Uttarakhand Tourism

Geography and Tourism

Uttarakhand is divided into 2 regions the Garhwal and the Kumaon. Both the regions are equally beautiful and have a surrounded by the majestic mountain peaks of Bhagirathi, Chowkhamba, Pindari, Sahastrataal, Milam, Nanda Devi, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Jogin Group and many more.

The Garhwal region has around 7 districts while the kumaon region is made up of 6 districts. The Nanda devi mountain is the natural divide among the two regions. The districts in the Garhwal region are Dehradun, Haridwar, Tehri Garhwal,Pauri Garhwal, Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag while the Kumaon region consists of Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital,Pithoragarh and UdhamsinghNagar. It is further divided into 49 sub-divisions and 95 development blocks, 15,638 inhabited villages and 86 urban settlements in the state

Uttarakhand with a total area of around 53,483 sqkms has a total forest area of around 35,651 sqkms with majority of them are Oak and Pine forests.

The Yamuna and the Ganges are the two biggest rivers of Uttarakhand and also the most important. They are also one of the biggest rivers in India. The other important rivers passing through the state are the Sarayu, Alaknanda, Bhagirathi, Dhauliganga, Ramganga, Tons and Saraswati. These holy rivers give form to most of the important holy places such as the prayas, Haridwar and Rishikesh and provide a lifeline for almost a 5 million of people across 5 states in India.

Garhwali and Kumaoni are the two main regional languages, whereas Hindi is the most widely spoken language.

Culture Cuisines for Tourists

The people here celebrate all major festivals such as Holi, Diwali, Navratri. Some of the festivals related to Uttarakhand are Ghee Sankrant, Harela and Bhitauli. The people enjoy enacting the great hindu epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana during the diwali festivals. The Pandav Nitya and the Jagars are one of the highlights of the festivals.

Uttarakhand is a poor state with agriculture as the primary occupation. The food also is very simple in the hills but as the people say that the water here is magical which increase the taste of any food tenfold. Here the use of spices and tomatoes is very minimal. Madua ( Buck wheat ) - Koda , Rajma, locally grown green vegetables, fish form their staple diet. Some of the famous cuisines of Uttarakhand are Tuasu, Kaplu, Jholi, Phaanu, Thechwani, Swala, Jhangora and Desserts are Arsa ,Methubhat, Gulgula, Jhangora ki kheer and Prasad ( mix of wheat flour and ghee ). It is believed that a stay of 6months in garhwal can cure a man of obesity.

Music and dance form a essential part of festivals of the people of Uttarakhand. Some of the most common folk songs are Chhopati, Chounphula, Jhumeila and Basanti. Mangal is another popular folk song which is sung during the marriage ceremony by girls to tease the bridegroom and his friends. Langvir Nritya, Barada Nati and Pandav Nritya are some of the traditional folk dances of Uttarakhand.

How to Reach Uttarakhand

Jolly Grant airport is a newly developed domestic airport of Uttarakhand. There are direct flights from Mumbai, Kolkatta, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur and Lucknow. Lot of indirect flight from Delhi also reach Jollygrant on a daily basis.

Haridwar Junction, Dehradun and Kathgodham are major railway station in Uttarakhand. It is well connected to all major cities in India.

Dehradun ISBT and Haridwar are major state bus terminals and have good road connectivity with some of the nearby major cities such as Jaipur, Shimla, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi.