Himachal Pradesh Travel tips wanted

Sandip

Hello Friends,

I am a new member in this forum. I am planing to visit HP. I can afford 10 days in HP and wanted to see Simla, Sangla, Kalpa, Manali, Rotang, lahaul, Spiti, Batal, Chandratal, Kaza, Tabo. I want to use private cars as much as possible. We will be 4 persons all together. Can you please make a plan for me? Please let me know affordable bugget hotels, car prices and other informations also.

Regards,
Sandip.

kaushiks

San,
10 days is ridiculously less. I suggest you get a map of Himachal with distances mentioned for all roads. Try making a plan of your own. You can say the speed on hill roads is around 30 km/hr uphill (except when there are the rare big valleys like kullu). Downhill you may do 35 to 40 km/hr. Look at the distances you need to cover. You will get an idea of what you have at hand. You may need to cut down on some places and decide on the number of days you want to stay etc.

dumb_bacchus

i agree 10 days is less even to touch these places. I guess u need to re-think on what you want to do - trek/ stay in the hotel n enjoy the food/ do sight-seeing .ie. drive in a car to the 3 best places known, have ur snap clicked and move on....

Can i ask you another question? From where did u come up with the list of those places....

Just to give you a slight idea of car fares - chandigarh - manali - chandigarh, indica for 3 days cost about 3,500/- which should be considered a great deal. I am not sure but i guess an avg of Rs 7-10 per KM should be considered as a fare estimate.

hope you can figure out what are you expecting out of ur travel...

cheers

Sandip

Ok Friends, Will following be feasible?

Simla--sangla--kalpa--chitkul--simla ===> 4 days
(main destinations are Sangla, kalpa, chitkul)
Simla--Manali ==> 1 day
Manali--Rotang--batal--chandratal--lahaul--spiti--manali ==> 5 days
(main destination is Chandratal)
Manali ==> 1 day

Regards,
Sandip.

ddutta

Two years back I went to HP & in the same route. (except chandataal). My advice is first take the information from the tourist office whether the onwards roads to nako - kalpa is re-opened or not. Bcoz that road was closed for some constuction work for long time. If it is open by now then your journey time will be less. you can save 3-4 days plus mileage will be less too. Your route can be like this - manali - rohtang - kunzum pass - chandrataal (trek) -kaza - tabo- nako - kalpa - sangla - chitkul - sarahan - rampur - shimla. Now you have to decide at which place you want to stay. In the above route you have to stay at chadrataal the 1st night after leaving manali very early morning. At chanrataal you have to stay at tents. No other accom. is available. 2nd day you can cover kaza (kibber ) - kie & tabo . 3rd day at nako , 4th day kalpa 5th day sangla / chitkul 6th day either sarahan or rampur 7th day shimla.But this one will be very hectic & provided the road is open between Tabo & Nako . If still the road is closed then you have come back to manali again after visiting Tabo . From manali take the jalori pass & halt at Rampur (avoiding shimla) . then from rampur go straight to sangla/chitkul via Sarahan . You can cover this in a single day. next proceed to Kalpa/Recong peo . From Kalpa you can directly come to Shimla (takes 8hrs in sumo).

__________________
"If you smile at me I will understand, because that is something everyone everywhere does in the same language"

Alan D

Sandip

If I have understood your plans correctly you are planning a two centre trip.

Firstly "Simla--sangla--kalpa--chitkul--simla ===> 4 days"

Now I don't quite understand this part. Why would you go Sangla, then go back down the valley and on to Kalpa, then back to the Sangla Valley, driving through Sangla again and on to Chitkul, before returning to Shimla.

Secondly "Simla - Manali"

This could be done in a day by taking an HPTDC bus.

Thirdly "Manali--Rotang--batal--chandratal--lahaul--spiti--manali ==> 5 days"

This could be done in five days, but as others have pointed out most of your time would be spent driving.

With the route you are planning, you will be doing a lot of backtracking. You could save a couple of valuable days by hiring a car in Shimla and travelling Shimla - Sangla - Chikul - Sangla - Kalpa - Khabo - Sumdo - Tabo - Kaza - Losar - Kunzum La - Chandratal - Batal - Rohtang Pass - Manali - Shimla.

This would still be a very tight schedule, but possible. Two weeks would be better, if you can manage it.

You will find simple but clean budget hotels in most of these towns at 300-400 R's for a double room.

EDIT
Just cross-posted without seeing ddutta's post. Now you have a couple of options!

