appeared with the words from his mouth which put a smile back on our faces “Mountain Trail” just what we wanted to hear. Here we go, driving up the hill, as the ascend starts from Kathgodam itself with the beautiful river Gola flowing in the opposite direction. We made friends with Neema, our very talkative but wonderful driver. Once again a big Thank You! To the Mountain Trail team for organizing a great car and driver which honestly makes a huge difference to the overall experience. I for one never save money on transportation, it’s always proven to be ‘penny wise pound foolish’. Neema was requested to suggest all experiences which were local and it largely meant local food. So we took a chai break, sorry, a pahadi chai break which turned out to be very tasty but very sweet, even after our humble request for less sugar. I guess even the water in the hills is sweet so maybe it really can’t be helped. The sweet Pahadi Tea turned out to be a life saver afterwards as the spicey Aloo ka Gutkas (potato chunks) and the Rai ka Raita (Curd flavoured with mustard seeds, some red chilly powder and floating graded Radish) opened each blocked vein in our body, it was weirdly hot (spicy hot). It was quite an experience and we thought we could never have it again but we did and we enjoyed it more the second time and it felt less spicy. The drive up was wow. Passed by the gorgeous    lake, dense forests, hill streams, waterfalls (small ones but pretty) and the amazing landscapes towards the valleys bowled us over. Every sense of tiredness had escaped us and we were re-energized and ready to take on the next three days which we were so looking forward to, away from the stressful city lives.

We landed at the Mountain Trail Resort in Mukteshwar in about two and half hours. I checked my altimeter which was showing off a 7430 ft ASL ….Nice. The entrance didn’t really excite us much but once we entered it the frame opened up into a lush green fruit orchard and we could spot some red roofs at a distance from the reception, camouflaged by trees, we were wondering if these spread out huts, is where we’d be staying and yes, they were. We were sent right on top to the last three and we had booked three as two of us wanted privacy.

Spacious rooms with a typical hill cottage feel, wooden ceilings, surrounded by flowers and fruit trees, a perfectly sized glass sit-out which could seat four (there’s one outside every room), en-suite baths….Wallah..this was just the kind of place we were looking for. All of us seemed to be so happy and more or less said in sync – “this is going to be fun”. Loved the grass patches outside all rooms where we could already imagine our chairs sprawled out but what we couldn’t imagine was that right outside our rooms we would have a bon-fire and it will be exclusively for us. Man, we were in heaven. This truly was an escape from the routine, the mundane…. no TV sets in the rooms, beautiful birds and butterflies all around, scenic views. Sorted!

The following three nights filled our holiday with memorable experiences which we would cherish for life. The highlights were – The bonfire evenings, the stream picnic, views from the Chauli Ki jalli Cliff, the night jungle walk and the delectable food….Oh and the mind blowing chocolates and brownies that are hand made at the resort. Wondering how I forgot to mention about these earlier. I have, in my entire traveling life and I’ve really traveled, never tasted chocolates that good.

 I even doubted their claim of hand making them at the resort itself, I mean that’s how good they were, but then I was proven wrong when I was taken to the resort’s chocolate kitchen by the very kind Mr. Gupta (Owner) who was staying at the resort with his wife and she, Mrs Gupta, is the actual Queen behind these divine delights. When at Mukteshwar do not and I repeat, do not miss these chocolates at The Choco-House Chocolate Shop. Another café you should definitely try is Chaandi Maati for it’s local Kumaon food, Awesome. So all in all Mukteshwar is a great hill station for a weekend escape from Delhi. It’s at a good height so the weather and views are great too. Loved it.

Written By 

Dipika  Sinha 

Phone: +918010450000
Email: info@asianadventures.in
https://linktr.ee/aatoursandlodges