PANGOT – NAINITAL

When travel days were back(with precautions), I took my mom and Nani to the mountains. A change in atmosphere was much needed, so I booked a beautiful resort in Pangot, Uttarakhand through a friend’s reference. The resort was “Nature Drops” which is beautifully built in the lap of nature in Pangot, a small village in the Nainital District.

It took us a total of 8 hours to reach the resort from Delhi, with no stops in between due to precautionary measures. We were carrying our home-cooked food and made two-three 15 minutes stoppage to eat and get fresh. It was my first ever drive in the mountains and no doubt that it was an amazing experience.

We checked in at lunchtime and received a warm welcome with a complimentary local drink. I had a cottage(with a personal balcony) reserved for 4N/5D, including 3 meals a day plus evening snacks. Fresh vegetables from their farms were being used for cooking. Also, there was a fun room that had indoor games like carrom, snooker, ludo, etc. A perfect place to stay for all age groups.

I and my family wanted this outing so much that we spent two days just doing nothing apart from sleeping, eating, and relaxing. We used to sit under the bright sun with chills around, listen to the sound of nature, and chit-chat with each other, everything seemed perfect and still. There was a point at 15 minutes walking distance from the resort where you can see the sunset, trust me it was beautiful. After returning from the sunset stroll, we used to enjoy evening snacks with tea/coffee.

Nainital was just a 40-45 minutes drive from Pangot, so we left the resort after having breakfast. I parked the car in the main parking area of Mall Road and from there we went on foot to the market area. We hopped into the boat for boating in the Naini Lake, saw beautiful mountains which surrounded the lake and also we were able to see the whole Mall road while sitting in the boat, it was quite scenic. The Naini Lake is about 100Ft in-depth and has a lot of different species of fish. The boating was fun! The brownies from “The Chocolate Room” cannot be missed when in mall road, they are delicious. We had our lunch in The Chocolate Room only, they were following every precaution. I also tried momos from the street vendor, they were a bit average in taste.

Just to be on the safer side, we left for Pangot at around 3-3:30 pm so that we reach our stay by 5 pm at max. When we were just 20 minutes from the resort, my car suffered from a puncture in the back tire. There was no repair shop nearby, so I had to replace the tire with the Stepney by myself which I did successfully. Such incidents can happen anywhere and anytime, you always have to be prepared and never panic.

I came to know that there is a waterfall downhill which is considered to be a hidden gem. Most people go there in groups and there was no group at that time in the resort, I was all alone. I found a local boy(Lokesh) who said that he will take me to the waterfall but from a shortcut, I had second thoughts coming because of the short cut but then I agreed. It took me hardly 25 minutes to reach the waterfall(downhill trek) and was mind-blowing. It was truly a gem hidden in the forest. The temperature around the waterfall was shallow as compared to the temperature when I started the trek. This was due to the absence of direct sunlight, for once I thought that I was in the middle of a rainforest. Lokesh clicked a few pictures of me in front of the waterfall and then we started our uphill trek. With only one break in the middle, we went directly to the starting point and it took us 40 minutes. Whenever you trek with a local person, you save a lot of time by taking fewer breaks and that’s exactly what happened.

The next day after having an early breakfast, we left for Delhi. It is better to drive in the mountains during the daytime. Overall it was a great experience in Pangot and I definitely recommend “Nature Drops” to every person reading this, I had a lot of fun there.