Sohna Shiv Kund (Sulphur Hot Springs)

Tucked against a sheer rock face in the little Aravalli town of Sohna, roughly 25 km south of Gurugram and about 55 km from central Delhi, the Shiv Kund is one of the National Capital Region's most unusual pilgrimage spots — a temple built around a genuinely hot spring.

• Water bubbles up from the ground strongly sulphurous and warm to the touch, measured between 46 and 51.7°C, so a dip here is less a ritual splash than a slow, steaming soak.
• An old Shiva temple, traditionally credited to the wandering saint Baba Lakhi Shah Banjara, watches over the tank, and the whole hollow smells faintly of struck matches — the tell-tale signature of the sulphur that gives the place both its character and its reputation for medicinal, skin-soothing waters.
• The kund is a working bathing tank, not a scenic pool.
• Stone steps lead down to the water, and there are separate enclosures for men and women so families can bathe with modesty.
• On ordinary days it is a quiet, local affair — a handful of pilgrims, a temple priest, the drip of warm water.
• The atmosphere transforms on Somavati Amavasya (a no-moon day that falls on a Monday, Shiva's day) and during solar and lunar eclipses, when the belief that a dip washes away sin draws large, devout crowds.
• A big Gangasnan mela each November and Teej gatherings in the monsoon add to the calendar of sacred bathing days.
• Legend threads deep into the rock here: one much-loved story holds that the Pandava prince Arjun struck the ground for water when the brothers were thirsty in exile, and the springs answered.
• Whether you come for the myth, the mineral soak or simply the strangeness of hot water rising in a dry Haryana hill town, treat this as a bathing-kund and temple, not a spa — it is a place of worship first.
• For vegetarian travellers the setting is entirely comfortable.
• This is a Shiva shrine, so the food culture around it is naturally pure-vegetarian and alcohol-free — expect prasad, chai, and simple snacks from stalls near the temple gate rather than any restaurant.
• Sohna town itself has no big-name pure-veg eatery, so carry water and plan a proper meal back in Gurugram, where trusted vegetarian kitchens sit about 25 km north.
• Pair the kund with Damdama Lake nearby for an easy half-day escape from the city's traffic and grey winter skies, and you have a quietly memorable Aravalli detour that most Delhi visitors never think to make.