I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills…
– William Wordsworth

We were merely one and half hours from Delhi and the late monsoon clouds surrounded our plane as if we flew through them. Our destination was Skyview Patnitop in Jammu, and the hills and valleys that we could see from above reminded us of William Wordsworth’s poetry “Daffodils” we had read in school.

Delhi to Patnitop

After one and a half hour flight from Delhi to Jammu, we were on our way to Patnitop – our home for the next couple of days was Skyview Resort, Patnitop in Jammu. Skyview is about 90 km from Jammu airport and it took us about two hours to reach our resort. Skyview by Empyrean is known for its gondola ride and adventure sports. This is what they were all about originally. Now Skyview is a fully functional resort with dining and lodging arrangements in 12 rooms or so.

Skyview by Empyrean – Patnitop

As we dropped at Skyview, it was instant awe. With dome-shaped roofs on the cottages and pointed angular buildings, the design looked futuristic. The rooms and dining halls were surrounded by lush greenery and well-manicured lawns. We stayed in their Mountain View cottage. Our room was comfortable with amenities such as a geyser, a fancy coffee machine, a TV, a mini bar, toiletries, etc. There were buggies or golf carts for guests who couldn’t walk or climb to reach their rooms.

Our first meal was a late lunch at their multi-cuisine restaurant The Banana Leaf. They call it Banana Leaf because of the banana trees around the dining hall. We had Thai curry, Chinese dishes, and rice during this meal.

Skyview Gondola Ride

After lunch, we went for their cable car, a.k.a. gondola ride which started from the resort in Sanget village at Chenani and took people up to Patnitop. The 2.3 km ropeway went above mountains and jungles. We saw farms and houses below. The shadow of the gondola over these farms looked majestic.

Once we reached the Skyview Terrace at Patnitop, the weather changed dramatically. There was a nip in the air and it rejuvenated our tired city souls. We came back, had our evening tea at the dining hall, and went to our rooms to rest.

The dinner was a mélange of Indian dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Warm and soul-satisfying food over instrumental versions of Hindi movie songs helped us relax. We had long conversations about food and travel and made plans for the next day.

Mountain Biking

The next morning we woke up at 6 and got ready by 7 for mountain biking. Mountain bikes are different from the regular bikes we ride on plains. The hotel provided MTBs (mountain terrain bikes) especially made for this purpose. The instructor briefed us on how to ride these bikes and we embarked on the most adventurous part of our trip. The hotel is located at quite a height and riding these bikes downhill, till the point where we were just out of the resort premises, was enough thrill for a lifetime.

We then biked on the hills crossing small bridges, water bodies, walnut trees, and whatnot. It was a workout equivalent to a month. The uphill parts were very strenuous and the downhill parts were scary. We would have covered somewhere between 3 to 5 km and we took occasional breaks to click photos and videos and just soak in the beauty of the valley.

The Leisurely Brunch

We were back at the resort at 10ish. We got ready and went for our favourite meal of the day – breakfast. All of us ordered different things and our table looked like a buffet counter replete with mouth-watering Indian and continental breakfast items.

Things to do at Patnitiop

Natha Top

We took another gondola ride to Patnitop from where the hotel cars took us to Natha top. Nathatop is a quaint hill station near Patnitop. It was almost an hour-long drive. We were engulfed with fog or were they clouds? We couldn’t make out. But we were speechless with the surreal surroundings. While the day was very hot and bright at Sanget below, up here it was suddenly all white with fog. We crossed a part of a meadow that looked like a perfect spot for a picnic. Almost on cue, the resort crew with us took out the picnic supplies to set up our lunch table here while we moved to our next destination.

Sanasar Lake

Drive another 20 minutes or so and we were at Sanasar lake. This place was so beautiful you have to pinch yourself to believe it is true. It somewhat reminded us of the meadow with the small lake at Khajjiar. They have a golf course on one side of the Sanasar lake and that is a popular point with tourists. There were arrangements for horse riding, ziplining over the waterbody, and some food stalls as well. We spent half an hour or so here and went back to the picnic spot.

Picnic Lunch

The tables were set up by then and we had lunch packed from the resort. This was undoubtedly the most surreal part of our trip. The dark clouds and sun kept playing hide and seek changing the look and feel every 10 minutes. Lucky for us that we had already finished our lunch when it started raining. The rain made everything look even better. Throughout our route from Natha top to Patnitop, it was either raining or it was misty. We felt like we were driving through a monsoon dreamland.

Kud Market – Patisa at Prem Sweets

Our next exploration was the Kud main market. Kud is a small settlement in the Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir, about 10 km from Patnitop. But can you guess what is Kud famous for? The correct answer is the sweet – Patisa. Prem Sweets is the oldest sweetshop here. Established in 1925. their Patisa is a legend. We sampled Patisa and for the first time saw Patisa as sheets of mithai rather than cube pieces. This was delicious with an absolutely melt-in-the-mouth texture. We got a few boxes packed for friends and family. We also bought some Karachi halwa as it looked yummy.

Kalari Cheese

In the year 2020, we had gone all the way to Kalimpong chasing Kalimpong cheese. But during this Patnitop trip, we were introduced to Kalari cheese, another local delicacy. Apparently, villagers here make it by mixing very hot and cold milk and adding an acidic agent to curdle this milk. We went to a shop in the market where they served Karadi cheese in between two slices of toasted bread and chutneys and masala. It almost felt like the desi bread omelet we eat in Delhi. We loved the tart taste of this cheese and would not mind traveling again all the way to Patnitop to savour this dish. We bought Jammu’s famous red rajma which is high in nutrition quotient from this market.

Monsoon in the Hills

It was almost sundown when we returned to our hotel. After relaxing for a bit we gathered again for barbecue and dinner, this time at the Skyview Café inside Skyview Resort. The chef served piping hot vegetarian and non-vegetarian kababs straight from the grill. This was followed by dinner and dessert.

Late at night, it started raining and the weather changed dramatically. We stayed up till 2.30 in the morning witnessing this beautiful spectacle. The resort looked magical in the rain and we saw the fog almost cover the whole area like a blanket. Oh, what will we not give to experience this all over again?

Also Read: Best Places To Visit In Monsoon From Delhi

Adventure Sports at Skyview Patnitop

The next morning was clear and the whole place looked brand new and sparkling clean after the previous night’s rain. We went to the adventure activity area. This was up a hill and the “Magic Carpet” – a travelator that takes people up to the ziplining point took us there. This was a lot of fun. Dear Aman, an honorary Delhi-Fun-Dos teammate on this trip, was super excited about ziplining. We were told this is the longest zig zag zip line in India. It goes across 10 poles on different sides of the hill. The experts here briefed us about the dos and don’ts of zip lining. Aman did a trial session, passed it, puffed up with pride, and then went for the actual ziplining. It lasted like 30-40 minutes and he had the time of his life. It was probably his superhero moment.

We had a quick breakfast after this and packed our bags for our trip back to Delhi. Although Skyview Resort is about 2 hours drive from Jammu airport, we had to keep some extra time given the weather and road repair conditions in mind. It rained in patches on our way to the airport.

When we were significantly close to the airport, we realised we had some extra time at hand. To use that Delhi-Fun-Dos style, we stopped at a shack on the road and had paneer pakoras in the rain. And that was a befitting conclusion to this idyllic trip.

Travel Tip: Incidentally, If you are traveling from the other states of the country to Jammu & Kashmir, your prepaid sims would not work here. Aman had to get a new prepaid sim from here. We found shops for that right outside the airport and it took 15 minutes to get it done.

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