places in Chandigarh: The city of Chandigarh boasts of several beautiful and well maintained gardens and museums.

• Sukhna Lake: This beautiful man-made lake lies in the foothills of Shivalik range. This 3 km long lake was created in 1958 by damming the Sukhna Choe, a seasonal stream coming down from the Shivalik Hills. This lake has gain popularity as a prime picnic spot because of its tranquil ambiance and variety of water sports activities like boating, yachting and water skiing, etc. that can be pursued here.

• Rock Garden: This garden in Chandigarh is spread over an area of 12 acres and is a paradigm of creativity and innovation. This garden was created by a road inspector, Nek Chand, using industrial and urban wastes. Some of the interesting things that can be viewed there are armies of stone ducks, papier-mache soldiers, pig iron dancers and goblins.  

 

• Government Museum and Art Gallery: This museum in Chandigarh tops the itinerary of tourists. It houses a very rich collection of Gandharan sculptures, Pahari and Rajasthani miniature paintings. This museum has four wings: the Art Gallery, the Natural History Museum, Chandigarh Architecture Museum and National Gallery of Portraits. It also has a spacious reference library, which helps scholars and students to meet their intellectual needs. 

• Rose Garden:  Zakir Rose Garden in Chandiarh is Asia's largest Rose garden.This garden was created in 1967, under the expert guidance of Dr M.S. Randhawa, Chandigarh's first Chief Commissioner, and is named after India's President, Zakir Hussain. It is spread over an area of 30 acres and have 50,000 rose-bushes of 1600 different species of roses. Its collection includes not only natural varities but also many of the hybrid varieties developed through tissue culture. Some of the varities are considered very rare ones. Best time to visit this garden is during Feb-March. During this period it is in full bloom. There is also a festival dedicated to this Garden which is celebrated in end of February or beginning of March it called Rose Festival, which is one of the major attractions among the residents of chandigarh and surroundings. During which many compititions, contests and cultural shows are organised accompanies with stalls spread along the Jan Marg on the strech between Sector 17 and Sector 16.