North India - Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh - Region of snow. One of the beautiful states in the country in the midst of the Great Himalayas. A lot of valleys here in the state are worth visiting. Himachal Pradesh or HP is one of the mountainous states. Due to the Himalayas, a lot of streams and rivers flow through the state too - Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Yamuna to name a few. Let me take you through some of the places that I have visited in this state. There are a lot more places than these few.

MANALI:

Manali is a resort town situated in the northern part of the state. It is a popular tourist destination. Along with Kullu, Manali is one of the often-sought tourist places. It is a small town but with various attractions surrounding it. Situated on the banks of the river Beas, amidst the view of the beautiful Himalayas. A lot of Bollywood flicks like Jab we met, Krrish, 3 idiots etc have been shot here and these places are vividly visible.

Let us traverse through a few places in and around Manali.

(River Beas in Manali)

(View of snow laden mountains from Manali)

Hidimba temple:

This is one of the very few temples where a demon is worshipped. Hidimba or Hidimbi was born to a demon or rakshasa family and later got married to Bhima, the second of the five Pandavas. It is this Hidimba who is worshiped here. It is said that she and her brother Hidimb stayed here. When Pandavas visited here, Bhima defeated Hidimb and married Hidimba.

(Hidimba temple)

Mall Street:

Mall street is the main street in Manali. It is here that all the government offices, banks, shopping centers, eateries are present. No automobiles are allowed here so one can easily walk through the street. For shopping, jackets, sweaters, woolen wears are available here. Hot samosas and jamuns welcome tourists every day in the evenings.

(Mall street in Manali)

Rohtang Pass:

Rohtang Pass or Rohtang La is one of the higher and oldest mountain passes. A pass is small, navigable way between two mountain ranges. Rohtang is one of the passes between the Kullu valley and the Lahaul and Spiti valley. The place is around 50kms from Manali. It is one the trickiest and deadliest roads to traverse. But once you are at the top, the views from here are exquisite. The roadway to Rohtang is filled with army and military supplies. And thus, you can see a lot of heavy trucks around. In summers, this road is filled, and you experience a lot of traffic jams. That's because this is one of the roadways to reach Leh/Ladakh and many private cars and bikers use this road. On reaching the top, you get to ride a quad bike, from where you can visit a nearby lake (sometimes frozen during snowfall). The pass is only open from May to November. Once the snowfall starts, the road to the pass is closed.

(Quad bike in Rohtang)

(View of Himalayas)

(Treacherous road on the way to Rohtang)

Solang Valley:

It is another valley about 15km from Manali. It is known for its sporting activities, especially skiing in winters. In summers, skiing is replaced by zorbing. Along with that, you do get horse riding, Bungee throw, paragliding among others. It also has a cable car, where you go could on top of a hill and enjoy the rustic view of the Himalayas.

(View from Solang Valley)

(Cable car at Solang)

(Zorbing)

(Paragliding)

Manikaran:

About 40kms from Manali is a place called Manikaran. This place is famous for its hot springs. This place has a gurudwara and majority of the population here are Sikhs. There are a lot of temples too. Another legend says, that Manu, the creator of humans, recreated human life here after the great flood and hence the place is named after him.

(Gurudwara at Manikaran)

Kullu Valley:

The headquarters of the Kullu district, is about 20kms south of Manali. Kullu is more famous for its river rafting on the Beas river. 

(Beas river at Kullu)

(Rafting at Kullu)

Food, Accommodation, Shopping, Ways to reach and other places to see:

Manali is about 570kms from New Delhi and 380kms from Chandigarh. The roadway is the best way to reach Kullu-Manali. The drive is quite treacherous, however, with the views around, it gets eased out. If one has watched the movie 3-idiots, the road they travel is the route to Manali. There are a couple of tunnels and one of them is about 2kms. So, you can imagine the drive to this place. 

There are no trains to this place. The nearest airport is Kullu airport located in Kullu. However, only one flight operates from here. The other airport is at Kangra, which is about 200kms from Manali, where you can get many flights. The best time to visit Manali is from May to November. The snow fall starts in October end and once it gets heavier, the town is closed.

(Drive to Manali)

Manali is a resort town and there is no dearth to find accommodation. However, the town gets crowded during summers and it becomes difficult to visit places. Pre-booking is recommended.

All types of food are available here, although they are a bit expensive. But the best part here is the apples. You can see a lot of apple orchards and apple trees along the roads and in winters, the trees are filled with them.

(An apple tree)

As I mentioned before, winter wear and woolen wear are available here and are a must buy.

Below are a few surrounding places from Manali which can be visited (distance from Manali in brackets)

1. Mandi (106 kms)
2. Dharmasala - the abode of the Buddhist monk, Dalai Lama (220 kms)
3. Dalhousie (320 kms)
4. Pathankot (300 kms)
5. Bilaspur - famous for its cement factories (200 kms)

(Dam at Mandi)

SHIMLA:

Shimla is the capital city of HP. It is about 250 kms from Manali and about 350 kms from New Delhi.

It is another one of the after sought hill stations in the country. However, in the recent times, due to commercialization and global warming, the cool climate does not bear the same effect as it used to and thus the demand for this place as a tourist destination is deteriorating. Nevertheless, it is still a good spot for a vacation. Some of the surrounding places here are Kufri and Jakhoo temple.

Jakhoo temple:

It is a temple of Lord Hanuman and is situated on the tallest peak in Shimla. It is said that Hanuman stopped here on this hill while looking for Sanjeevini. Now a tall Hanuman statue has been raised here, which is deemed to be the tallest statue in the world. The temple is accessible by road, walk, horse and more recently by a ropeway.

(Hanuman statue at Jakhoo temple)

Kufri:

It is about 20kms from Shimla and is the highest point in the region. This is famous for its viewpoints. It also has a zoo which holds many rare animals like the antelopes. To reach the highest point, one must ride on a mule. A mule is cross between a horse and a donkey. The ride is completely different as they wade through the path without any guidance. Even in heavy snowfall, they can traverse without any difficulty. There is also a go-karting path on the top. The view from here is blissful. One can see many peaks surrounding Shimla and during winters the snow laden mountains look amazing. If you are familiar with the Bollywood movie 3 idiots, then you can see the house of Ranchod Das Chanchad. This is a palace of a king who used to live here during summers to enjoy the cool climate.

(View of peaks from Kufri)

(Ride on mules)

(View of the palace)

(Go-karting at Kufri)

Food, accommodation and how to reach:

Shimla, being the capital city, has no issues with respect to food or accommodation. Here too, there is a Mall Street, where you can get all good eateries. Hot pakoras on a chilly evening, along with a cup of tea, is what one can call divine and nothing tastes better.

A lot of resorts and hotels are available in Shimla and Kufri. During summers, the city usually gets rushed so better to pre-book before arriving here.

Again, the best way to reach here is by road. A lot of buses ply here from New Delhi and Chandigarh. There is a small airport in Shimla but currently I don't think any flights ply here.

The nearest broad-gauge railway station to Shimla is Kalka which is about 15 kms from the city.

However, the star attraction here, is the narrow-gauge train which runs from Kalka to Shimla. This runs along the highway and through some gorges and is a view to watch. The Shimla railway station is a UNESCO world heritage site as the station was build more than a 100 years ago.

(Kalka to Shimla train - view)

There you go friends. I have covered a few places in Himachal Pradesh. I know there are a lot more to cover and I will update them too. The best time to visit HP is just before the onset of winter - October end. It is when the snowfall starts, and the temperatures would just start dipping down. Hope you had great time reading this blog.