On the Road: Nainital

Summary: A short, relatively uneventful weekend trip to Nainital, a nearby hill station, gave me a taste of a “local’s vacation.”

Many festivals and holidays occur in the months of September and October, and I decided to take advantage of one of the rare two-day weekends at the office.

After much wavering, a last-minute decision was made to visit Nainital, a small, colonial “hill station” built around a lake. A recommended escape into an admittedly over-commercialized version of nature, Nainital is a family vacation hotpot amongst locals.

Given that the images of Nepal burned into my mind are still so fresh they’re hot to the touch, I didn’t have very high expectations of this place; this proved wise, as Nainital neither impressed nor disappointed. Nainital felt like a fusion of Lake Tahoe and Pokhara, but unfortunately less beautiful and stunning than both.

One of the first things my friend and I did was trek up to the Eco Cave Park, which is a group of six natural caves open for exploration, with only a few directional signs and even fewer safety precautions. Tempted as I may be, I can’t in good conscience call this experience “spelunking.” On the other hand, as I squirmed through small openings and climbed over muddy, slippery boulders, I couldn’t help but to think that a place like this would be a law suit waiting to happen in the U.S. But such was not the case in India; instead, couples and families freely explored the dimly lit and mildly dangerous caves, accepting the risk as part of the 15 Rs. entry fee.

While I can’t say much about the naturalistic scene of Nainital, I will talk about the culinary experience, as the rest of our day, aside from the hour on the lake in a peddle boat, was spent hopping between food joints. Now, I’m going to go out on a limb and claim that Nainital has the best momos my recalibrated palate has ever tasted. (If you ever find yourself in Nainital, find Sonum’s Fast Food in the Tibetan Market.) This small town managed to harbor quite a few gems, including (real) feta cheese, fro-yo (i.e., frozen yogurt, or soft serve), and…persimmons! Granted, the fro-yo was disappointing at best, but the persimmons were heavenly.

Our second (and last) day was spent with a group of three foreigners, after a chance encounter left us all walking up together to Snow View, which is, on a clear day, supposed to have great mountain views. We were not so lucky, and ended up being the view ourselves. Back in town, however, we managed to catch a bit of the Dussehra festivities.

All in all, Nainital wouldn’t rank particularly high on my list of recommended places to visit in India (perhaps on par with Lucknow), but I can see why it would be overrun by families on vacation. When I have a family, maybe we’ll go to Lake Tahoe and I’ll tell them about how it reminds me of a small town I once visited in India called Nainital.