Dhanaulti Eco Park (Amber & Dhara)

Dhanaulti Eco Park is a pair of adjoining forest parks — named Amber and Dhara — laid out along a protected deodar-and-oak belt on the Dhanaulti–Chamba road, a short stretch above the small hill-station market of Dhanaulti in Uttarakhand's Tehri Garhwal district.

• Sitting at roughly 2,286 metres, the parks are managed by the Uttarakhand Forest Department together with local Eco-Development Committees (Van Panchayats), and the modest entry fee is channelled back into forest protection and village livelihoods.
• The two parks share a boundary and a single spirit: dense stands of towering Himalayan cedar (deodar), moss-softened trails, birdsong, and the clean, resin-scented air that draws Delhi and Dehradun weekenders up here to escape the plains.
• Amber and Dhara each carry their own character.
• The parks have been gently developed with cobbled and stepped walking paths that loop through the canopy, wooden benches and gazebos for quiet sitting, and a scatter of family-friendly adventure features — a rope-and-plank Burma bridge, a raised skywalk deck for valley views, zip lines and cargo-net climbs, and children's play zones.
• None of it overwhelms the forest; the trees remain the headline.
• Interpretive signage points out native species, and the shaded trails are gentle enough for older visitors and young children, though sturdy shoes help on the pine-needle slopes.
• On a clear morning the ridgeline opens toward distant snow peaks, and the light filtering through the deodars makes this one of the more photogenic short walks in the Mussoorie–Chamba hills.
• The eco-parks pair naturally with the broader Dhanaulti circuit — the terraced Apple Garden, the Eco Cave gardens, sunrise points, and the Surkanda Devi hill shrine a short drive away — and with Tehri Lake and the Chamba ridge beyond.
• Because the belt is a working conservation forest, visitors are asked to keep noise low, carry out all litter, avoid plucking plants, and stay on marked trails.
• On the food front, Dhanaulti is refreshingly easy for vegetarians: the small market and the roadside dhabas near the parks lean heavily to simple pahari vegetarian fare — hot aloo parathas, Maggi and pakoras, rajma-chawal, and glasses of ginger or lemon tea against the chill.
• Confirm pure-veg status directly with any eatery, as this is a mixed district, but plain vegetarian cooking is the everyday norm up on the ridge.