Panchkula
Panchkula is a city and district headquarter in the Panchkula district in Haryana, India.
It is a satellite city of the state capital Chandigarh. Panchkula is a border city with Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh. The origin of the name Panchkula came from "the place where five irrigation canals meet". It is approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) southeast of Chandigarh, 105 km (65 mi) southwest of Shimla, 44 km (27 mi) from Ambala and 259 km (161 mi) northeast of New Delhi, the national capital. It is a part of the Chandigarh capital region or Greater Chandigarh. The Chandigarh-Mohali-Panchkula metropolitan region collectively forms a Chandigarh Tricity, with a combined population of over 2 million.
Getting to Panchkula
Panchkula shares an airport and a train station with Chandigarh, but has its own bus stand. It lies on the Kalka-Ambala road.
Worth seeing
Cactus Garden (Sector 5 (city centre)). 10:00 to 17:00. This is the largest succulent botanical garden of Asia. Situated in the heart of the city of Panchkula, it covers a total area of 7 acres. The Cactus Garden is known for its rare & endangered species of Indian succulents. You can spot nearly 3500 different kinds of species over there. Chandigarh Cactus Garden was set up in the year 1987.
Where to eat
Panchkula hosts many franchises like Dominos (in Sector-9), Pizza Hut (Sector-20), KFC(Sector-9), Nik Bakers(Sector-5), Cafe Coffee Day (Sector-11), etc. Some local restaurants available are: 1. Anupam Sweets: Situated in Sector-11 (SCO-25), it's the foremost vegetarian family restaurant in Panchkula offering great variety of dishes. North Indian, South Indian and Chinese cuisines are served.
Getting around Panchkula the local way
- Get inAuto rickshaws on sharing basis also ply the Zirakpur Chandigarh Road.
From Wikivoyage: Zirakpur, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-08.
Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Kritzolina (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.