Travel style · Himachal
Road trips in Himachal
The high roads, driven at the right speed
The Himalaya has some of the highest motorable roads in the world: Manali to Leh, the Spiti circuit, Sela Pass, the Old Silk Route. We plan them with acclimatisation days, a driver who knows the bends and honest drive times.
Photo: Ms Sarah Welch · CC0 · CommonsA mountain road is slow. Two hundred kilometres can take eight hours when the road climbs over a pass, crosses snow-melt streams and waits for a landslide to be cleared. We plan drives in daylight, keep long days to one in three, and build a spare day into any route that crosses a pass above 4,000 m.
Himachal is the easiest big mountain trip from Delhi: an overnight HRTC Volvo puts you in Shimla, Manali or Dharamshala for ₹900–1,900. Come March to June or late September to November. Budget ₹1,800–3,000 a day on hostels and buses, or far more for Oberoi rooms above Shimla.
Trips
Road trips trips in Himachal
Photo: Ms Sarah Welch · CC0 · Commons
Comfort
Chamba, McLeodganj and Bir by private car
Private car with driver
Photo: Navneet Sharma · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Saver
Kinnaur by HRTC bus: Sangla, Chitkul, Kalpa
HRTC buses and local shared taxis
Photo: Neerajsinghazm · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Saver
Manali, Naggar and Kasol on a budget
HRTC local buses and short shared taxis
Photo: Navneet Sharma · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Signature
Shimla and Kinnaur with Oberoi stays
Private SUV with driver and guide; toy train from Kalka
Photo: Navneet Sharma · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Signature
Shimla and the Kullu valley in luxury
Private car with driver
5 places
Where to go
Photo: Ms Sarah Welch · CC0 · Commons
Chamba
A thousand-year-old hill capital of stone temples and fine embroidery
Photo: Carlos Adampol Galindo from DF, México · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons
Kalpa
Apple orchards facing the Kinnaur Kailash peak at dawn
Photo: Neerajsinghazm · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Manali
Head of the Kullu valley, under cedar forest and snow peaks
Photo: Ashish Gupta from Noida, India · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Sangla and Chitkul
The Baspa valley, from Kamru's fort-temple to the last village
Photo: Navneet Sharma · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Shimla
The old summer capital, reached by a 1903 mountain railway
Experiences
Days that fit the style
Photo: Harvinder Chandigarh · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Stone temples and the Chaugan at dawn
A morning walk from the Chaugan meadow to the Lakshmi Narayan group of stone temples, then through the old lanes to sma…
Photo: Artist/maker unknown, India – Artist/Maker (In… · Public domain · Commons
Chamba rumal embroidery and the museum
See historic Chamba rumals and Pahari paintings at the Bhuri Singh Museum, then visit an embroidery workshop where wome…
Photo: Varun Shiv Kapur from New Delhi, India · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Day trip to Bharmour's Chaurasi temples
Drive 65 km up the Ravi and Budhil valleys to Bharmour at about 2,200 m, the old capital of Chamba and home of the Gadd…
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Sunrise over the Kinnaur Kailash range
Wake before dawn and watch first light reach the Kinnaur Kailash range across the Sutlej, its summit around 6,050 m. Fi…
Photo: Amitabha Gupta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Walk the cliff road to Roghi village
An easy 3 km walk from Kalpa along a road blasted into the cliff, with sheer drops to the Sutlej and the Kinnaur Kailas…
Photo: UnpetitproleX · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Apple harvest in a Kinnauri orchard home
Spend a morning with a Kinnauri orchard family at harvest time: picking, sorting and packing apples, then a lunch of lo…
Photo: Reflectionsbyprajakta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Hadimba temple and Old Manali on foot
A morning loop from the Mall up to the 1553 Hadimba temple in its cedar grove, then across the Manalsu stream to Old Ma…
Photo: Ktoya · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Vashisht hot springs and Jogini falls
A soak in the natural sulphur springs at Vashisht's stone temple tanks, then a 3 km walk through orchards to Jogini wat…
Where to sleep
Stays in these places
Photo: Neerajsinghazm · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Budget
Zostel Manali
A backpacker hostel in Old Manali, in the orchard village above the Manalsu stream, with dorm beds and private roo…
Photo: Carlos Adampol Galindo from DF, México · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons
Budget
HPTDC Hotel Kinner Kailash, Kalpa
The state tourism corporation's hotel in Kalpa, with rooms and cottages facing the Kinnaur Kailash range, a restau…
Photo: Ashish Gupta from Noida, India · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Mid
Banjara Camp and Retreat, Sangla
A riverside lodge in the Sangla valley, set in an apple orchard by the Baspa, with rooms in a stone-and-timber bui…
Photo: Navneet Sharma · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Luxury
Wildflower Hall, An Oberoi Resort, Shimla
An Oberoi resort at Chharabra, about 13 km beyond Shimla at roughly 2,500 m, on the site of Lord Kitchener's forme…
Photo: Navneet Sharma · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Luxury
The Oberoi Cecil, Shimla
A restored late-19th-century hotel on Shimla's Mall at Chaura Maidan, with colonial interiors, valley-view rooms a…
Photo: Original: Biswarup Ganguly Derivative work: Un… · CC BY 3.0 · Commons
Luxury
Span Resort and Spa
A riverside resort on about 12 acres on the banks of the Beas near Katrain, south of Manali, with cottages, garden…