Fresh-n-Juicy: Weekend Breaks for Mind, Body & Soul

Miss them this season and you forget them for the year. Yes there are places that you need to catch them at their best. Two awesome destinations (weekend breaks from Delhi) – Ramgarh in Uttarakhand and Thanedar in Himachal are best visited from April to June. No, it’s not that you cannot visit these places rest of the year but this is the time!

Both Ramgarh and Thanedar are popular for their fruit Orchards. And to enjoy these destinations at their best, you need a bit of luck and probably information about flowering and ripening of fruits. So call up your connections at these places to find about the flowering season or when the orchards are full of fruits.

Guide books tell April, May and June are the months when entire process from flowering to plucking of fruits takes place. However, the changing weather pattern demands that you check about the exact situation before you decide to travel.

Once you have decided on dates, the next question is accommodation. Where to stay? Let me tell you there are not many good hotels to stay in these places. In Ramgarh, you may check Ramgarh Bungalows by Neemrana Hotels. It is the only branded property in Ramgarh. It’s a heritage hotel resort with bungalows scattered on different hills.

It’s great for some quiet and quality time with your loved ones. Please note when I say loved ones, I specifically mean, either your better half or fiancé or some close friend. It is also a good place to stay for writers, painters or someone looking for solitude. I have heard of Rabindra Nath Tagore, Mahadevi Verma and Jawahar Lal Nehru spending some time here.

There is hardly anything to do for kids (especially in off fruit season) unless you have plans to stay at Nainital or Bhimtal, not more than 20 – 25 km from Ramgarh. And believe me 20 km, though sounds a small distance, in hills it means a drive of one or one and a half hour.

Neemrana has a jam & juice factory here and you may check that out. There are quiet trails or just take a walk on the road below. In fact the best part of staying at Ramgarh Bungalows is their jams and juices. The downside, however, is you have to do with the food served at the hotel, whether you like it or not. There is hardly any other eating out options, you may get an odd tea shop but expect nothing more than that.

Like Ramgarh, Thanedar too has not many great places to stay. Banjara Orchard Retreat is perhaps the best place to stay keeping in mind the facilities and location.

Thanedar is considered the fruit bowl of Himachal Pradesh. And one man who has been credited for transforming this non-descript region to a popular fruit growing belt is Samuel Stokes. This American gentleman came here in 1904, married a Himachali girl, planted first apple sapling in Kotgarh and the rest as they say is history.

Go check out these places, which are just right for your body, mind and soul!

Delhi-Ramgarh Distance:  ~ 320 km
Delhi – Thanedar Distance: ~ 430 km
(Do check about road conditions before you leave)