Himachal Diaries - Part I - 2 Day Shimla Trip
This is the first of 3 posts covering our 10 day trip to Himachal Pradesh, in the summer of 2016 -from 4th May 2016 to 15th May 2016. We visited Shimla, Manali, Kullu, Dharamshala and Dalhousie in this trip. I will cover the entire trip in 3 parts - Part I - Shimla, Part II - Manali & Kullu, and Part III - Dharamshala & Dalhousie.
Suggested Itinerary:
Day 1: Kalka - Jakhoo Temple & Kufri
Day 2: Shimla Local Sight-Seeing: Mall Road, Ridge, Vice-regal Lodge, Annandale, Christ Church, Tara-Devi Temple
Trip Cost:
Hotel: 4000Rs for 2 nights
To & Fro Train Fares from Delhi: 3800Rs (2 pax)
Food & Sight-seeing: 3500Rs
Total: 11,300Rs
Trip in Detail:
From Delhi - there are 2 ways to travel to Kalka by train - either take the Shatabdi from New Delhi station or take the Himalayan queen from Sarai Rohilla. Both are chair car journeys. We took the Himalayan queen, but in hind sight, Shatabdi would have been a better option. It is faster, and more convenient. On arrival at Kalka, the connecting train of Himalayan queen - the metre gauge aka toy train, was waiting on a different platform.
The toy train departed on time. We had pre-booked our tickets and hence had no issue with the seating. However, contrary to pictures seen on various websites, it was no where cool and was actually hot and sultry. The ride was 96 kms long, with around 102 tunnels on the way. It was a longgg ride and started raining on the way. After the rains, the ride turned pleasant and bearable. The train stopped at multiple stations on the way. Nevertheless, it got pleasant as the train crawled the altitude and we reached Shimla at around 6PM in the evening. (Was delayed by about 45 mins).
We had pre-booked our stay at Hotel, through MakeMyTrip and it was around 2 kms from the Shimla station. Link for the property we stayed is here. We were travelling light for this trip and decided to walk down to the hotel. It was steep in some places, but we were in no hurry and had a leisurely stroll down till the hotel. We dumped our bags in the hotel, freshened up and quickly left for the very famous Mall Road. The lift was right next to our hotel and used it (Lift is a public conveyance elevator to reach Mall Road/ Ridge) to reach the Ridge. On the Ridge is a concourse kind of area with the Indian flag flying high. There is a library and a church on the Ridge. Along with that, will be hordes of other tourists all busy clicking pictures and selfies! Nice place to chill out in the evening. The road leading up to Mall Rd is lined with many cafes. We tried out a few of them. Had Momos in one of the cafes for dinner.
However, the staple street food in Shimla is the Bun Maska Tikki(and its close variations). They are priced anywhere between 20-35Rs depending on the variations. It is indeed a great street food to try out when in Shimla. Both of us feasted on the different variations of it!! We roamed around for sometime till around 9PM and then returned back to our hotel.
The next day was our trip to Kufri and Jakhoo Temple. There are 2 options in Shimla to cover. If you are there for 2 full days and nights, you can cover Kufri and Jakhoo on 1 day and Shimla local sight-seeing on the 2nd day. We were there only for 1 night and hence chose Kufri over Shimla local. In Shimla local, Mall Rd, Ridge, Viceregal lodge and Annandale are the key places to visit. Kufri option is a full day plan - We hired a taxi for the same and started at around 9 the next day morning.
The first place that our cab-driver took us to, was Jakhoo Temple. It is a beautiful Hanuman temple situated on top of a mountain. It has a gigantic idol of Lord Hanuman and a smaller Shiv temple inside. Nice place to take lovely pictures at that altitude. Beware of the monkeys around this temple though. People there advised us to remove even our specs, lest the monkeys grab them away.
