Dharamshala-Mcleodganj-Khajjiar-Dalhousie - My Travelogue

sumanthewhiz

Hi All,

I recently completed my trip to Dharamshala-Dalhousie, and had a gala time there. We were just two people - me and my wife, and were traveling from Kolkata. We flew down to New Delhi, and spent the day at the "Ginger Rail Yatri Niwas". Located just outside the Ajmeri Gate exit of the New Delhi railway station, it has a set of very well maintained rooms. Priced at Rs.999/- per night, I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to stay at Delhi for 1-2 days transit. We boarded Jhelum Express at 9:30pm for our onward journey to Chakki Bank (last rail-head on the way to Dhramshala/Dalhousie).

The onward itinerary was as follows -

• 25th Sept - Reached Chakki Bank station (Jhelum Express from New Delhi - arrived at 6:00am). Receieved by Mr.Narendar . Checked in to Hotel Bhagsu at Mcelodganj. Had a local trip to Bhagsu falls, Bhagsunag, Naddi, Dal Lake (now dried up) & St. John's church-in-the-wilderness.
• 26th Sept - Visited Norbulingka Institute, and drove to Palampur - Baijnath.
• 27th Sept - Spent at leisure at local areas (local market, Kangra Museum etc).
• 28th Sept - Checked out of Hotel Bhagsu, and drove to Dalhousie. Checked in at Hotel Kohinoor there. A bit of local sight-seeing in the evening.
• 29th Sept - Drove to Khajjiar grounds, visiting Kalatop on the way. Same day drive back to Chakki Bank for return train journey to Delhi (Jammu Rajdhani - 9:30pm)

Total cost of car (for entire trip, including pick-up & drop from Chakki Bank) - Rs.7500/-

Stayed at Hotel Bhagsu in Mcleodganj, and Hotel Kohinoor at Dalhousie. The former was a premier property, and was quite good (both location & interiors). The latter being a low-cost property, was of ok type (but still I would say worth the price we paid - Rs.500/- per night). Detailed review of Hotel Bhagsu will soon be posted in the "Hotels" section [Click here for the review].

Coming back to the tour - we fully enjoyed the entire trip - courtesy the natural beauty of all the places listed above. One thing I should say, however, that if you plan for a "sight-seeing" based tour, you'll be in for a little disappointment - as there are only a handful of "points" to cover. But if you are game for a tour in which the beauty of the entire place in itself is an experience - and seek a peaceful stay in the lap of nature - this will be an ideal place for you. The natural beauty of the place was so amazing, that I must say I couldn't capture even a fraction of it in my camera. Nevertheless - you can check out the photos in the respective section [Click here].

Finally, one last thing that deserves mention is the car which we had hired. The owner-cum-driver, Mr.Narendar, is a very endearing person, and I would strongly recommend him for anyone going for a tour in those areas. We really felt so comfortable all along (we almost always had breakfast/lunch together), that we just forgot that we had met just a couple of days back! I had got his contact from IndiaMike itself (here), so a vote of thanks to you guys too!

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Gametotravel

I am happy that Narendar prooved good!

delhiwala

Nice trip report !

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Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone. - The Dhammapada

sumanthewhiz

Ya... and a BIG thanks to you for that!

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Suman Ghosh

Aishah

Thanks for posting your report, Suman. And including the trip to Dalhousie I think you car hire proved reasonable and to be a good idea!

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"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

puchoo

Informative write up!

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Cheers!


Indiamike Mod team............

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mridula

Suman the pictures look so beautiful and remind me of my trip to McLeod Ganj and Triund and beyond this June!

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Mridula

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kapil4ever

nice pix..