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This is a travelogue which we did in 2022. Uttarakhand was on bucket list and me/wife hadn’t explored. Initial plan was to drive all the way but then I was not sure how my younger kid would cope with as he was less than 2 years. Elder was 4+ years old and was used to our long travels. Decided not to take risk and for a change decided to hire self-drive car.
We had prepared list of places to visit but had not finalized itinerary. To begin with booked flight tickets to Delhi and was contemplating on if to take rental taxi or a self-drive. Zoom car had decent options and decided to take a bit of risk, booked a Creta which had less than 25000 KMs in ODO. Post booking , Zoom car was experience pathetic at best. After booking the app showed I don’t have active booking and could not connect to support as well. After few weeks managed to get hold of support team but they were of no help. Found out some local contact in Delhi and they assured that I will get the car delivered to me. Penultimate day, no confirmation from zoom and not even a message or mail. I made call to a travel agent and confirmed a rental taxi as backup.
Took flight to Delhi, after landing, we checked in to a hotel at Delhi and was able to track the location of car, however no one knew who would deliver the car to me. Car was to be delivered next day early morning and no updates from Zoom. After contacting many folks, a driver number was assigned but the number was not reachable. It was a sleepless night and a stressful one. On D Day finally the driver called and mentioned he would drop the car; the car came 2 hours late!
The car was not cleaned and dents all over. Tires were in decent shape (or so I thought) and checked for tools and car was starting without issues, no warning in dashboard. Finished breakfast and went to nearby fuel station to tank up and check tire pressure. Two tires had punctures and got them fixed (there were about 6-7 punctures to be fixed) Tire issues resolved, and we began our drive towards Uttarakhand 4 hours later than planned. I took some time to get familiarized and gain some confidence with the car, give the sad state. Couple of hours into drive found a service station and asked them to clean.
Day 2- Mussorie
Afterall the zoomcar issues sorted our trip to Uttarkhand began. Initial plan was to drive to Dehradun, but good roads and we decided to drive up to Mussorie. Drive was uneventful and we reached Mussoorie by evening. Was my first visit to Mussoorie and found it to be good place. We booked hotel over phone few hours before, checked in by 4PM. Visited Mall Road and took cable car to Gun hill. On return we clicked few pictures at photoshoot point which had nice view of valley. Ventured to few places in mall road for food and shopping. Weather was nice and wasn’t unbearably cold.
Day 3- Rishikesh
Rishikesh was our next destination and made for a short drive. I wanted kids to get acclimatized hence did not want to travel much. We reached Rishikesh by lunch time. Took some rest and visited Lakshman Jhula and Ram Jhula. By evening we came back to hotel back as they had arranged for Ganga Aarthi as our hotel was on banks of Ganga. Took a dip after Aarthi, water was super cold and quite clean too.
Day 4 and Day 5 -Auli/Joshimath
Auli was one of the places we wanted to visit. Was about 7Hr but I knew this is going to take time. Finished our breakfast at hotel and started our drive to Auli. Roads for most part were good. Weather was nice and we enjoyed lovely drive through hills. In Auli we had booked Uttarakhand tourism hotel as we wanted to visit Bugyal.
Next day we took the Ropeway, which started very close to hotel and was fantastic experience. Once we reached top, we took horse ride to Bugyal. This was quite a steep climb and bit scary too. Wife and son weren’t confident of going up hence me and daughter went up, spent some time at Bugyal. There was some ice and view was amazing. After spending about an hour, we returned. It was lunch time, and we had simple lunch at hotel. From there we had short journey and drove to Joshimath where we booked our stay for the night.
Day 6- Ranikhet
We had few options, Munsiyari, Kasauni, Ranikhet, Nainital. Since we hadn’t visited Nainital, decide to visit same by taking stopover at Ranikhet. Ranikhet is an Army town and was quite peaceful. We were driving slowly and reached Ranikhet by evening. It was quite relaxing at Ranikhet, kids got some good sleep.
Day 7 – Nainital
Was a short drive and we woke late. We were told Nainital is quite busy, and locals mentioned us to check for hotels. We managed to book a room at Uttarakhand tourism. We reached there for lunch and had an amazing thali at room. Our room had nice balcony with spectacular view of the lake. By evening we went towards lake took a boat ride. Visited few popular hangouts joint in Nainital town. There were few other attractions, but kids wanted to spend time around lake. Rest of the day we spent time in deciding where to head next. One option was to head towards Munsiyari and return. But by now we had spent about a week driving around mountains and wanted some change. We did a U turn and decided to visit Amritsar! So, plan was to break the journey at Haridwar.
Day 8-Haridwar
As planned, we had to drive to Haridwar. We did not have any plans in Haridwar, may be check the famous Ganga Aarati. We were in Haridwar by evening, checked in at hotel and quickly visited the Aarati place. Though crowded, experience was quite good. We found the river was not as clean here compared to Rishikesh.
Day 9 and Day 10- Amritsar
Amritsar was unplanned and nowhere in the plan initially. We were tired of mountains and wanted to experience something different. The drive was through good four lane roads, and we covered distance quickly. Unfortunately, while on the highway, noticed something was odd with car. Stopped the car to check tires and one of the tires was losing air. Luckily there was a tire repair shop nearby and the valve was found to be leaking air. Got this fixed and we reached Amritsar by evening. From cool weather to blazing heat of Punjab, quite a difference. Later in the day visited Golden temple, which was quite crowded. Once outside, visited Brothers Dhaba which we had visited a decade ago during our road trip to Ladakh. Back then it felt surreal, this time around we did not feel as special, though must admit food was good. Next day plan was to visit Jallianwallah Bagh and Wagah border. At Wagah border the ceremony in the evening was good and despite the heat, there were lot of people. Ceremony is something that one should not miss while in Amritsar.
Day 11 and Day 12
We wanted to explore few places in Delhi, hence we planned to spend 2 days in Delhi. Over these 2 days we visited Palika Bazar, Connaught place, south Delhi, Parliament/India gate area, Akshardham temple, Humayun’s tomb etc. We also visited some of the popular food joints of Delhi and loved the food. Saravana Bhavan at Connaught place satiated our craving for south Indian food which we missed for about 10 days.
Day 13
We had an evening flight and had to return car. Since I had number of pickup guy, return was quick compared to pick up. The pickup guys did not create much fuss and came on time. Had a last look at the car, hard to imagine me/wife spent 2 weeks in an abused Creta and drove for close 2500KM or so with an infant and 4-year-old! This was 1.4 CRDI MT Creta- car had adequate power for highway, though was struggling on steep incline. Needed frequent gear changes and turbo lag was evident. Flight back home was uneventful.
This trip surely was a confidence booster for our Tawang road trip from Bangalore which we did in 2023. Sad part-Have lost almost all photograph’s of the tour when I changed the phone.
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