[JASMEET MATTOO]

October is a month full of holidays and especially for guys like us slaving ourselves in the Corporate world, it was the best time to save some leaves and plan a vacation to somewhere close - An ideal road trip.

The best weekend came and went by (read 2nd to 5th October) excited to go on a road trip . Had promised wife that I will take her out on this weekend ( after all 4 holidays together - who would want to miss it). Unfortunately, we could not plan anything as daughter got fever and we waited for her to get well. Even though she did, we missed out on time and did not get any suitable bookings to the places where we wanted. Daughter being 2 years old, I don't want to stretch the road trips beyond her patience level (as it affects mine later..lol!) So wanted a place closer to Delhi - preferably less than 400 kms.

Finally we decided that we will club the election day (as we work in Haryana - it was off for us) and take a few leaves and make a short trip like a one night or two night stay. Started shortlisting the locations, and a friend suggested Nalagarh fort. Had never heard of it before so I was being apprehensive. However, he had been there and it was his conviction that I thought I should explore more.

Thanks to Kandisa's Jeepologue, I saw detailed pictures and understood the place bit more. Shared the same with wife, booked the resort, applied leaves (most important ) and we were ready to go.

Am sure not many must have heard of this place. Nalagarh is small city in Solan District in Himachal Pradesh. My door to door run, from Dwarka New Delhi to the fort resort was about 340 kms. The fort was constructed in 1420's and now it has been converted into a Heritage resort. There is not much to explore around the city, but the resort in itself is an amazing place to be.

Synopsis of the journey :

Travel dates : 15th October - 17th October
Places visited : Nalagarh, Anandpur sahib, Chandigarh
Travellers : Wife, Daughter and Me.

Day 1 : 15th October 2014 - Morning 0445 hours - Started 15 minutes before my planned time (first time experienced it with two ladies around..lol)

We reached Karnal Haveli around 0730 hours. Had a sumptuous breakfast - what better than Paranthas - Haveli is famous for that!



Reached Chandigarh around 0930 and took a stop for a fuel top up. Stretched a bit and checked with the locals if the route that I planned to take was in good condition or not.

Had heard of two routes to Nalagarh.

1) One route is through Chandigarh and then reach Nalagarh via Ropar. Had heard that the road is good but remains a bit crowded.
2) The other route goes from Zirakpur to Kalka and then reach Nalagarh via baddi. This route is shorter from what I understood but was not blessed with as good roads as the other one. I had been to Pinjore and Kalka few times so was comfortable with the latter one so I decided to go via Baddi.

The journey was extremely comfortable and the roads were mostly comfortable. Only a small patch of about 30 kms from Pinjore to Baddi was a bit slow as there are a lot of trucks on that route. Since it was morning time, we did not face much problem.

Checked in the resort at 1130 hours. Bliss!

A few pictures of the Fort :

























We checked in the Family suite of the resort and man what a sight it was. We got the Tara Mahal as our room. It was a huge room on the terrace. The view from the terrace was amazing to say the least. Two of my favourite things were closest to this room - Restaurant/Bar and Badminton court.

A few pictures of the room :

[JASMEET MATTOO]

After getting control of our senses (which we had lost after seeing the extremely huge room and awesome property), we thought of taking lunch. It was 1300 hours anyway, and we had no specific plan for the day.

Lunch was amazing. The buffet (lunch) costs 350 per person (excl. taxes) and dinner buffet costs 400 bucks per person (excl. taxes). The food quality was amazing. Very tasty food and on top of it, the service was fabulous. Every staff there was taking extra effort to enhance customer satisfaction.

After lunch, we quietly slipped into our room, clicked a few pictures and dozed off.

The evening was spent enjoying a relaxed walk (except the half hour of Badminton game with wife). Took my baby around the property, and she enjoyed to the hilt. She was fascinated to see so many new (actually vintage - but new for her) things around.

The piano, the lamp shades, the guns, the weapons to name a few.

Some pics.



(Picture Credit : Home Ministry a.k.a. Wife)









Enjoyed roaming around the resort, evenings became a bit colder so we decided to head back to the room and relax there.

Day 2 : 16th October 2014

This was the day I was completing one year with my Storme (Hercules). It was kind of a celebration coming on a road trip on this day. We planned to visit Gurudwara Anandpur Sahib this day. But before that, this is the view that welcomed us when we opened the door of our room.





Marvelous, serene, fascinating, incredible, awesome, amazing - All words put together still can not express my feelings when I saw it. It was paradise !!!!

After a quick breakfast, we started off to our journey to Gurudwara Anandpur Sahib. It is about 35 kms from Nalagarh fort. A historic Gurudwara and one of the five takhts - Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib. It was indeed our fortune that had brought us here.

