‘Freedom’ to holiday!

The booking registers of various travel agents in the city are choc-a-bloc,while online travel sites and search engines are also abuzz with travel queries.

“Search queries for travel destinations from the region have seen a tremendous rise in the past 15 days. Interestingly,most of these searched destinations are from the northern region itself — including Shimla,Amritsar,Manali and Dharamshala. Budget hotels and accommodation in the price range of Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500 are most sought-after,” says Vinay Goel,Products Head at Google India,while sharing the results of Google insights.

Deepak Tuli,Head of travel website Goibibo,agrees. “The demands for August 15 weekend are elaborate. There is already a 30-40 per cent increase in airlines fare and even the train tickets are sold out.” He says Goibibo is recommending places such as Neemrana and Rishikesh and offering package deals for the same.

There is also a clear preference for close-by places — so that people feel rejuvenated when they join back work,rather than turning it into a taxing Tuesday. “We were looking for a laidback holiday. So we zeroed in on Gafu,a tiny village 22 kms from Shimla,nested astride a mountain saddle along the India-Tibet Road,” says Simran Bhogal,an IT expert. Her friend Sahiba Singh,a teacher,is heading for a pilgrimage to nearby Paonta Sahib.

But there are others who want to go to relatively less explored places such as Binsar,which is around 380 kms away from Delhi and is surrounded by alpine flora,ferns and many species of wild flowers,besides the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary. Also gaining popularity is Sariska,200 kms from Delhi,with attractions such as the Sariska National Park,Hanuman temple,Kankawadi Fort and Pandupol. Most of these,though a little far from Chandigarh,are highly recommended by travel website,TripAdvisor. Nikhil Ganju,Country Manager of the website,says,“There has been a significant surge in interest for offbeat destinations and many people don’t mind traveling the extra distance.”

But if you go by travel writer NK Sharma’s word,Himachal region is still the hot favourite,be it Nahan,Chail or Barog. He believes all these places get a fair share of visitors. Rajgarh,which is about 45 kms from Solan and is known as the peach bowl of India,is also worth spending the weekend,says Sharma. Here,one can visit Churchandni peaks,that give a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountain of Badrinath,Kedarnath and Deedagh. An enterprising retired army officer runs a tented resort here,with a few cottages.

“While Rajgarh is popular with the trekking groups,other spots such as Mashobra and Naldehra,which are closer to Chandigarh,are also likely to witness a huge rush this weekend,” he says.

So where are you heading for? It’s still not too late to plan.