Wards Lake is located at the centre of Shillong city in Meghalaya state. The lake is named after the then Chief Commissioner of Assam, Sir William Ward, who started the plan for the establishment of this lake. It was later on constructed by Colonel Hopkins in the year 1894. It is also called Pollock’s Lake because of a popular engineer during the pre-independence era. It is an artificial water body which is encircled by a beautiful garden.

Wards Lake is a horse-shoe shaped lake, which has a cobble stone path all around. People take a walk around the lake and enjoy amazing colorful floral beds in surrounding gardens. There is also a small wooden bridge in the middle of lake, from which one can see whole lake, both sides. You can buy puffed rice at the entrance of lake and feed them to fish from this bridge. But yes, fishing is strictly prohibited here.

Wards Lake

As it is within the city, so getting here is easy too. Lying below Raj Bhavan (the Governor’s Residence), local transport is easily available. Local people come here for evening walk and tourists visit this place regularly because of the serene and calm environment. Locals also come in weekends, or to have picnic. A lot of honeymoon couples can be seen here for leisure time.

The best part of Wards Lake is paddle boating. This lake looks spectacular both in morning and evening. Entry fees is INR 10/- for adults and INR 5/- for minors. Lake remains opened throughout the week starting from 08:30 AM to 06:30 PM. Entry timings depend on season and weekdays too.

There is a cafeteria too in the lake’s complex where you can gorge on a wide variety of refreshments and beverages. The best time to visit Wards Lake is the monsoon time.