Himalayas in July... to go or not to go???

Hello all,

My husband and I are in India in July and are planning a 1 week trip to the Himalayas in the 1st week. There are so many different things to do we are very confused. Also not sure how much the monsoon season will affect oour travels. Can anyone suggest what would be best to see in that time? We were thinking of Simla, but i can't see enought things to do there for a whole week. We are traveling from and to Delhi. Any suggestions/ tip welcome.

Thanks
Manisha

Hi with the weather it will be hit and miss last year it was dry with no monsoon but this year has been wet and only stopped raining yesterday so skys are clear so it will be down to weather. Are you driving or taking taxis if I was you if your going to shimla you really need to take the journey across the jalori pass then you can enter the kullu valley where even if you have 2 or 3 days left there plenty of places to see be it scenery or monuments or just relaxing happy journeys.

Manisha, welcome to Indiamike.

This year there has been a lot of rain in this month, May, so one can't predict how July would be. Monsoon means a few land slides. I have twice been to the Himalayas (Chail and Auli) in July-August and after from delays on the road and lot of rain, have not faced anything more serious.

Thanks!

Kullu gang - We will probably fly to Shimla from Delhi and then take a taxi, we don't intend to drive ourselves.

Do you think it is a good idea just to hire a car and driver to get us to the surrounding areas? Not sure how much it would cost.

Manishav,
Rain in July in Shimla - It's very unpredictable. We were in Shimla in July 2005 for three days and it did not rain at all and had a great time. My friend was there last July and rain did not leave him alone for a day in Shimla/Manali/Dharamshala.
A week in Shimla would be too much. We did Shimla/Kufri/Chail/Naldhera and three days for us were too much. You may want to visit Manali.
Also...instead of flying to Shimla...take Delhi - Kalka night train and catch Kalka - Shimala Toy train. It's very scenic!
Hotels in Shimala - there are many recommendation in IM which you can search. Avoid Woodville Palace Hotel. Combermere on mall road is very nice(my friend stayed there last year and he liked it very much)
We'll also be travelling in July to Himachal(Manali/Dharamshala/Dalhousie). If you want to see our itineary and things to do, please search the post by my id.

It depends price wise it is not to expensive and you can strike a deal with a driver if you need to stop or take a whole days sight seeing there is a fixed rate but there are so many taxis that you can find a good deal with someone.On the other hand there are a few private buses that are more confortable then the state run and for longer jaunts there not as hair rasing as the taxi drivers the choice is yours enjoy your trip.

July is hit and miss as mentioned above. I went in 2006 and it rained heavily a few times, although I still went on my little trecks. I went to Annadale one day and it started to rain on the way back, luckily a local bus came and I caught that to Shimla.

Take a umberella with you and you should be ok. I always though there was not much to do in Shimla but I enjoyed my 4 days there and found plenty to do.

The other time I visited was in October and the weather was great although the nights got a bit chilly.

As others have said its the luck of the draw. thrice to hill stations at this time and it was excellent including once at Shimla. But, an awful one at Shimla also, 24/7 rain/drizzle..

In general, One should totally avoid visitng hills during monsoon. there are better and more stable mountain ranges in India, especially in south, where one could be enchanted by cloud movements but not in himalayas. this holds true especially for those who would like to see snow ladden peaks. possiblity of seeing them and that too for longer duration is very less during monsoon. risk factor is high and it's not unusual to get stuck ,sometimes for days, due to landslide.

even for places such as Valley of flower, I strongly disagree that it's worth visitng during august unless someone is a botanist.Flowers may be in plenty but so are bushes. moreover, based on my experience of visitng VOF twice, once in july and once in sept, and pictures taken during august by others, I will suggest not to go there purely due to landslide factor alone...just not worth it.

There are many experienced members here at IM who will totally disagree which they are entitled to do so. Only exception here should be those who either go purely with adventure in their mind or those who go there due to religious reasons. for later, beauty of a place usually doesn't mean a lot. they somehow want to reach temple and always feel safe assuming that God would be stood somewhere to save them.. believe me, getting stuck due to landslide is not a pleasent experience.