Recent reports say that the new road bypassing the landslip near Nako has been completed, so I guess a lot of people will be doing this circular route this year.

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What a long strange trip it's been!

Sandip

Allan and ddutta,
that is a fantastic route..I will try to follow this...Can you please make a travel plan for me(that mean after Day1 where should I spend night etc)...I don't want to make it much hectic...but very lengthy also..
Will this be feasible :


regards,
Sandip.

ddutta

Sandip,

You have two options either start your trip from Shimla & follow Allan D route.
Shimla - Sarahan - Sangla/chitkul(Night Halt ) - Kalpa (Night Halt ) - Nako (night Halt ) - Tabo (Night Halt ) (via Sumdo , Khabo) - Kaza (night halt) - Kumzum pass -Chandrataal (Night halt ) - Rohtang pass - Manali (Night halt ) OR start from Manali & follow the same route other way round ending at Shimla. Since Allan has said that the road between Tabo & Nako has re opened then this is the best route. You will find basic as well as good hotel en route at all the places mentioned above for night stay except batal / chandrataal. This is a very popular & safe tourist route . Dont worry just make up your mind & start packing.

Rightly pointed out by Allan "Chitkul " is in Sangla Valley ( few KM from Sangla / Rackcham) & not near Kalpa as you have mentioned in your earlier post.

Alan D

I think ddutta and I have suggested roughly the same route (one clockwise, the other anti-clockwise) with different starting points. Take whichever route suits you best.

What I'm not sure about is, if you hire a vehicle do you have to return it to the same place?

The new stretch of road near Nako, bypassing the landslip, which has now made through traffic possible, was reported to be open by dhananjay in this thread

When are you planning to go by the way?

If it is soon, don't forget to check, no matter whether you choose Manali or Shimla, that the Kunzum Pass is open. Rohtang Pass now seems to be open.

I will look up the places where we stayed and post them later.

caster

sandip,
I have just come back from a trip on the same route till Nako from Shimla. Covered different places in a jeep and this sector took me 8 days and I still feel should have not done it in a hurry.

Suggest Shimla- Sarahan(night halt)-Kalpa(Halt)- Nako(halt)-Batseri(Baspa Valley also known as Sangla Valley,2-3 days)-Rampur-Jalori pass- Shoja/Banjar(night halt) - Manali. Rohtang has just opened and Kunzum is not expected to open before June 3rd week.

In fact I would love to go back to Baspa and perhaps stay for a week exploring the trek routes and glaciers. It was snowing at the hill tops even last week. Quite cold in the night.

Love to give any furthe information, bye.

dhananjay

Hi,
Doing just a road trip and not focusing on active explorations around the places ... It is possible to do it in ten days .... People do it !!!!! ...

Shimla - sarahan - Sangla - sangla - Kalpa - Nako - Tabo - Kaza - Kaza - Manali ....

Just a highlight trip ... enough to attain the taste of the terrain and link back ...

Cheers,
Dhananjay

tmcat

I know it is ridiculous... Alas, it's hard to have a long vacation from work in Asia... I have a short holiday coming up and need yr suggestions out there.

I will arrive Delhi on 22 June and leave on 3 July morning. I really want to do a good (peaceful, lots of green, nice scenery) trekking at moderate difficulty level. Should I just go straight to Manali and sign up with any travel agent there for a 3-5 days trekking + camping? Or do I need to book in advance?

This is my current plan:
Delhi -> Himalayan Express -> Shimla (with toy train, perhaps - BTW, is it worthwhile to take?) -> Manali (use it as base), then go for trekking -> trekking-> relax in Manali or go to nearby hot spring -> Delhi

Is it possible to experience in monastery?

Thx millions!!!!

dhananjay

Hi,
I would definitely recommend the toy train ride from Kalka to Shimla ... It is long however a wonderful thing to do meandering through 103 tunnels and some of the best scenery of the Shivalik Hills .... Spend a day or two in Shimla and take a bus to Baghipul .... Do the Basleo pass 3241 mts to batahad ... excellent scenery under the shadow of the srikhand range ... from Baghipul to Kullu Sarahan and over the bashleo pass to Batahad is 15 kms and can be done in a day ... Batahad is in the tirthan valley and gushaini, sairopa, nagini are good places to stay .... from here manali is a 3 hour bus ride and once you are there you could do the Chanderkhani pass trek to Malana village .. a two day thiing with a night stay at Malana ... or try the more exciting Beas Kund round trek .... get back to Vashisht and relax .... Happy Journey

Cheers,
Dhananjay