Delhi - Chail trip on a weekend

I plan a trip with my wife to Chail (from Gurgaon) on a weekend i.e. 2 days. We plan to hire a taxi and leave by early saturday morning and return on sunday evening. Need to know the following.

1. How long does it take to reach Chail from Gurgaon(or Delhi) by taxi?
2. Are 2 days enough or do we need to extend it by another day?
3. Suggest good hotels in Chail for stay.
4. Any good and reliable taxi services from Delhi/Gurgaon to Chail and back.
5. Any other useful information.

Thanks in advance.

Suraj

1. Around 8 hours.
2. Extend another day for sight seeing/relaxing. Otherwise its sufficient.
3. You could opt for the chail palace.
4. No idea.

I too suggest staying at the Palace hotel, it is state run with quite reasonable tarrif, the food is very good & you can go for nice quiet walks.

i would suggest you extend it by 1 day...not only does it give you more time to relax you can also put in a trip to a surrounding area like Shimla , Kasauli..

Why not leave on friday night by Volvo. You''ll reach Shimla by 6 am and Shimla to chail by cab should be 2 hours or less. Volvo leaves for Shimla at 9pm and 10 pm from ISBT. Gurgaon to ISBT would be 700 bucks by Cab.

Hire a cab in Chail when required.

Shimla to Delhi Volvo is at 9 pm and 10-15 pm (if you can leave on sunday night) or 11 am (if you can leave on monday morning). Fare is 650 per person.

Sufficient cost saving vis-a-vis hiring a cab and less hassle. Drivers from gurgaon can be a pain.

And btw, isnt friday an off?

There is a new VOLVO bus service of Haryana Roadways which leaves Delhi ISBT at 11.20 pm. This bus reaches Shimla by 8 am. The best part of traveling by this bus is you do not reach Shimla at early hours of 5 and 6 am as Himachal Roadways buses reach Shimla at this time. You get plenty of cabs at 8 am from Shimla bus station where as at early morning hours there are just 3-4 cabs and you cannot haggle much with the fare.

In case coming from Gurgaon, a Chandigarh bound VOLVO (of Haryana Roadways) leaves Gurgaon at 9.20 pm and reaches ISBT Delhi by 10.30 pm. You can switch over to the Shimla bound VOLVO at ISBT. Both these VOLVOs park at the same counter at ISBT.

This Friday was an off , coming Tuesday and Friday are off again for a lot of people...

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies. I do have the Volvo in mind but first want to explore the option of cab or driving down self.

Can anyone tell me how long would it take if I drive down to Chail in my own car. Any suggestions on this like routes, breaks, etc.

TIA

Suraj

Road Route is Delhi - Karnal - Ambala - Zirakpur - Kalka – Kandaghat – Chail. The distance is around 400 KMs and IMO little too much for one day.

No its not...the distance is closer to 350 Kms , and its significant since you are talking about 50 kms on the hills which would translate into about 90 minutes of driving.

Can be done in one day , it could be a bit tiring , but manageable in about 8 hours

Hi Buddy,

I am planning a 4 days trip from Delhi to Chail and Shimla in 2nd week of Jul 09. Please suggest if it is good by my own car. I mean the road conditions in hill area? Local expert can give best suggestions.... Thanks in advance....

Thanks,
AA

The road conditions till Kandaghat are Excellent, from there its 30km to Chail, the road condition is ok, however is narrow and low on maintenance.

Absolutely , take your own car , the roads are good all the way . The last 30 Kms as pointed out is a little rough but nothing that cant be handled, and there is always the chance that there might have been work done on it to improve it.

Sadhupul is approx half the distance between Kandaghat and Chail. and the road from Sadhupul onwards has been rebuilt. Though its not widened, yet very smooth

The monkeys around the palace are terrible so do keep car doors and windows locked and keep hold of your bags.