Sep 09, 2014 12:36 PM
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It was the winter of early 2013 that my family decided to visit Himachal Pradesh and get away from the city life and all the rush and sweat involved. We booked our tickets in the Rajdhani express and made bookings for the hotel’s and the travel guide well in advance(It’s the better thing to do considering the weather may not permit you to find a suitable place on the day of your arrival).
Travel: So we took the Rajdhani from Borivali, Mumbai in mid February and reached Delhi on the evening of the next day. From Delhi we took a passenger train to Kalka in Punjab which we had well co-ordinated before because it was just an hour or 2 later, so we didn’t have to spend a lot of time in Delhi. We Reached Kalka on the the same night at around 10 p.m in the night, our adjoining train to Shimla(Tourist toy train actually) Was to leave at 4:30 a.m in the morning. So we decided to spend the 5-6 hours in the waiting room itself rather than venture out only to return back in 3-4 hours. Though the waiting room was similar to any other provided by Indian Railways i.e average at best, it was still clean enough to spend the night without any issues.
At 4:30 a.m in the morning we took our train to Shimla, every reservation had an allotted cabin, which did increase the comfort level, but the journey through the Ghats were beautiful enough to keep us awake through the journey. As the first rays of sunlight hit the ground the real beauty of the valley’s graced our eyes, and the view was nothing short of exceptional.
Arrival and check-in: We reached Shimla at around 9:30 in the morning, we made our way out of the station through hordes of taxi drivers and tourist guides, only to find our pre-booked guide Ramesh standing with his Tata Safari in the parking. So we moved along to our hotel in Shimla, it was located at 10 minutes drive from the station. It was located on a small hill and looked tilted towards one side when viewed from outside. The rooms were decent, but of course not upto the mark considering value for money, but you can’t neglect the fact that it’s a tourist hotspot at that time of the year and we do have to overpay sometimes.
Sightseeing: After refreshing ourselves a bit we left for our first sightseeing spot i.e Kufri, along our way we saw a lot of spots with snow which got us all the more excited. On reaching the spot we were told the rest of the journey towards the main spot would have to be done on a horse or on foot. The rates for a 10 min journey to the top on the back of the horse were sky-high to say the least, they quoted anywhere between 800 to 1200 for a return journey. But we bargained and brought the price to 500, which was still too much. Anyways we made the journey to the actual picnic spot with loads of snow, but the way the horse stumbled along the way on snow ridden path was heart stopping to say the least, the sight of people stumbling with their horses besides didn’t help to ease any of those fear’s. We did enjoy a lot on the snow cliff though, and surely the snow ball fight dreams were all fulfilled. We visited a temple on the same day, I don’t remember the name but it was beautifully constructed and had a hot water spring inside. In the night we visited a tourist hotspot in the main market place known as the ‘ridge of Shimla’. We had our snacks there apart from some much desired shopping.
From Shimla we left for our visit to Kullu and Manali, it was 5-6 hours journey at one go, but did stop along the way for the our lunch as well as a shopping spree at a woollen factory. And the woollen items were really good and seemed like good value for the money we paid. We reached our hotel in the evening and left for sightseeing in the market place right away.
The two best places we visited in our journey was on the next day, we first visited solan valley which was 10 times better than what we experienced at Shimla and less tedious as well because our jeep dropped us right next to the main tourist spot. There were a lot of fun activities we took up there like skiing and snow biking which cost us 900 and 500 respectively, but it was worth all the fun we had. Our next stop was Rohtang pass, which again was not too different from solan, but it was fun as well. We had to rent some clothes and Boots that were specifically snow resistant while visiting these places, it was priced in the range of 800-1100 in different shops. Our next stop was a visit to Hidimba temple in Manali. It was an old architectural structure well built and had a blanket of snow covering it on all sides with the temple aesthetically standing in the middle. We also visited a another temple known as jakhoo temple, it had a 8500 feet hanuman statue which is the Tallest statue I have seen with my naked eyes.
Food: The food offered at Shimla and Manali are both priced decently and not as extorbitant as expected. Though there were not many dishes you may consider as an speciality of the place, the kulfi we had at one of the spots was great. The snacks at tourist destinations like Kufri and Manali were much highly priced at 80 rs for a plate of noodles for example, Which is understood considering it’s a tourist spot.
Shopping: The main attraction for shopping is the main market at Shimla, some really good handicraft items can be bought for show-piece as well good woollen items are available at reasonable rates.
Mode of Sightseeing: As I mentioned before its better to book a guide with a four-wheeler on a reasonable package well in advance rather than search and find yourself in a lurch finding modes of transport everytime. It makes your travel all the more enjoyable, also allowing you to spend the desired amount of time you want at your preferred destination.
Conclusion: Overall it was a great experience, the cool climates of manali and Shimla are the one’s you thoroughly enjoy getting away from the hot and humid climate of Mumbai. The best time to visit according to my guide is February to april when the temperature is bearable for tourist and also snow fall and winds do not hamper the travel plans. So do enjoy and explore the beauty of Manali and Shimla at least once.
