Himachal Trip (Shimla, Kullu, Manali)

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.