Must Dos
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A royal visit
Visit Patiala, an hour's drive from Chandigarh. It was the city of kings, so you can see the fort the old market called Qilla Bazaar.
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Visit the Rock Garden player pick
They say if you throw a rock in Chandigarh it will land in a garden. I am not sure exactly how many gardens there are, but us Chandigarh folk seem to love gardening - there are gardens full of roses, hibiscus, and one that has only scented flowers. But the most famous one is the Rock Garden. It began as the work of one man, Nek Chand, who was a road inspector when Chandigarh was being set up. He wanted to make a small garden for himself. But this is like no other garden you will find in the world. He used all kinds of waste material - broken tiles, stones, bottles, old taps, bangles, cycle tyres - to come up with a garden of sculptures, figures of people and animals, which he set up in an area that got bigger and bigger.
Submitted by Yuvraj Singh -
Visiting a gurudwara
If you visit gurudwaras, places of worship for the Sikh community, make sure you cover your head: non-Sikh men usually tie a handkerchief over their heads, while women cover their heads with a dupatta or a cloth.
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Boating Espncricinfo pick
You must go boating on the Sukhna Lake and visit the Rock Garden nearby. If you like to shop, head to the Sector 17 or Sector 22 markets. And enjoy a late-night meal at the food street outside Panjab University.
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Get away to the hills player pick
Chandigarh is an hour and a bit from the Shivalik range, the foothills of the great Himalayas. They are full of beautiful towns and one of my favourites is Kasauli, which has a lot of the British Raj left over in it, just an hour away from Chandigarh. There's a resort there I love, called Timber Trails, which is accessible by cable car and is a lovely place for a break. The route to this place is well marked and the roads are good. But some advice before you head off there: go to the Sector 17 market, do a bit of shopping, and fill your car's tank. The best place to get gas? Just opposite the Sector 17 market, behind Neelam Cinema, is the most trustworthy and efficient petrol station in all of Punjab - the National Service Station. It just happens to belong to me, but I'm not biased. After I've shown you around, it's only fair you go there, isn't it? And one more thing, don't break any traffic rules. Traffic cops in Chandigarh are very, very tough.
Submitted by Yuvraj Singh -
Take in Tank player pick
One of the places I always went to as a teenager while playing for Punjab is what people in Chandigarh call Tank, a war memorial which has a Pakistani tank won during the 1971 war. I used to hang around the memorial a lot with my friends after cricket practice, talking about the philosophical things that teenagers do - life and left elbows mostly, or in my case, right elbows. That area is called Leisure Valley and it has a lot of things around it. It's almost 8km long, and there are tennis courts and a large museum complex near the tank. There's an art and sculpture museum and a city museum, but the one we remember most from our school days is the Natural History Museum and the dinosaur exhibits. To us that was Jurassic Park come to life.
Submitted by Yuvraj Singh -
Eat chaat player pick
On your drive, you should stop off at the Sector 26 market, which should be easy to find. It used to be one of my favourite haunts because it serves up India's best golgappas (fried, hollow cupcakes filled with potato and tamarind water) - a snack that has to be eaten to be believed. In Mumbai, it's called paani puri in Kolkata puchka but its best version is to be found in Chandigarh. It's delicious, cheap and always surprising. After that you can then head off for some tandoori chicken, perhaps.
Submitted by Yuvraj Singh -
Drive around player pick
The first thing I would recommend to everyone is to get a feel of the city. Drive around. The roads are wide and the traffic is mostly not crazy. It gives me a sense of being at home again. You can rent anything: a bicycle, a scooter, a motorcycle or a car. Some people diss Chandigarh and say it's not your typical "Indian" city, that it's too orderly, planned and geometric. They're just sticking to stereotypes they may have seen in movies and are missing the city's real life. I love Chandigarh's open spaces. They reflect its relaxed, fun-loving people. Drive around, it will make you feel like a local.
Submitted by Yuvraj Singh -
Rose Garden
Admire the Rose Garden, Asia's largest, where 50,000 bushes of 1600 species bloom in all splendour. The Rose Festival is celebrated every year in February-March.
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The hills Espncricinfo pick
Drive up to the Himalayas. Kasauli, a charming Raj-era hill station, is just two hours away. Moments after leaving the city limits, the air develops a clean, cold nip. Stop for a fabulous lunch at Giani da Dhaba (don't miss the lemon chicken).
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Rock Garden Espncricinfo pick
Visit the Rock Garden, local artist Nek Chand's innovative garden created from waste like frames, forks, broken bangles and the like. The weird and wonderful figures are testimony to the artist's eco-awareness long before the environment became a buzzword.
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Sukhna Lake Espncricinfo pick
Go for a walk around Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh's pride and joy. The picturesque 3km-long, man-made lake gives you an insight into the city's rhythms. Pick up a snack from the adjoining eatery and join the city's health-conscious in a brisk walk - or the other way around.