Short escapes

Whenever Deepak Raheja, psychiatrist with a Gurgaon hospital, feels the need to get away from his hectic schedule, he packs his bags and undertakes a… well, not a trans-Atlantic flight but just a 20 km drive to a resort in Sohna.

Whenever Deepak Raheja, psychiatrist with a Gurgaon hospital, feels the need to get away from his hectic schedule, he packs his bags and undertakes a… well, not a trans-Atlantic flight but just a 20 km drive to a resort in Sohna. He spends a night there and drives home the next day.

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Divya Nailwal Khulbe, a Delhi-based advertising professional, likes her weekend breaks at a farmhouse near Manesar, an hour’s drive from her home in south Delhi.

Like Raheja and Khulbe, a growing number of Delhiites are picking out their getaways close to home. Not surprisingly, weekend occupancy at resorts in places like Sohna and Manesar touches a whopping 80-90 per cent.

Pankaj Bhayana from Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, chose to holiday at Westin, a five-star resort and spa in Sohna, with his wife Nidhi and daughter Aurashi. “We were planning a trip to Goa, but then decided to come here. Here, we feel so far from home and yet so near it,” he said.

For most ‘short-haul’ travellers, the ease of travel and availability of world-class facilities at resorts in the NCR is the key attraction.

Gopal Vaideswaran, General Manager, Marketing with Heritage Village Resort, Manesar, points out that the trend of Delhiites holidaying at nearby destinations has picked up only in the last one year. “The reason is that people want to save the time and money spent on long-haul-travel,” he said.

There’s just one downside of holidaying close to home: there’s no defence against a summons from the office!