Tehri Garhwal's story is water and altitude: the Bhagirathi valley drowned behind India's tallest dam became a 42-square-kilometre lake, while the ridge above Mussoorie, Dhanaulti, Kanatal and Surkanda Devi, grew into the state's favourite quiet-weekend belt.
The lake and the ridge tie together in one circuit: boating and jet-ski runs on the blue Tehri reservoir, the Dobra-Chanti suspension bridge strung across it, the climb to Surkanda Devi's 3,000 m temple, now with a ropeway, and forest drives around Kanatal. With children in tow it works just as well, with a boat ride on the lake, the Kaudia forest jeep safari near Kanatal, and easy eco-park walks at Dhanaulti.
New Tehri, the planned town rebuilt above the drowned original, is itself a curiosity, and it sits alongside Chamba's orchard ridge and Devprayag, the confluence where the Ganga formally begins. Kanatal at 2,590 m and Dhanaulti at 2,200 m are the overnight favourites: deodar forest, apple orchards and a fraction of Mussoorie's crowd forty minutes from its Mall Road.
March to June and September to November are the comfortable months, and the belt is unusually accessible, with Dehradun's airport and railhead under two hours from Kanatal. That is why the district has become the default answer to 'one night in the hills' for the capital region.