Places to visit in Dehradun

Dehradun is the capital of Uttarakhand and a scenic hill station. It is famous for the boarding schools which are attended by kids of the rich and famous from all our India. The city also has the famous Indian Military Academy(IMA), where the officers of Indian Military are trained. It has the Clock Tower which is the main center and the roads are a bit narrow. We visited Dehradun as part of our Delhi, Agra, Uttarakhand(Garhwal region) trip. Places to visit in Dehradun that we went are Mindrolling Monastery, Tapkeshwar Temple and Robber’s caves.

Mindrolling Monastery is quite beautiful and houses The World Peace Stupa(the great stupa of Buddha’s descent from Devaloka) which is a magnificent example of Buddhist art and architecture, Padmasambhava Statue, eight other stupas and the car used by Dalai Lama which was gifted to this place. The Great Stupa has a beautifully painted bas-relief sculpture of Maitreya, the future Buddha on its outer façade. Descending the steps of the stupa is the present Buddha, Buddha Shakyamuni. The stupa is 185 ft high and 100 square feet in width. There are eight kinds of stupas commemorating Buddha’s life on either side of the Great Stupa and prayer wheels in the gardens spread over 2 acres of land. It was built in between April 2000 and Oct 2002.

Tapkeshwar Temple or Tapkeshwar Mahadev Temple is believed to be a very old Shiva temple(few thousands years old) and has a Shivling in the cave on top of which the water keeps dripping throughout the year. It is believed that Guru Dronacharya(Pandava and Kauravas Guru in Mahabharata) lived here and hence the cave is named Drona cave. There is a stream of water next to the temple and on the other side of the stream is a cave of Mata Vaishno Devi. One has to take a few steps down from the main road to reach the temple. The atmosphere is very peaceful and worth visiting. It is open till 6.30 pm in the evening.

Robber’s caves also known as Guchhu Pani is a very good picnic spot and has an entry ticket of Rs.40. The caves have a stream of water flowing in and one has to walk through the water(some time knee deep) to enter the caves. It is believed that robbers used these caves to hide their loot and hence the name. They provide slippers on rent to walk through the water so that your shoes don’t get wet. As there are lot of sharp stones, it is difficult to walk bare foot. There are a few small water falls inside the caves. The ticket counter closes at 6.30 pm and the caves close at 7 pm. The kids would enjoy a lot and we reached just in time as the ticket counter closed at 6.30 pm and we reached by 6.29 pm.

Visited this place as part of the Uttarakhand trip along with Delhi and Agra. Can read about the same here.