Apr 28, 2004 11:47 AM
3349 Views
(Updated Nov 19, 2004 04:13 PM)
I am continuously asked about tips/information on driving to Shimla by friends and acquaintances. I assumed hence that this information might be useful to members of mouthshut.com as well and hence decided to pen down some stuff.
Lets talk of all theother things except finances.
TIME: If you are driving to Shimla for the first time then give yourself about 10 hours. roughly broken up into 8 hours driving and about 2 hours of stops. When u leave Delhi can play a big role in how much time you take. I just went up recentyl in a Zen. Left at 4:30 in the morning and reached Shimla at 10:30...a straight 6 hours (a record even by my standards) with a half an hour stop for breakfast and another half an hour for tea. But getting out of delhi can be a very time consuming process initself. I went up again and left in fact at 330 but got caught in a jam and reached shimla at 1130..so it affected my entire time by an hour.
ROAD: The over all road condition is pretty pretty good. I break it into 3 Segments. Primarily Delhi to Ambala , Ambala to Kalka and Kalka to Shimla. After u have left behind the normal bumps and potholes of Delhi roads u can sit back and cruise. Its an excellent road sometime 2 laned sometimes 4 all the way to Ambala. Ambala to Kalka is cingested..its a single road with no divider (be careful while overtaking here) and lasts a good 45-50 Kmsto Kalka. Once you have hit Kalka then again, sit and enjoy the drive. The road has just been done up and contrary to a lot of fears drivingin the hills is not bad at all. The road is sufficiently wide, level, just look out at corners for oncoming vehicles and ull be fine.
TRAFFIC : this of curse depends on when u leave. Ideally leave early and you will avoid messes at Sonipat and Panipat , 2 of th most crowded places and Ambala to Kalka depends on a little luck as well. From Kalka to Shimla traffic is not too much. Kalka willl be crowded, then Solan and thats about it.
STOPS: more than enough choices on the way. What I personally do is to stop at a Dhaba called ''jhilmil'' at Karnal, most amazinf lassi and paneer ka parathan....then no stops still about Dharampur, which is roughly an hour from Kalka. But if u cant wait that long then like I said there are enough choices.
TOLL : While driving to Shimla u have 3 toll stops One at Karnal (50) One near Ambala (11) and one at Kalka (30), on the way back the same tolls apply except the one for entering Himachal (30)
FINANCES: I will have to make certain assumptions here i.e that one would travelotherwise in a train (shatabdi AC chaircar) , Taxi, or A deluxe Bus.
As far as one person driving up goes its not econmoical. But the minute 2 are involved its cheaper to drive up.
1000-1200 Rs for fuel, 200 for stops, 90 for tolls = 1300.
1300= total cost one way (the more the number of persons coming the lower the cost per head)
Train : 550 for one AC Chaircar ticket to chandi, then either a Taxi which is 1500-1800 or a bus which will be about 250. So total cost one way =2000/ 800
Taxi from Delhi : obviously close to about 3000.
Plane roughly 6000 one way
Bus: a noirmal deluxe bus (Volvo) which the himachal govt runs costs 550 per ticket which would have gone up now because of the hike in petrol.
Hence it is economically quite a viable option as well.
The best part of course is getting there at your own pace.
