Reasons Why People Love Himachal (Part 1) - Shimla

Shimla

          It was time to have week long escape.This time, the destination was what I generally used to say India's honeymoon destination😣😂 but it had to be part of my travel to-do list.

The planning had started 4 months back but it was for Kerala, but unfortunately the disastrous floods had other plans.So, we had to shift our destination to Shimla-Manali-Kasol.

This being a 7 days long trip, I decided to divide blog into 2 posts. 

Day 1:  Shimla  

        The first stop to our trip was Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh, which was also the summer capital of British.

Reaching Shimla is fairly easy.We were traveling from Mumbai by flight to Chandigarh and then to Shimla by cab.As almost every trip, we were a group of 2 couples, so we decided to book Innova for the whole journey.
Other option: Mumbai ==> Delhi(flight) ==> Shimla (by HRTC volvo/private volvo)

         Traveling from Chandigarh to Shimla takes approximately 4-5 hours(120 km), as its a completely hilly area and also because there is road widening being done at various stretches.People do travel from Delhi but then it takes 9 hours or more to reach Shimla from there, so we decided to cut short the travel time and travel during day to enjoy the route.
          By the time we reached our hotel(Sterling Resort) in Kufri, it was already quite dark and cool at 5.30pm, so we took rest for the day.

Day 2: Shimla Sight seeing

After breakfast, we proceeded for sightseeing visit of Kufri.
 

View from hotel room

Indira Gandhi Tourist Park, Mini Zoo 

Then came the center of attraction of Shimla

Mall Road-Ridge-Scandal Point: 

      This place is the most picturesque point of Shimla and center of all activity.

Scandal point is where the Mall road meets Ridge road on west side.As the name suggest, this is where the Indian Maharaja eloped with daughter of British Viceroy and hence was banished from entering Shimla by the authorities.

       The location is basically just to roam around and enjoy the beautiful colors and architecture of the buildings and also famous are the cafes and restaurants for hangouts.

View from Mall road

 View of Mall road from lift area which are used to reach the location.

View on Mall road/Ridge 

Famous spot where Funsuk vangdo was found😜

Ridge is also famous for Lakkar bazzar, shopping area and food stalls.

     Must eat is Channa lucchi at Sita Ram & Sons.

            Lucchi is basically Bhature kind of stuff

   Chats, bakeries and wooden artifacts are worth to be noted

          Shimla is beautiful place not only with colorful buildings and old structures, but with disciplined and well organized roads and traffic.

            One very peculiar thing that was noticed was that the internal roads are closed to tourist traffic on weekends to allow locals do their shopping.The route for tourists goes around the city while the roads are closed for 2 hours in evening.

             Also another thing noted was that government doesn't allow locals to buy cars unless they have their own parking due to space restrictions on road parking.

Day 3: Manali 

             It was time to bid bye to Shimla and head towards next destination-- Kullu, Manali, Kasol(contd. in part 2)

Things to do in Shimla:

• Indira Gandhi Tourist Park
• Mall Road,Ridge
• Hike to Jhakoo Hill
• Cafes and restaurants
• Stroll Lakkar bazzar

Best Time to Visit Shimla: 

     We found first week December to be the perfect time to visit as it was not too cold even though it being winter time.

November-January is suggested season.
March-June is summer season here.

Expenses for tour per couple:

Innova Cab for complete 7 days - 12k

Flight - 17k per couple
Adventures - 5-6k per couple(rafting, snow point, rope-way), Paragliding costs around 4400/-
Hotel stay - Shimla-5k
                   Manali -5k
                   Kasol -  1200/-

Link to Manali post:

Manali Travelogue(part 2) : Manali, Kasol