Chandigarh is not India’s most dynamic capital but a city that every Australian Cricket Tour To India has regularly been scheduled to visit since the Cricket World Cup 1996. We too have pleasingly visited many times, though in 1996 one could only take a 5+ hours bus from New Delhi. Now there are 5+ trains per day! 

Chandigarh Tourism website is spot on;

"Chandigarh is the best-planned city in India, with architecture which is world-renowned, and a quality of life, which is unparalleled. As the capital of the states of Punjab & Haryana and Union Territory of Chandigarh, it is a prestigious city. The face of modern India, Chandigarh, is the manifestation of a dream that Jawaharlal Nehru envisaged and (famous Swiss architect) Le Corbusier executed.

Serenity and a city are two diametrically opposite concepts, which, however, get belied in the city. Chandigarh is a rare epitome of modernization co-existing with nature's preservation. It is here that the trees & plants are as much a part of the construction plans as the buildings and the roads. India’s first planned city, is a rich, prosperous, spic and span, green city rightly called “City Beautiful”.

Maybe this is why we enjoy playing at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, far from India’s mayhem and mystery! Easily India’s cleanest city, what sets Chandigarh aside is the lack of traffic and smog and an immense amount of greenery. When we first watched a game in Mohali, the stadium could be seen from afar as it sat alone in a vacant field. Chandigarh and Mohali have morphed, the trees (and buildings) in the neighbourhood have grown, so now you won't see this Sector 63 stadium until you are at the gates.

Just one and a bit sectors east of our amazing hotel is Sukhna Lake, Rose Garden, and Nek Chand's famous Rock Garden of Chandigarh; 12acres of paths, waterfalls, and eccentric plazas of rock and urban waste created into galleries of art. Visitors under 3 and over 100 years of age are admitted free!

Chandigarh is pleasant, as is spectating in Mohali where cricket is enjoyed without barbed-wire fences separating us from the game. The relaxed police service too is Indian cricket's most welcoming and low-key. It makes a huge difference getting into the ground when the police see and treat you as visitors and grown-ups!

As Mohali is 9km from the hotel, this is one of the few Indian Test Venues where we include match-day transfers. There are usually plenty of rickshaws swarming the roads around the stadium after play to get the 'good fare' back to the City Beautiful, but these can run short rather quickly and we do not want you left on the street.

If you fly into Chandigarh International Airport, transfers are included and our driver will deliver you to our cool hotel in Sector 17. This is where the city's best restaurants, pubs, and cafes are found amid the popular pedestrian shopping precincts of this quiet city at the foot of the Shivalik Hills. Saying this, 1 or 2 nights at Singh's Chicken is well worth the walk.

And just as we include match-day transfers, we have breakfast daily, awesome floral shirts, two dinner parties, and long nights at the (Nathan) Lyon No. 7 Bar. Unlike other Indian venues, here we include the not-to-be-missed excursion to the Golden Temple in Amritsar before heading toward Pakistan for the ferocious India Pakistan Border closing ceremony.

For all the cricket Australia has played at Mohali, the last international match here was way back in 2016 suggesting Punjab Cricket are in Indian Cricket's bad-books. We hope this is not the case as Mohali is one of India's best small cricket cities and the most soothing. Just like we do, we are sure you too would enjoy every day at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, cricket's 74th Test Venue!

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• India 2023
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• 47 Bengaluru
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• Rajasthan Tour
• Rajasthan Tour Itinerary

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