Post Jakhoo temple, the driver took us to Kufri. Kufri is a resort kind of place with lot of activities to do in one place. The approach to Kufri is by taxi till a certain point. Post that, there is a 3km stretch that needs to be covered on a pony. The rates are fixed - 380/person for round trip. These are Govt fixed prices and there is no cheating/haggling over this. The pony ride is slightly scary due to the over-crowded 2-way traffic of ponies. At many points, you can be rubbed by ponies in the opposite direction. Avoid taking pictures. If by any chance your camera/phone falls off your hands, consider it gone!
Once you reach the resort, your pony rider will tell a spot to come back to after finishing all activities. There is no specified time to come back at. Once you are there, a variety of activities await. We did Yak riding(rather posing)! They allow you to sit on their Yak and get pictures clicked!
Post Yak posing, I got myself clicked in this Himachal traditional dress! Again some posing around and you can take as many clicks as you want! There are other activities like Zorbing, Telescope viewing and some adventure activities like rock climbing, rapelling, rope walking etc. We had done most of these earlier in different places and hence didn't do these activities. With regards to food, both of us are die-hard foodies! We had hot Paranthas, Maggi and piping hot tea to accompany! There are many stalls which provide different varieties of food, and lines of flea shopping and souvenir shopping along the food stalls. There is an Apple garden further down, along with the Kufri Ski resort centre where all outdoor activities can be done. People travelling with kids can surely try out this resort. We returned back on the pony ride by around 4PM.
Post Kufri, we checked the local Zoo and Green Valley on our way back to Shimla. We were leaving for Manali the next day, and wanted to check out Lakkar Bazaar, in Shimla, before leaving. Lakkar bazaar can be approached via the Lift and the Ridge. We had a casual stroll down till the Bazaar. It is a beautiful place to shop for antiques and other Souvenirs from Shimla. Foodies that we were, we ended up trying out one more variant of the yummy Bun Tikka!! Lip smacking experience it was!
We then headed for a quick dinner, post shopping and called it a night. Stay tuned for Part II of the travelogue, for the Manali & Kully diaries!
Suggested Itinerary:
Day 1: Kalka - Jakhoo Temple & Kufri
Day 2: Shimla Local Sight-Seeing: Mall Road, Ridge, Vice-regal Lodge, Annandale, Christ Church, Tara-Devi Temple
Trip Cost:
Hotel: 4000Rs for 2 nights
To & Fro Train Fares from Delhi: 3800Rs (2 pax)
Food & Sight-seeing: 3500Rs
Total: 11,300Rs
Trip in Detail:
From Delhi - there are 2 ways to travel to Kalka by train - either take the Shatabdi from New Delhi station or take the Himalayan queen from Sarai Rohilla. Both are chair car journeys. We took the Himalayan queen, but in hind sight, Shatabdi would have been a better option. It is faster, and more convenient. On arrival at Kalka, the connecting train of Himalayan queen - the metre gauge aka toy train, was waiting on a different platform.
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| The place where it all started! |
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| Kalka - UNESCO World Heritage Site |
The toy train departed on time. We had pre-booked our tickets and hence had no issue with the seating. However, contrary to pictures seen on various websites, it was no where cool and was actually hot and sultry. The ride was 96 kms long, with around 102 tunnels on the way. It was a longgg ride and started raining on the way. After the rains, the ride turned pleasant and bearable. The train stopped at multiple stations on the way. Nevertheless, it got pleasant as the train crawled the altitude and we reached Shimla at around 6PM in the evening. (Was delayed by about 45 mins).
 |
| Captures on the ride up to Shimla |
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| Stations on the way |
We had pre-booked our stay at Hotel, through MakeMyTrip and it was around 2 kms from the Shimla station. Link for the property we stayed is here. We were travelling light for this trip and decided to walk down to the hotel. It was steep in some places, but we were in no hurry and had a leisurely stroll down till the hotel. We dumped our bags in the hotel, freshened up and quickly left for the very famous Mall Road. The lift was right next to our hotel and used it (Lift is a public conveyance elevator to reach Mall Road/ Ridge) to reach the Ridge. On the Ridge is a concourse kind of area with the Indian flag flying high. There is a library and a church on the Ridge. Along with that, will be hordes of other tourists all busy clicking pictures and selfies! Nice place to chill out in the evening. The road leading up to Mall Rd is lined with many cafes. We tried out a few of them. Had Momos in one of the cafes for dinner.