The roads were splendid. One toll booth that charged us 90 bucks for to and fro for within 24 hours. It took roughly 2 hours to reach. We could have made it earlier, but I took a wrong turn in between so about 15 - 20 minutes were wasted.



It was a heavenly experience in the Gurudwara. After visiting, we bought some stuff from the shops outside Gurudwara.





The only thing I would want people should avoid doing :



Translation : Removing your shoes is strictly prohibited here. (And still you can see whats happening). The counter for depositing shoes was just a minute walk from this place.

The time now was 1315 hours. We thought of heading back to the resort , but thought of having a quick tea break on the way.

[JASMEET MATTOO]

After having a short tea session, we headed back to the resort. We earlier planned to have food on the way, but the delicious mouth watering food which we had a day before seemed to be calling us yet again.

Spotted this river on the way while coming back to the fort resort.



Hercules resting.



Had lunch at the fort resort and thought of taking a quick nap so that our (and most importantly the baby's ) batteries get recharged.

The place is amazingly serene and quiet. Oh I so needed a quiet holiday away from the noisy city life. Loved every bit of it.

We all went for a walk in the evening around the parameters of the resort. You have a few options like Badminton, Carom board, billiards and fitness center in the resort. I was more interested in having a quiet drink in the Bar. Requested the Queen of my life to allow me to have a drink and since she was happy with my behavior the whole day, she readily agreed.

The bar :





Went to the room , watched some TV, came back to the restaurant for dinner and went off to bed.

Day 3 : Chandigarh visit (only to Sec -17 market) and back to Delhi

Checked out at 0930 hours from Nalagarh in the morning and reached Chandigarh via the Ropar route by 1100 hours. The roads on this route were fine but it is heavily crowded.Its a two lane road and man you just can not overtake since the traffic doesn't allow any gaps. Kept my patience and kept driving.

Visiting Chandigarh is nothing new to me, I have stayed there. Wife wanted to do some shopping there so this detour was mandatory (married men will definitely understand the importance of this one word). Spent some time in sector -17 market with wife out shopping and me handling the little princess.

Could not click a single pic as had to be with a 2 year old child who is running around in the open space not able to believe that some markets do have space like this.

Started off from Chandigarh around 1400 hours. We wanted to have lunch in Chandigarh itself, but while roaming around, we had some light snacks so we were really not hungry. Thought of reaching Ambala and checking out the new Haveli (erstwhile Chaupal AFAIK). Some 10 kms before that spotted a nice Hotel cum Restaurant called Grand Pacific Retreat Hotel.



Parking space :



It turned out to be an amazing place to stop. Very neat and clean place with delicious food. It also has an ample parking space. It is costlier than the other joints like Haveli etc but it is worth it. It has a park in its premises where the kids can play (if its not hot weather).

Took a one hour lunch break here as we really liked the place. Next stop was Haveli - Murthal at 1730 hours. A short 15 minutes break just for a cup of coffee .

We entered Delhi border around 1830 hours. The traffic was literally crawling for the first 40 minutes. Reached home around 2030 hours. Watched TV, caught up on sleep and Saturday morning - Office it is (Yes I work on Saturdays - the most evil thing that could happen to me ).

The trip was a satisfactory on all in all and the Fort Resort is highly recommended a weekend getaway. There is a steep 70 degree inclination of about 500 meters before the fort where one should be very careful. That road is meant only for one vehicle at a time and traffic moves both ways. Its just for half a km but happened twice with us when we were climbing, there was a truck and once a school bus coming down. So I had to adjust in order to let them go. Traffic coming down has no option as it is really steep there.

The trip was fully enjoyable with a lot of happy moments with family. Thanks for reading.

Pic clicked from the Terrace @ Nalagarh fort.

[Dry Ice]

Seems like a nice place to spend a weekend

Secluded and serene. Thanks for sharing!

[sudev]

There is a third and a shorter route. Carry on beyond PGI Chandigarh past Mullanpur. You hit a T junction. The road right goes past Siswan dam and goes to Baddi. From there to Nalagarh is same as Zirakpur-Pinjore-Nalagarh.

Nalagarh to Bhakra dam is also an interesting side visit as is Nalagarh - Kasauli via Sabathu

[gauravdgr8]

Originally Posted by JASMEET MATTOO

Spotted this river on the way while coming back to the fort resort.

Attachment 1301316

That's the Nangal Dam Canal on the way back from Anandpur Sahib. Actually Nangal is not far off from Anandpur Sahib.

The route via Baddi is a little rough, however has less traffic. The one via Ropar into Chandigarh is not a 4 lane, however has lot of bus and truck traffic. I went to Naina Devi 2 weeks back. Went via Baddi and came back via Ropar.