Once on a road trip with my family we were stuck in an awful traffic so we changed the route and stumbled upon a beautiful place called Lansdowne. It is a small town in Pauri district of Uttarakhand, 45km from Kotdwar. Let’s know more about this wonderful place.
It was originally known as Kaludanda from Kalu (Black) and Danda (hills) in Garhwali. Lansdowne was founded by then viceroy of India Lord Lansdowne. It was designated place for military recruit training by the Britishers. The particular unit that trained in Lansdowne was and still is Garhwal Rifles. Lansdowne is unlike any other hill stations as it is well connected with good roads but it is still remote and not many people know about it.
There are many local attractions in Lansdowne
such as The War Memorial but to visit The War Memorial you
have to get prior permission from the military as it is situated inside the
parade ground of their base. Some places around the city are Tip n Top View
Point, Kaleshwar Temple which is the most visited temple in Lansdowne. Other
than that, there are several temples in Lansdowne if you are religious
you can visit them. There is a cemetery on the Kitchner lines which is
supposedly haunted as many of our fallen war veterans are laid in rest there.
Lansdowne is the nearest hill station to Delhi.
It is 258km away and takes maximum 7hrs 30mins by road. You can even fly to Jolly
Grant Airport near Dehradun and is at a distance of 152km through Kotdwar-Haridwar
road.
