Are you heading to Chandigarh, your dream destination, on a must-visit wish list? Or are you a city resident who hasn’t yet been on this amazing double decker Hop on Hop off bus ride which gives you the eclectic feel of living in one the best planned cities in India. Undoubtedly, the hop-on-hop-off bus service has emerged as the ultimate choice of smart travellers on a shoestring budget.
The fully air-conditioned double-decker HoHo bus, as it is conveniently called, offers a unique travel experience of a kind by making the best of your single day excursion. What you need to ensure before embarking on a pleasure trip is which HoHo bus to board, when and where, keeping both your convenience and time-at-hand in mind.
Tourists are free to board or alight from HoHo bus at any designated spot.
Ticket price
Round trip (day-long) Rs 75
Full bus booking (Half day) Rs 5,900
Full bus booking (Full day) Rs 18,000
Weekday Timings
Summer timings:
9 am to 9:45 am, 10:30 am to 11:15 am, 3.30 pm to 4:15 pm, 5:00 pm to 5:45 pm
Winter timings:
9 am to 9:45 am, 10:30 am to 11:15 am, 12.00 noon to 12:45 pm, 2:00 pm to 2.45 pm, 3.30 pm to 4:15 pm.
Weekend Timings
There are four regular slots for weekends:
11 am, 12 noon, 2 pm and 3 pm.
Where to board?
Shivalik View Hotel, Sector 17, Chandigarh
Where will it take you?
The service offers the visiting guests a day-long trip to the City’s major tourists’ destinations, historical monuments and museums, and other architectural marvels. Scenic sites and spots in Chandigarh are nestled in each others’ close proximity, making it easy for visitors to cover them in a single day, which is rendered more easy with the hop-on-hop-off-bus service, an initiative of the UT Tourism Department.
Bus route
The HoHo buses follows a chartered route stopping by at the designated halting points. The tour route is as follows:
Hotel Shivalik View- Zakir Hussain Rose Garden-Govt. Museum and Art Gallery-War Memorial-Bougainville Garden-Capitol Complex-Rock Garden-Sukhna Lake
Sukhna Lake
The jewel of the City, nestled at the foothills of the Shivalik range, was created in 1958. Commanding a picturesque view against the backdrop of the distant lush-green hills, the serene lake offers opportunities for boating and sport activity. You may savour the paradisiacal ambience sitting on the shores of the lake.
Rock Garden
The Rock Garden, which was conceptualised and created by Nek Chand in 1957, displays a range of sculptures made from urban, industrial wastes and discarded material. A visit to the City is considered incomplete and lacklustre without a visit to this one-man created wonderland.
Zakir Hussain Rose Garden
Named after India’s third President Dr Zakir Hussain, the beautiful Rose Garden in Sector 16, came into being in 1967. Home to endless exotic varieties of roses, the garden is believed to be the largest in Asia in terms of having countless varieties of roses. You simply enjoy being there, be it any season of the year.
Govt Museum and Art Gallery
Thrown open to the public in 1968, the Govt Museum and Art Gallery in Sector 10, is one among the top-rung museums of North India, housing the Gandharav sculptures from the ancient and medieval times,pahari and Rajasthani miniature paintings. The museum will offer an insight into the rich art and cultural heritage of our own city.
War Memorial
The War Memorial is the largest post-Independence war memorial of the country in Sector 3, which was inaugurated by late President of India Dr A P J Abdul Kalam in 2006. It takes you on a snappy trip to the days of the country’s freedom struggle and the brave hearts who shed their blood to free our motherland from the alien hegemony.
Bougainvillea Garden
The exotic Bougainvillea Garden in Sector 3 which came into being in 1976, offers a virtual visual treat to the visiting guests. The dazzling garden is indeed a place to be in communion with Nature and be a part of its myriad manifestations.
The Capitol Complex
Designed by Le Corbusier in 1958, the Capitol Complex which is a UNESCO world heritage site, is one among the 17 buildings designed by him.
Who runs HoHo bus service?
The Department of Tourism, UT, has tasked the CITCO to handle the hop-on-hop-off tourist bus service, being managed by the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU).
The very purpose of introducing this bus was to throw up more facilities and give a push to the tourism potential of the city. The idea behind introducing the hop-on-hop-off bus service, was aimed at offering exciting travel facilities to the visiting enthusiasts to cover the prominent spots in a single day. Visiting these places of tourists’ interest in regular public transport and private vehicles, is a tad taxing and tiresome, to say the least.
“The double-decker HoHo bus, which was first introduced in Chandigarh in 2001, got a humongous response from the public, lost its charm with the passage of time. With a view to revamp the ambitious project, new red-coloured double-decker bus with open roof-top were introduced to cater to the growing demand, ” said a senior CITCO official. It carries the images of all prominent tourist spots of Chandigarh with a customised public address system installed in it to inform tourists on board about the places of interest.
Very interesting…