Chandigarh’s travels may seem underwhelming as compared to other major tourist places in India. So I’m going to present you with the best things to see in Chandigarh. A typical laid-back culture, with typical family outing spots, brands to love to shop from and unique eateries – Chandigarh has it all. I was in Chandigarh for approx 30 hours and I can assure you it is actually less to explore this small yet beautiful town.
Top 10 things to do in Chandigarh
Explore Rock Garden like a tourist
A name as unique as a Rock Garden, it is surely an intriguing garden which will appeal to your traveller buds. Built initially secretly by Nek Chand in 1957, the Rock Garden is a Sculpture Garden which truly conceptualized the utilization of home & industrial waste. On average 5000 people daily visit the Rock Garden, and the number significantly increases on weekends. I recommend reaching the Rock Garden as early as possible to explore and acknowledge the art in tranquillity. This is my top recommendation for the things to do in Chandigarh which even frequent travellers to the city ignored.
The exceptional Rock Garden which started as an illegal garden is now truly the best thing to do in Chandigarh. Spread over 40 acres, the Rock Garden will probably need a day to explore completely. Rock Garden flaunts a form of art never highlighted to this extent in India before this initiative.
Rock Garden is split into three phases with each phase displaying different types of sculptures. Phase One targets a variety of distorted rocks and discarded objects which are put to display in a captivating demeanour.
Phase two is completely in contrast to phase one and looks more like a mini-kingdom in itself. Phase two showcases a huge man-made waterfall, canals and an open theatre.
The waterfall at the Rock Garden is usually the spotlight with the tourists considering a photogenic one. The canal at phase two looks straight out of some historic era which can be easily targeted for a movie shooting – yup that beautiful!
There are options to go on the other side of the waterfall which will give away a perception of a lost historic kingdom and palace lookalike.
Phase three is the one which was built very late and is slightly disconnected from the main rock garden. There’s an option to skip Phase 3 and exit from the garden but I highly recommend visiting Phase 3 of Rock Garden. Phase 3 will give you a feel of Indian culture with sculptures built completely of waste and from the Indian historic era.
I couldn’t cover the entire phase 3 as I had to catch a bus back to Delhi. But I strongly recommend going there early to skip crowds and to click better pictures! The entry fee for the Rock Garden is at a flat price of 30₹ for adults (Indians/Non-Indians) and 10INR for children. The Rock Garden opens at 9h00 in the morning and 18h00 in winter and 19h30 in summer.