Forest Research Institute is one of the most famous educational and tourist places in Dehradun, India. It is popularly called FRI Dehradun or Dehradun FRI. It is popular due to the British era's colonial architectural beauty with the lush green campus of the institute spread over 450 hectares.
It is the among top tourist places of Dehradun that attracts tourists from all over India. It also attracts Hollywood movie makers and local filmmakers due to its beauty. It is a good attraction center for nature lovers.
Many students come to FRI Dehradun from all over India to study various forest-related courses. Forest Research Institute (FRI) attracts students or teachers of Environmental, Botanical, and Forestry science fields. It also attracts Civil and Architecture students due to its colonial historical building.
FRI is actually a Deemed University that offers various courses in forest-related fields from graduation to Ph.D. level. Forest Research Institute (FRI) was first an institute of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education later it declared as a Deemed University by the UGC.
Inside the FRI campus, there is Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) that trains newly elected officers for Indian Forest Service (IFS).
FRI Dehradun Highlights
- Made by the British government in 1878 for forest research of Uttrakhand with name as the British Imperial Forest School.
- Reestablished in 1906 as the Imperial Forest Research Institute for British Imperial Forestry Services.
- Guinness Book of Records kept FRI in its records for a time due to its building is the largest pure brick structure.
- The main principal front of the building is approx. 1000 feet long.
- FRI building is an example of Colonial architectural and Greco-Roman style.
- It was built in1906 so its building has features of mixed architectural style such as Mughal towers, Roman columns edged, formed arches, and very large size building.
- Get status of Forest Research Institute (Deemed to be University), Dehradun in December 1991.
- It works as the headquarter of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE).
- It has the largest Forestry Research human resource in South Asia.
Dehradun FRI Museum
For agriculture students, the FRI museum is the best thing for visiting and
learning. A common person can also learn from the museum lots of things about
nature. There are six museums and open to all at a nominal entry fee to see it.
- Entomology Museum- Here you can see the collection of more than 3000 various stages of insects and pests found in the forest. That would help you know about various types and forms of insects.
- Pathology Museum- It is the collection of all types of plant diseases and pathogens found in the forest, plants, and crops.
- Social Forestry Museum- It represents the importance of forests and their products in our life through the collection of various models and photographs.
- Timber Museum- Here you can see the different types of collection of 126 commercial important kinds of wood and their uses for humans.
- Non-Wood Forest Products Museum(NWFPM)- This museum has a collection of forest products such as Lac, essential oils, edible products, spices, drugs, tans, gums, etc. and its uses in our life.
- Silviculture Museum- This museum displays various types of models and photographs on the Silvicultural System.
Bollywood movies shooting on FRI Dehradun
FRI Dehradun does not only attract the tourists, but it also attracts the
Bollywood movie makers for the movie shooting. Lots of movies shot here such
as Dulhan Ek Raat ki, Student of the year, Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, Pyaar Tere Naal he, Paan Singh Tomar, and Krishna Cottage. Latest Bollywood Movie Student of the year - 2, which released in 2019.
Many parts of the movie shot in the FRI.
Ticket Price of FRI Dehradun
FRI Dehradun takes an entry ticket for the campus visiting and for the FRI Museum. If you just want to visit the FRI Dehradun campus and not want to see FRI Museum then there is no need to take a ticket for the museum.You will get the FRI entry ticket at the main entrance gate. The ticket price will be 15 ₹ per person only. If you want to see the FRI museum then you can also take the Museum entry ticket inside the FRI campus near the museum. The ticket price will be 50 ₹ per person only.
FRI Dehradun Timings for Tourists
FRI is an educational institute, not a dedicated tourist place. Thus it
follows the general institutes' timing for opening and closing. It closes on
Sunday and public holidays.
You can visit here in day time here. For tourists, it opens from 09:30 am
to 05:00 pm daily except Monday.
Peoples from FRI nearby places such as from Vasant Vihar, Panditwadi,
Prem Nagar, Ballupur, etc came here daily for morning and evening walks. They
take monthly pass for the morning and evening walk annually at a nominal fee.
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| A corridor of FRI |
FRI Trip Duration
For traveling the FRI you have to spend almost 2-3 hours minimum. If you did not visit the museum time will be reduced. But I would suggest you must visit the museum it will enhance your knowledge related the nature. It is worth visiting the museum.
Best Time to Visit FRI
The best time to visit FRI, as per season will be from February to March and September to October. If you go there in the morning at 10 am then you can enjoy it here till the evening with your friends or family.
After raining the natural beauty of FRI increases. So if you visit after the rainy season then you can see the real beauty of the FRI Dehradun.
How to Reach Forest Research Institute
FRI is very popular in Dehradun city. Then everybody knows about it. If
you ask about it from any place in Dehradun, he will easily guide you on how to
reach there. FRI Dehradun is situated at
the Chakrata road in front of the Vasant Vihar area of Dehradun.
You can get easily the direct city bus, Vikram, and Auto from the
Railway station and ISBT bus stand. FRI is only 6 km from the railway station
and about 9 km from the ISBT Dehradun. You can easily reach there within 10 to
15 minutes by bus or auto. Bus and Vikram will only charge 15 to 20 ₹ for
a person from the railway station or Bus stand.
Reaching Dehradun is very easy from any city in India. Dehradun is
well connected from the various cities by roadways, railway, and airways.
By Bus: For Dehradun, you can get various types of buses such as AC,
non-AC, Volvo, etc from New Delhi ISBT Kashmiri gate Bus stand every hour. You
can reach Dehradun from Delhi within 6 hours by bus.
By Train: Dehradun railway station is well connected to different cities
like New Delhi, Mumbai, Indore, Howrah, Lucknow, Patna, etc. by trains.
By Airplane: Jolly Grant Airport also good connectivity with India's different
metro cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, etc.
TouristBug’s Recommendations
- I personally visited FRI Dehradun 3-4 times and see two times film shootings also here and enjoy the lush green natural beauty of the campus. I recommend it if you come to Dehradun You can visit the FRI.
- Photography inside the Museum and University building is not permitted so please confirms before taking photographs.
- Since it is a University so it would be close on public holidays. Then I recommend you please confirm before you plan to go there that it is open or not on a particular public holiday. You can also see a list of holidays on its official website.
- If you visit FRI the first time you should visit the museum. For one time visiting the FRI museum is a worthwhile place that would enhance your knowledge about nature, forests, etc.
Nearby Places to Visit from FRI
Dehradun has various places to visit but I mention here FRI nearby
places that can you easily visit if you have sufficient time to go there.
Tapkeshwar temple at Garhi Cant