Trip to Nainital

This renowned hill station is one of the most important tourist spot of the Kumaon region of Uttaranchal. Its altitude is 6343 feet (1934 mtr), roughly the same as that of Mussorie (2003 mtr). It has got its name from the Naini lake. Tal in hindi means lake. This emerald green lake is said to resemble the eye of sati, the wife of Shiva. Most of the lakes in the area have vanished and only few bigger one remains. It was an important military station during the Brtitish reign. It was the summer capital of the Government of United Provinces of Agra and Oudh and also the head quarter of the Eastern Military Command. Lord Barron discovered it around 1840. The best time to be here is either in summer or during November.
There are several ways to reach Nainital. If you are traveling by road from Delhi, then state roadways buses starts from ISBT at Anand Vihar. There are two daily trains to Kathgodam, the nearest railhead. Nainital is just 34 kms from Kathgodam and 300 Kms from Delhi by road. For traveling by train opt for the overnight journey by the 5013 Kathgodam-Ranikhet Express. Traveling by train is always comfortable. I planned my trip to Nainital with five more friends and we took the tougher option of driving down 300 Kms to Nainital. For comfort we hired a cab which costed us Rs. 10000 for five days which turned out to be very economical. We enjoyed our trip by road very much as we had the liberty to stop and eat anywhere we wanted to, alongwith enjoying beautiful farms, trees and weather became more calm and cool as we headed towards higher altitude after kathgodam. Enjoyed eating farm fresh guava’s, spice clad reddishes, singing and laughing all the way to nainital.

After reaching the mall road, we were surprised not to find any hotel agent approach us. But once we had stopped before a hotel, several of them appeared from nowhere. We soon found that hotels on the mall quotes very high room tariff. They are in the range of 1500 and above. Even with off-season discounts they were all above thousand. But if you are ready to leave the mall and go a little up, the rates come down to 600 and you will still have lake-facing rooms. We took this wiser option and got nice lake facing rooms at 550 a piece at Hotel Seagull. The hotel is located on the road to the zoo. It provides free jeep service from the mall to the hotel. Parking space was also available at hotel which is very rare at hill station hotels. So once we had parked, we did not even thought of taking it out until we left Nainital.

The main attraction of Nainital is the lake and the mall road. A boat ride in the lake is almost unavoidable when in Nainital. Boats in every size and shape are available for an enjoyable ride. Here again you can bargain for rates because there is fierce competition. Boats trips are available for half trip (for covering only half of the lake) or full trip. We enjoyed full trip for Rs.80/- per boat. On the northern end of the lake a temple dedicated to Naina devi is located where it is believed that the eye of sati felled.

The mall road in Nainital is unique. One call strolls on the mall road or can take a man pulled ricksaw. There is an organized system of ricksaws. The main attraction is a bhutia market located on the field next to the lake. This place is called Mallital. What one should look to buy here is designer candles.

Cave garden is a cluster of underground caves which remind all of us about the vaishno devi shrine in Jammu, which also have similar caves. In nainital we started with the Tiger Cave. It was the easiest to get in and out. Then we got into the Panther Cave. Getting in and out got harder. I was the only one of our group to get into the third cave named Porcupine Cave. It was the hardest to get in and out. I had to crawl on all four at places inside this cave. After this location we headed towards Himalaya Darshan Point which is on the way to tiffin top. There is nothing to boast about this spot. But on way to this point you get another point from where the Naini lake looks like a mango. This is the point from where you get a complete view of the lake. Lovers Point is the point from where you get horses for going to Tiffin Top. These horses earlier operate from Mallital near the lake. The rate for a horse was 175 bucks for the trip to Tiffin Top and few other spots like one from where you get a view of the Khurpa Tal and the second is Tiffin Top. After traveling for about half an hour on horse, we reached Tifin Top. With an altitude of 2352 meter (about 7710 feet), it is the second highest point of Nainital. It provides a majestic view of the Nainital town and the lake.