Tehri

Tehri, properly Tehri Garhwal, is a Himalayan district whose modern identity is bound up with water and height. Its centrepiece is the Tehri Dam on the Bhagirathi, at about 260 m one of the tallest dams in the world, and the huge Tehri Lake that pooled behind it after the old town of Tehri was submerged in the mid-2000s and the administration moved to the purpose-built hill town of New Tehri above the reservoir.

• Today the lake is the region's biggest draw for a different kind of visitor: from the Koti Colony shoreline, boating, jet-skiing, kayaking and water-sports operators run trips across the blue-green water beneath terraced ridges, and the dramatic Dobra-Chanti suspension bridge spans one arm of the reservoir.
• But Tehri is also old sacred country.
• Two of Garhwal's revered Shakti Peeths crown its ridges — Chandrabadni, on a peak between the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda, and Surkanda Devi above Kaddukhal near Dhanaulti — while the cool, deodar-and-pine hill stations of Dhanaulti, Kanatal and Chamba string along the Mussoorie-Chamba road with eco-parks, orchards and Himalayan views.
• As a district that mixes pilgrim, administrative and holiday travel, its food is mixed; vegetarian visitors should pick clearly pure-vegetarian dhabas, thali houses and sweet shops, which are easy to find in New Tehri, Chamba and along the lake road.
• Best visited from March to June and September to November for the clearest weather, with winter bringing frost and occasional snow to the higher ridges; the district is about 90 km to 100 km from Rishikesh by road, an easy day-trip or overnight from the Ganga towns.