However, the staple street food in Shimla is the Bun Maska Tikki(and its close variations). They are priced anywhere between 20-35Rs depending on the variations. It is indeed a great street food to try out when in Shimla. Both of us feasted on the different variations of it!! We roamed around for sometime till around 9PM and then returned back to our hotel.
The next day was our trip to Kufri and Jakhoo Temple. There are 2 options in Shimla to cover. If you are there for 2 full days and nights, you can cover Kufri and Jakhoo on 1 day and Shimla local sight-seeing on the 2nd day. We were there only for 1 night and hence chose Kufri over Shimla local. In Shimla local, Mall Rd, Ridge, Viceregal lodge and Annandale are the key places to visit. Kufri option is a full day plan - We hired a taxi for the same and started at around 9 the next day morning.
The first place that our cab-driver took us to, was Jakhoo Temple. It is a beautiful Hanuman temple situated on top of a mountain. It has a gigantic idol of Lord Hanuman and a smaller Shiv temple inside. Nice place to take lovely pictures at that altitude. Beware of the monkeys around this temple though. People there advised us to remove even our specs, lest the monkeys grab them away.
 |
| Atop the Jakhoo Hill |
Post Jakhoo temple, the driver took us to Kufri. Kufri is a resort kind of place with lot of activities to do in one place. The approach to Kufri is by taxi till a certain point. Post that, there is a 3km stretch that needs to be covered on a pony. The rates are fixed - 380/person for round trip. These are Govt fixed prices and there is no cheating/haggling over this. The pony ride is slightly scary due to the over-crowded 2-way traffic of ponies. At many points, you can be rubbed by ponies in the opposite direction. Avoid taking pictures. If by any chance your camera/phone falls off your hands, consider it gone!
Once you reach the resort, your pony rider will tell a spot to come back to after finishing all activities. There is no specified time to come back at. Once you are there, a variety of activities await. We did Yak riding(rather posing)! They allow you to sit on their Yak and get pictures clicked!
Post Yak posing, I got myself clicked in this Himachal traditional dress! Again some posing around and you can take as many clicks as you want! There are other activities like Zorbing, Telescope viewing and some adventure activities like rock climbing, rapelling, rope walking etc. We had done most of these earlier in different places and hence didn't do these activities. With regards to food, both of us are die-hard foodies! We had hot Paranthas, Maggi and piping hot tea to accompany! There are many stalls which provide different varieties of food, and lines of flea shopping and souvenir shopping along the food stalls. There is an Apple garden further down, along with the Kufri Ski resort centre where all outdoor activities can be done. People travelling with kids can surely try out this resort. We returned back on the pony ride by around 4PM.
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| Yakking our way up! |
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| Himachali Traditional Attire |
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| Zorbing |
Post Kufri, we checked the local Zoo and Green Valley on our way back to Shimla. We were leaving for Manali the next day, and wanted to check out Lakkar Bazaar, in Shimla, before leaving. Lakkar bazaar can be approached via the Lift and the Ridge. We had a casual stroll down till the Bazaar. It is a beautiful place to shop for antiques and other Souvenirs from Shimla. Foodies that we were, we ended up trying out one more variant of the yummy Bun Tikka!! Lip smacking experience it was!
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| On the way to Lakkar Bazaar |
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| Street Food!! |
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| Making of the Bun Tikka |
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| The yummy finished product! |
We then headed for a quick dinner, post shopping and called it a night. Stay tuned for Part II of the travelogue, for the Manali & Kully diaries!
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