Beautiful Mountain Vistas

Dave & Rose

Hello all,

As part of our india trip next April I have two weeks to get a glimpse of the Himalaya. I'll be leaving Delhi to head north and need to return to Delhi in good time to get our flight home.

I was thinking of a Delhi - Shimla - Malanali - Amritsar - Delhi route. I would appreciate any comments as this seems like a lot of ground to cover!

All I really want to see is the mountains - I'm not too interested in doing action packed adventure!

Thanks!

Rose

capt_mahajan

If you mainly want to see the mountains, I would suggest go beyond Shimla in Himachal, or go beyond Almora in Uttranachal.

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Aishah

April is a good time for viewing vistas because before the rains start - read an article here by Roshe - Uttarakhand - A Trip to Heaven and you will see some good places for viewing them.
Camel's Back Road,Mussoorie, is also a good walk with great mountain views, and some higher up spots in Landour Cantt. good too. I don't know much about Simla but friends went there in February and really enjoyed it - as Captain Mahajan says, beyond there must be great too.
I've been to Manali - also good, but not vast vistas as you can see from Mussoorie.

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Dilliwala

Since u want to go to Amritsar, leave out Manali and go to Dharmsala/Mcleodganj or Dalhousie after Shimla. Makes for an easier loop.

2 weeks is more than enough time for whichever circuit u choose.

rishabh6296

You wouldnt get to see Himalayas from Shimla,Nearest place to see Himalayas from delhi is Uttaranchal eg. Kausani,Ranikhet,Almora,Binsar etc.

Aishah

I went to Dalhousie - saw nothing - but maybe too hazy? just didn't see any vistas at all; also McLeod Ganj is only a very small section of mountain visible from there. Best idea is the Uttarakhand one I think and off the top of my head I think trains can be going from Dehra Dun - Chandigarh - Amritsar, but you would need to check this out.

rishabh6296

the mountains that you see from dharamsala or dalhousie are dhauladhar & pir panjal ranges altitude b/w 4000-5000 metres.from Kumaon hill stations you can get to see peaks as high as 7816 metres nanda devi as well as 300 km. of great himalayan panorama.

Aishah

thanks Rishabh - I couldn't remember their names - and also you really only see very small sections of them. As we are saying the real vistas of large sweeps of Himalayans are definitely in Uttarakhand. My first view of the mountains was originally from Nainatal - looking towards Nanda Devi - what an emotional moment that was for me.It was very overwhelming to think that I was there gazing at these mountains - a wonderful vista of snow-caps -that I had for many years dreamed of wanting to see. I then a few days later went for a jeep ride, sitting on the roof of the jeep looking at more vistas. It was just amazing.

Dilliwala

I've seen the entire line of the Dhauladhar (as far as the eye can see), right upto the Kinnaur range from the HPTDC hotel at Fagu (also from the road approaching Fagu).
Practically Shimla, one can definitely get a 360-view to include the snow ranges from the helipad near Chharabra.
Anyone who hasn't been, the helipad is a public access area (except when in use).

Chakrata/Devban, Mussoorie, Dhanolti/Surkanda/Kanatal, New Tehri, Jakholi, Pauri, Khirsu and Lansdowne are all closer than Kumaon as far as Himalayan views are concerned.

Dave & Rose

Dear all

Thank you for your replies.

After your words of wisdom we will be going to Uttarakhand if it all goes to plan. We're thinking of doing a loop from Delhi to take in Nainatal, Almora, Kausani and Ranikhet(?).

I'm sure we'll have a great time.

Many thanks

Dave & Rose.

capt_mahajan

Some other options on that circuit (do check the Uttarakhand forum here)

Binsar/Jageshwar
Chaukori/Munsiyari
Mukhteshwar


Ok, Chaukori/Munsiyari is a little beyond that circuit.... but the rest are not.

You could do Nainital/Ranikhet/Kausani/Chaukori/Munsiyari/Binsar/Jageshwar/Mukhteshwar in two weeks.

Or you could knock of Chaukori/Munsiyari if you wanted to just put down temporary roots somewhere and relax more.

Aishah

Have a great trip!

safari vala

nothing beats Hunza valley in pakistan for mountain views