Planning Your trip to Shimla & Manali. I will help you to plan how many days are required ,
how to go there , what to visit and shop there.
Trip Duration: 5- 6 days
How To Reach:
- There
is airport is located in Jubbarhatti, but there are very few
flights that fly to this airport. Those flights also from Delhi mostly. Buntar
is the airport near to Manali. One can go by flight till Bhuntar or Jubbarhatti
but its going to be a costly.
- By
bus one can reach Delhi by either flight or any other transport. Volvo
buses travels from Delhi to Shimla and Manali. This is going to be a budget option. One can also plan to
spend a day or two in Delhi to visit the city.
I choose option 2. Its upto you and based on your convenience.
I travelled from Hyd-Delhi in flight and from there I went to Shimla by Volvo.
Delhi to Shimla takes around 8 hours. During return journey also I travelled by
Volvo from Manali to Delhi and then flight to Hyderabad.
Weather In Himachal:
- Winters
will be pretty cold and one can experience sub zero temperatures. One can
experience lot of snow. If you are a snow lover visit this place in
winter.
- Rainy
season, though it looks beautiful in rains there will be chances of lot of
landslides. So for safety avoid travelling in monsoon.
- Summers
, sky will be clear there won’t be snow anywhere expect Rohtang pass. It
is best time to go if you love rafting as snow melts and there will be lot
of water in Beas river.
What To Wear:
- Winters
: Carry couple of thermals and wind cheaters. Its going to be quite cool.
Wear in layers so that air layer between your clothes will make you feel
much warmer.
- Summers:
Light clothes are enough. You can carry light woolens. There is no need of
thermals in this time.
- October:
It starts getting cool so carry few woolens. When travelling to Rohtang
better wear a thermal.
- Carry
good comfortable footwear or shoe as it involves in lot of walking.
- Sunscreen
and sun glasses are must as UV index is more here.
- Scarf
or cap to protect from sun and dust. There is lot of dust in Himachal.
Medicines:
One can carry their regular medicines. Along with them its
better to carry motion sickness tablets as it’s a hilly region and roads are
curvy. Also carry medication for fever, cold, body pains etc. Have volini spray,
gel or anything in hand as this trip involves in lot of walking.
What To Eat:
One can enjoy eating anything during night time when they
are at hotel. In morning when you are travelling make sure you don’t eat much
oily stuff. It may cause nausea as there will be more curves on road. Best
foods to eat during day here are maggi, momo and hot tea. Mostly these are only
options we get everywhere to eat. Better drink hot water or bottled water and
avoid normal water.
Itinerary:
- Day1: Reach Shimla, one can visit
adventure park here. There are many activities like zipline , Mountain
biking, Bungee jumping and many more. After this one can visit Kufri village by horse
ride, the horse will take you through muddy and hilly terrain, no worry horses
are well trainer and their trainer also comes with you. One you reach top by
horse ride you can visit some temple, apple garden and come back by same
horse. Have some tasty maggi post this ride, here maggi is too good. One
can visit Shimla Mall road in noon ,you have to go to Mall road by lift
they charge 10 rupees per person. This are is famous for street shopping,
one should have patience to walk all the way.We can get some clothing and
woolens for cheaper price . You can
find variety of fruits here, so grab your fruit bowl.
- Day 2: We are travelling from Shimla
To Manali today. On the way you can see longest tunnel (3km length, our
vehicle go through it. One can do adventure activities like River rafting,
paragliding in Kullu on this day. We have done river rafting on Beas river,
the experience is really awesome. We can see panoramic views of mountains
around beautiful river. One can
visit Vishno Devi temple in Kullu. Many sweater factories are there in
Kullu, but it find them expensive. By night one will reach Manali. Rest
for the day as the journey is really tiresome with some adventure.
- Day 3: We visited Rohtang on this
day. One have to get permit to visit rohtang pass, permit costs around 500
and you can apply for permit 10 days in advance with your vehicle number.
We applied for permit one day before and got it. Rohtang won’t remain open
year around. In mansoons and heavy winters
it remain closed. Rohtang pass remain closed on every Tuesday so
plan your travel accordingly. Its going to be cold in Rohtang so wear thermals
when you go there. There are some shops where they give clothes for rent
you can rent a one if you don’t want to buy lot of stuff. Rohtag journey
takes around 3 hours from Manali so plan to leave early around 7 am in morning
to avoid traffic. One can do paragliding here as well. Rohtang is place
where one can experience snowfall in Manali region year the round. One can
finish their trip to Rohtang by noon , so in after noon one can plan to
visit Solang Valley. Solang valley is main attraction with lot of
adventure activities only in winters. In other time activities like skiing
won’t be available. One can do para gliding , cable car, mountain biking
here. Anjana Devi temple is famous here one can go there by bike ride.
- Day 4: One can visit to Manikaran
hot springs this day. We have not visited this place so I don’t know much
about it. These are hot springs where one can take bath. The water is full
of different minerals and is good for health.
- Day 5: On this day one can visit
Hadimba Devi temple , she is wife of Bhima in Mahabharatha. Later one can
visit Boat House, Vana vihar,
Tibetan Monesty and Mall Road .Mall
road is again famous for shopping and street food. Leather jackets are too
good here and are cheaper too. In evening board your Volvo back to Delhi. Don’t
forget to buy some fresh apples from Manali , vendors come to even bus stop
if you forget to buy them in market.
