Being the capital of two states and also being a union territory by itself, Chandigarh, also known as the City of Beauty is a planned city with urban planning at its finest divided into sectors with wide roads, lined with lush tree cover along with cycling lanes. There are a few interesting tourist places in Chandigarh that you can unravel in 24 hours.
Chandigarh is often the first stop for travellers who do not live in North India as they take a flight or train to this beautiful city which is the gateway to the Himalayas. Hence, you may be spending a day or even half a day here at the foothills of the Himalayas and on a clear day can see the mountainous silhouette boating away in the Sukhna Lake.
Table of contents
Nekchand’s Rock Garden is one of the top tourist places in Chandigarh
One of the most famous places of Chandigarh is the Rock Garden, which spans a few acres. The garden is a showcase of the whims of a government official, Nek Chand Saini who foraged scraps from various industries and metamorphosed them into art. You’d see installations made of plastic bottles, discarded electrical sockets, broken bangles, mosaic tiles, and even rock sculptures.
The Rock Garden is just meant to be wandered around for a few hours with stops to click pictures every now and then. Reading material or explanations of the sculptures are regular intervals would surely be helpful if you are an art enthusiast, but if not, this place epitomises ‘doing nothing’ and enjoying the journey while not having any destination. Visiting in the evening hours would make it an enjoyable stroll through the place with pleasant temperatures in the warmer months.
Time spent: Upon landing, we spent about an hour getting to our accommodation at ISB Mohali from the airport. We spent another hour visiting Brother’s Amritsari Kulcha for a quick lunch before we headed to the Rock Garden. We spent around 2 hours inside the Rock Garden and lost our way twice before making it to the exit. We were commuting in a hired cab, saving us any time to wait for an Uber/Ola.
Nik Bakers & Castles & Decor
We had worked up an appetite with all the walking at the Rock Garden and we stopped by at one of Chandigarh’s loved cafe-style patisserie called Nik Bakers. We had a delicious chocolate pastry there, the rich and good chocolate ganache took me by surprise and we also went on to try their Chocolate Eclair.
Chandigarh still has the small city charm with big city amenities and the best way to explore a city is by visiting their local boutique stores. One such store that we visited in Sector 7-C was Castles & Decor which was a home decor store run by two seemingly well-travelled women. They had ceramic crockery with Italian prints, floral vases, off-white bed sheets and dainty tea sets - everything with a very European-inspired aesthetic. Their store transported me to home decor stores we had visited in Paris earlier this year and it made for a cozy stop while sightseeing.
Time Spent: About 1.5 hours spent with 30 mins each spent in commuting, at Nik Bakers and at Castles & Decor.
Sunset at Sukhna Lake
We then made our way to the famous Sukhna Lake, and to me it was like a deja vu of the good old Carter Road in Mumbai on a Saturday evening where people would bring their families or come for an evening jog.
There was a dedicated zone for eateries with some vendors selling peanut chaat by the lakeside. There were also artists sitting on the lakefront offering to draw a sketch for couples. My husband and I appreciated the sun going down with a distant view of the Shivalik range from a bench. We then thought of reliving some of our childhood memories with our parents where we’d go boating at pretty much any destination we travelled to within India. Hence we hired a pedal boat for 30 minutes and floated around the lake trying not to band into the jovial Sardarjis along with their families all around us. It was a quintessential Indian thing to do of the 90s but it did bring us immense joy.
Time Spent: About 2 hours including the commute, boat ride and sitting by the lakefront at Sukhna Lake.
Vibrant Sector 17 & Indian Coffee House
We then headed to Sector 17 which is a super vibrant place to visit in Chandigarh, especially on a Saturday evening, with a podium full of folk singers from Himachal engaging the crowd amid all the shops and restaurants. After soaking in some Himachali folk music we went to the Indian Coffee House which is a vintage coffee house that reminded me of Cafe Modegar back in Mumbai. We simply had their super light and airy cold coffee which came highly recommended.
Time Spent: We spent another 2 hours commuting to and from Sector 17 back to ISB Mohali along with enjoying the vibe of the place and our short visit to the Indian Coffee House.
Last Word
After an early start to the day with a morning flight to Chandigarh from Mumbai, we had dinner on campus at ISB Mohali, toured my husband’s alma mater at night, and retired for the day. The next day, we skipped breakfast only to brunch on some of the famous street food of Chandigarh that took about 3 hours including the commute, before we made our way out of the city. These were 24 hours well spent with a break from screens, dipping into a new culture, trying to take it slow by not having highly stimulating things to do, and of course trying some delicious local food.
תגובות