Chandigarh

Chandigarh is the popular city and the union territory of India. This two states capital is popular as planned city of India. It serves the Haryana and Punjab as capital. Evaluating the name Chandigarh it means "The Fort of Chandi." Chandi is the Hindu goddess, and city is named after his ancient temple. 

The beautiful surroundings of the city make it the more special place. The central garden with different flora refreshes the mind, and that’s the reason local people are enjoying the visit to these gardens every day. 

Chandigarh is the first ever designed and planned city of India. Chandigarh was planned before independence in 1947. Its architecture is similar to international urban designs. Some big architect's Le Corbusier, Jane Drew, Pierre Jeanerette, and Maxwell Fry designed this stunning city of India. Chandigarh is the top-most cities of India with uppermost per capita income in the whole country. As per survey, city is earning at Rs.99262 as per capita income. National government study awarded the city as the cleanest place of India in 2010.

At the time of partition British province split the Punjab from Pakistan. Now the state was requiring new capital. At that point government decided to plan another city known as Chandigarh. This planned city was selected as capital of Punjab. As the city was planned and India recently got the independence everybody focused on the city to make it more special than other known cities of India.  The new schemes were implemented to complete the Chandigarh project. India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru gave the personal interest to create the city quicker.

Chandigarh city was connected to the border of newly formed state Haryana. The new issue raised by this new state was asking Chandigarh as capital of Haryana. Government of India approved the city as union territory serving both states Punjab and Haryana as capital.

Before reaching this Indian tourist place visitor must know about the climate conditions of the city. The average temperature of the city in spring season goes to 16o C to 25o C in daytime and 8° C to 19° C in the night. In autumn, temperature increases to the maximum of 36° C. In summer, the temperature increases to 45° C (hardly). Generally, temperature in summer remains from 35° C to 40° C. In monsoon temperature becomes moderate. Visitors can get heavy rains in August to September months. Winter season is little difficult in Chandigarh as the temperature of the city goes between 7° C to 15° C in day time where the night become so cold with 0° C to 8° C temperature.

Attractions in Chandigarh

Tourism department of Chandigarh has maintained the city with clean roads and neat ground levels. The city is amazingly designed, which makes is special tourist spot, especially for nature lovers. Shimla is the closest tourist destination from Chandigarh so reaching this planned city allows people to reach the beautiful hill station of India.

Places to see in Chandigarh include the High Court, Secretariat office, legislative assembly, open hand monument, rock garden, rose garden, forests and many other spots.

High Court: this government law interpreting monument is located in Capitol Complex of the city. The double roof of the building is special thing to watch.

Secretariat office: the construction of secretariat office was done from 1953 to 1959. The shape of building is similar to eight-storey real slab. However, there are only two storeys in the building.

Legislative Assembly: This government law-forming monument characterizes imperial grandeur, and it is near the high court building.

Open Hand Monument: designed by Le Corbusier the British architect is another tourist spot of Chandigarh. 85th feet elevated giant hand made of metal sheets is intended to revolve to indicate the direction of air.

Rock Garden: Chandigarh city is very well known for its rock garden. The unique highly praised garden by the professionals of the world is situated in Chandigarh. The very attractive combination of art and fashioned made from urban and industrial wastages is special thing of this park. This park is located between the Capitol Complex and Sukhna Lake. This is must-visit spot for tourist and people throughout the world are reaching Chandigarh to visit the Rock Garden. The magnificent entrance allows people to watch surrealist management of rocks, broken chinaware, boulders, discarded tubes, broken glasses, glass bangles, coal, building waste and clay materials. The statues of palaces, monkeys, soldiers, village life, temples and women are made of different waste materials. The artificial waterfall, open air theatre and pools are some more attractions of Rock Garden.

Experts say Rock Garden is almost the heritage site. Indian government appreciated the efforts of Nek Chand, who was the creator of this garden. He was the Road Inspector in Engineering Department and played the vital role in the capital formation project as well. He worked very hard as collected the wastages of the city on his bicycle for more than seven years. Roaming to Shivalik foothills and gathering the stones and many other natural things is also included in his efforts. There are more than twenty thousand rock structures with amazing designs. A stunning hut for meditation is also built of wastages.

Nek Chand was not having any intention for creating such a beautiful garden, but his efforts made the things possible. This rock garden was discovered accidentally by Dr. S Sharma on 24th February, 1973. Doctor was working for Anti-malaria campaign in the city and during his survey, he found this garden. Government associates inaugurated the Rock Garden in 1976 and made it free tourist spot of Chandigarh.

Rose Garden: the Asia’s largest Garden of rose flowers is situated in Chandigarh. This Zakir Hussain Rose Garden is spread in more than 30 acres land. There are larger than 1600 dissimilar types of roses in the garden. The beautifully planted lawns and beds of flowers are amazing in this park. Rose festival is the occasion when people reach this garden in the huge amount. Researchers from abroad are reaching Chandigarh to learn about the diverse categories of roses.

Kansal Forest: Chandigarh is also recognized as the hill station spread in 3245 hectares of land. The dense forest around Sukhna Lake, Patiala ki Rao and Sukhna Choe are tourist spots of Chandigarh.  Kansal village is known for thick forest situated on the outskirts of the city. However, some restrictions are there for tourism in this place so visitors might get difficulty to enjoy this jungle.  This reserve forest is having some limitations, and tourist has to follow certain rules to take pleasure of the jungle. By taking entry pass from tourism department visitors can enter to the forest. Staying at rest house and taking pleasure of the jungle could be memorable moment for visitors.

Nepli Forest: another reserve forest situated at short distance from the village Kansal is Nepli. The forest of Nepli is deep and wilder than forest of Kansal. The two sides of the jungle are bounded by small hills. The thick forest with full wild life is the best part of this jungle. Tourist can reach to rest house for accommodation, though they have to take the entry pass again from the tourism department.

Trekking: jungle with hills is special spot for trekkers. Here in Chandigarh trekking places are available such as Kalka, Jabali, Morni, Morni, Kasauli and Sabathu.

Some more spots at this Indian tourist place are Sector 17 Plaza, Government Museum, Art Gallery, Museum of Evolution of Life, International Dolls Museum and Hidden Valley.

Attaining to Chandigarh: Reaching to Chandigarh is possible through different ways.

By Air: the domestic airport is just 11 kms away from the city. Taxis and city buses are available to reach the city from the airport. Some of the popular airlines such as Indian Airways, Jet Airways, and Kingfisher are having direct flights from around the cities of the country. Closest international airport to reach Chandigarh is New Delhi.

By Rail: this planned city is connected to many major cities of India. Station is just 8kms away from the main city Chandigarh and direct trains from New Delhi are available. Shatabdi and Himalaya Queen are special trains to reach Chandigarh without any difficulties. Many other trains such as Hawrah to Kalka Mail, Jodhpur Express, Sadbhawana Express from Lucknow, Paschim Express from Mumbai, Jan Shatabdi Express from Chennai and Sampark Kranti Express from Kerala are available to reach Chandigarh.

By Road: this city of the hill is properly linked through road. Countless tourism firms are having buses to reach Chandigarh from various states. Direct buses available from Haryana, Himachal, Punjab, and Delhi allow visitors to reach the destination easily.

Some popular gateways from Chandigarh are Kasauli, Shimla and Chail. There are few more hill station and tourist places near Chandigarh so reaching this planned city allow visitors to enjoy more tourist spots of India.