My travelogue on Lansdowne

I was there last Aug/Sep, didn't eat much, had some Fairydale Special paneer, dal etc, liked whatever I had...

I doubt if there would be any major problems in the dark as well, especially in the main area, as it is anyway a Military Area..

I agree.
I was going to add something on the lines of the hills being safer in general than the plains and all that, but then cudn't be bothered (oh, I think I just did!).

Thanks for the well written travelogue ! I am headed to Lansdowne (and possibly Pauri) on the weekend of the 23rd. No specific itinerary.. just have tickets to and from Kotdwar.. will make up the rest as i go :)

Hey everyone me and hubby just came back from Lansdowne last weekend and I thought I shd update everyone on the two most suitable accomodations here.

Fairydale
Negatives:
1) Costs around Rs 1600 a night which is a bit steep for the kind of room they gave us- miniscule. This is a 1912 built bungalow converted into hotel. So basically the owners have tried to make as many rooms as possible out of the available space.
Positives:
1) Very clean place. Bathroom included. The garden around the bungalow is quaint and all the colorful flowers and daisies may make u want to turn into Wordsworth.
2) Sitting outdoors for a meal is a delightful experience- under pine trees swaying in the wind!
3) Owner and staff are nice and helpful.
4) Service is quick.
5) Very few rooms so if you want to get away from the crowd you can do that here.
6) Food is good but we stayed only 1 night so had only 2 big meals. Everything we ate was delicious.
GMVN Hotel near Tiffin Top
Negatives:
1) Typical tourism board hotel with 3-4 types of rooms- so you cannot avoid crowds including strange people who want to play Himesh Reshmiya instead of listening to birds.
Positives:
1) Location, location, location- This is literally on the highest point in Lansdowne so you walk to Tiffin Top viewing point in say 2 mins and enjoy the sunrise. (Still when we reached there at 6.30am- no one was around)
2) GMVN has a couple of machan-type bamboo huts built on stilts. These looked interesting to live in and may offer good valley views.

Hope this is helpful.

You could always shoot them. (Not the birds)

Captain, I whole heartedly agree with you in spirit of the sentiment about shooting.

Ah, this must be the new one someone mentioned in another thread, didn't know it had opened.
The old one is quite close to Fairy Dale.

Yes there is something called GMVN's 'Tourist Lodge' near Fairydale. However, this other GMVN property is right next to Tiffin Top.

And Captain I second the idea of shooting noise-makers - atleast shooting the taperecorder .

Is is something like "Anand retreat" or something ?

Of course not, it's GMVN. Rishabh had mentioned it earlier:
http://www.indiamike.com/india/uttar...28/#post473778

As I recall, you had mentioned this Anand place being somewhere outside the town.

Anand retreat is approx 3 km's outside lansdowne town.

Yes you are right. Retreat Anand or as they call it Jungle Resort is 3 kms away from main Lansdowne. It also has - a swimming pool, and other sports facilities such as water polo, tennis, cricket etc.

Not my idea of activities to do in the hills! Imagine playing cricket when there is a world of mighty deodars, flowering jacarandas, Cheeds to explore and pinecones to collect!

Do either of you have any idea about Anand's tariffs?

Dilli , why dont you give them a buzz on the below numbers. I think we had to do the same when we wanted to know and unfortunately i cant recall right now what they were





Telephone
01386 – 287886
01382 – 285279

Cell:
9411507254
9411350659
9411350660

Oh, I wasn't planning to go right now, just curious. Thanks for the nos. anyway.