Destinations To Enjoy Your Long Weekend

There are a number of destinations where you do not have to plan for a week or take too many offs from work, but just need to pack your bag for 2-3 days and peace out. Here are some places we believe can prove to be utter bliss for you in that shprt period of time:

Auli

A ski destination in Chamoli district in Uttarakhand, Auli is also known as Auli Bugyal, in Garhwali, which means 'meadow'. After the state of Uttarakhand was created, which was formerly a part of Uttar Pradesh, Auli was marketed as a tourist destination. Auli lies on the way to the Hindu pilgrimage destination of Badrinath.

It is surrounded by coniferous trees and oak forests, with a panoramic view of the peaks of the Himalayas. The slopes are intended for both professional skiers and novices.

Image courtesy: cloudfront.net

Ooty

Located 86 km north of Coimbatore and 128 km south of Mysore, Ooty is the capital of the Nilgiris district. It is a popular hill station located in the Nilgiri Hills. The weather here is quite pleasant but it can drop to as low as 0°C during winter. The landscape is marked by hills covered with dense vegetation, smaller hills and plateaus covered with tea gardens, and eucalyptus trees. Many portions of the hills are preserved as natural reserve forests, and special permits are needed to camp in noncamp sites.

Wayanad

This place is a paradise nestled among the mountains of the Western Ghats, forming the border world of the greener part of Kerala. Clean and pristine, enchanting and hypnotizing, this land is filled with history and culture. Located at a distance of 76 km, from the sea shores of Kozhikode, this hill station is full of plantations, forests and wildlife.

Gokarna and Murudeshwar

Full of beaches, hills, sprawling green landscapes and long roads with gorgeous view, Gokarna and Murudeshwar, are situated in Karnataka. The places offer the best getaway one could ask for. Located close to Bangalore, Goa and Mumbai, it makes for a good road trip for the weekend, where the drive is just as calming as the destinations.

Udaipur

Image courtesy: media.cntraveller.in

Also known as the 'City of Lakes', it is a major city in Rajasthan. It is the historic capital of the kingdom of Mewar in the former Rajputana Agency. It was founded in 1559 by Maharana Udai Singh II of the Sisodia clan of Rajput, when he shifted his capital from the city of Chittorgarh to Udaipur after Chittorgarh was besieged by Akbar.

It remained as the capital city till 1818 when it became a British princely state, and thereafter the Mewar province became a part of Rajasthan when India gained independence in 1947.

Udaipur is located in the southernmost part of Rajasthan state, just near the Gujarat border. It is surrounded by Aravali Range, which separates it from Thar Desert. It is popularly known as the 'City of Lakes' because of its lake system. Five of the major lakes, namely Fateh Sagar Lake, Lake Pichola, Swaroop Sagar Lake, Rangsagar and Doodh Talai Lake have been included under the restoration project of the National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) of the Government of India.

Besides lakes, Udaipur is also known for its historic forts, palaces, museums, galleries, architectural temples, as well as traditional fairs and festivals.

Rann of Kutch

It is a salt marshy land in the Thar Desert in the Kutch district of western Gujarat. It lies between Gujarat in India and the Sindh province in Pakistan, an comprises of around 30,000 sq. km of land which includes The Great Rann of Kutch, The Little Rann of Kutch and Banni grassland.

The Rann of Kutch is famous for its white salty desert sand and is known to be the largest salt desert in the world. ‘Rann’ means desert in Hindi which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Irina’ which also means desert.

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