The Naini Lake:
The main attraction of Nainital is the lake and the mall road. A boat ride in the lake is almost unavoidable when in Nainital. Boats in every size and shape are available for an enjoyable ride. You can catch a boat from any of the many boarding points. To make the ride more enjoyable without any effort, we hired a shikara type boat with rowman. So, we did not have to row or pedal for the half an hour ride. Here again you can bargain for rates because there is fierce competition. Boats trips are available for half trip (for covering only half of the lake) or full trip. We enjoyed full trip for Rs.80/- per boat. Most of official website on Nainital will give you a picture of the lake with yacht. However these yacht are available only from boat club and my guess was that they are not available for common public. On the northern end of the lake a temple dedicated to Naina devi is located where it is believed that the eye of sati felled.
The Mall:
The mall road in Nainital is unique. One call strolls on the mall road or can take a man pulled ricksaw. There is an organized system of ricksaws. You need to buy tickets of 5 bucks each for hiring a ricksaw. So, you do not become a victim of fighting of ricksaw pullers. There are few shops on the mall for souvenir shopping. But the main attraction is a bhutia market located on the field next to the lake. This place is called Mallital. What one should look to buy here is designer candles. These candles serve as a good souvenir.
Cave garden:
We had hired a cab for 400 bucks for local sightseeing. The hotels arranged it. This would spare us the headache of driving in an unknown hilly place. The cab took us first to the Cave Garden. To our surprise this spot is located on the road we had traveled from Kaladhungi.
This is a cluster of 5 underground caves. We started with the Tiger Cave. It was the easiest to get in and out. Then we got into the Panther Cave. Getting in and out got harder. I was the only one of our group to get into the third cave named Porcupine Cave. It was the hardest to get in and out. I had to crawl on all four at places inside this cave. I have read that there are 5 caves. But I could found only these three. Here is something to ponder — just a day before the killer earthquake rocked Kashmir and north India. While going into these underground caves we all forgot about it. I thought about it only after several days.
Himalaya Darshan Point:
The cab then took us to the Himalaya Darshan Point. There is nothing to boast about this spot. But on way to this point you get another point from where the Naini lake looks like a mango. This is the point from where you get a complete view of the lake.
Lovers Point:
The cab then took us to Lovers Point. The view was magnificent from this point. This is the point from where you get horses for going to Tiffin Top. These horses earlier operate from Mallital near the lake. But the horse dung was polluting the lake and beauty of the mall. So the high court had to step in and pushed them this higher. My friend Amit Tripathi who hails from Nainital told me, that there were huge protests, even violent protests, from horse owner when this order was implemented. Here we were given two options by the cab driver — either come back to this point (which is not possible) or the horses would drop at a point from where the lake is just 5 minutes walk. We had no option but to take the second one. The rate for a horse was 175 bucks for the trip to Tiffin Top and few other spots. It is easy to get fooled by the talk of the horse owner and get to believe that you will be taken to many points. But the truth is that, they will actually take you to two points — one from where you get a view of the Khurpa Tal and the second is Tiffin Top. All other points are worthless spots that lie on these routes. They would just stop en-route and tell you the name of that spot. We saw people deciding to travel there on foot. Honestly speaking, it would be quite a task to walk to Tiffin Top. But riding a horse on a rocky road was no fun either. All of us were worried and prayed that the horses do not slip. Anyway, I got a nice lesson in horse riding.
Tiffin Top:
After traveling for about half an hour on horse, we reached Tifin Top. With an altitude of 2352 meter (about 7710 feet), it is the second highest point of Nainital. It provides a majestic view of the Nainital town and the lake. What impressed me is the view you get of the thick lush green cover of pine trees down below. There are few tea / snack stalls here. The descend to Mallital started here. The horses dropped us at a point from where the lake was not 5 minutes, but at least 15 minutes walk. One can even think of going to Tiffin Top on foot by this road instead of starting from Lovers Point.
Well, that concludes the local sightseeing. Considering the distances we were actually driven, I felt that the 400 bucks we paid for the cab was a bit high. He hardly drove 15 km. One should try to bargain for 300 bucks. We also enquired about the rate for going to Bhimtal and Naukochiyatal. For this roundtrip of about 70 km, the cab quoted 800 bucks. If you are traveling to Kausani then, try visiting these two lakes en-route. Before concluding, I must make an honest confession that there is not much to see in Nainital. Only point worth seeing is the Cave Garden. Nainital, Khurpatal, Bhimtal, Naukochiyatal and Sattal – all of them are similar looking big lakes with facilities of boating. But after visiting 2 or 3 of them, I bet you will not bother to go to the rest. I am told that the best time to be Nainital is in November when the chinar leaves turn yellow giving a different look to the area. Or, go there during summer, which is the peak season. But to make the trip more interesting one should look forward to go beyond Nainital – to places like Kausani or Binsar.