suggestions needed from you guys

rochanashivakumar

Hi everybody,

i am staying in hyderabad. i and my husband planning to go to Delhi - vaishnavo devi temple - shimla - kullu manali - delhi -agra (if possible mathura- birth place of krishna..if we can travel to agra from delhi by road)

we are planning from 24th december to 3rd january.
is this possible and reasonable to njoy our vacation. the main thing was to njoy the snowfall all the way. can we see snowfall in manali and shimla at that time. in many posts i have studied that from dec to feb is the snowfall time.

our plan as of now was
24 dec - night flight to delhi from hyderabad.
25 dec - early morning train from delhi to jammu and will reach jammu by afternoon. overnight at katra.(any local places to visit in and around katra from afternoon to evening)
26 dec - vaishnavo devi temple visit.

so now we have train to delhi that night itself so that we will reach 26 morning to delhi then travel to shimla or manali. or is there any direct transport from katra to shimla or manali. which way will be easy and not much time and money consuming for us.

please help us on this as we are intrested to spend more time where there is snowfall (manali or shimla) where caN we njoy nature at its BEST

27 dec to 1nd Jan - altogather 6 days we like to stay in shimla and manali (please help us arrange our trip to make it memorable. please can anyone provide us their experiences and ideas to plan or organise our trip regarding travelling from one place to anotehr, best places to see n and around our stay. good hotels to stay in etc)

1 Jan - will start night and reach delhi by 2nd early morning. so as i have read in many posts tht we can visit agra in 1 day so just planning if it is possible.

2nd Jan evening/ night or 3rd morning we will catch train to hyderabad so that on 4th morning we can go to our offices as usual.

details regarding the bus n trains and hotels at all the places will be highly appreciated.

thank you in advance for your help and valuable information.

with best Regards,
Rochana Shivakumar


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delhiwala

No need to come back to Delhi for reaching Manali. Best is to take train upto Ambala. From Mabala take bus to Chandigarh. The Bus Stand is just outside the Rly. Stn. It's one hour journey to Chandigarh.

From Chandigarh you'll get buses to Manali.

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rochanashivakumar

thank you for the quick reply.

can we able to visit all the places freely or it will become a hurry burry tired one. can we add nainithal with shimla manali and vaishnavo devi temple and delete agra and others. or what i qouted earlier is the best to njoy our vacation. hope there will be snowfall by that time. can you give me a detailed idea regarding catching train to ambala from which place and then how much time journey to ambala to chandigarh and from there to manali.

if i start on 26th evening will we be reaching manali by 27th morning or afternoon. i need in detail because i am travelling there for first time so had no idea between the distances train names and all the stuff.

if u have already visited the places earlier may you please able to chart out teh list ofplaces to pass by and visit in and around manali and shimla. will it be easy to travel to manali from vaishnavo devi temple via chandigarh as you said earlier then to shimla and to delhi.

thank you for the information in advance

Rochana Shivakumar

delhiwala

1078 Jhelum Express will start at 9:45 PM from Jammu and will reach Ambala at 6:00 AM. Just outside Ambala Station you'll get buses to Chandigarh. It's one hour journey. From there you may take bus to Manali.

You may do further search at Himachal Pradesh forum.

Here are few links:

MANALI Itinerary

please help with my itinerary to manali and surroundings...

emmbrook

Bear in mind that flights into and out of Delhi at that time of year are often delayed by fog - especially early mornings and in the evenings. You might want to think about an earlier flight into Delhi on 24 Dec to be on the safe side.

Agra you can do as a day trip from Delhi but it's best done by train. There's a Shatabdi from Hazrat Nizamuddin at about 0615hrs or the Taj Express an hour later. Shatabdi takes about 2.5 hours I think. By road can take 4 hours or more each way, but it is doable, albeit a long day.

indracal

rochanashivakumar, I understand your feeling as you're trying to explore the North India first time.

But given your window, do not pack too much into it (e.g. Nainital is a different circuit altogether).

For working with Railway connections, use http://erail.in for your research - it is not an official site but pretty exhaustive information about routes, connections etc.

As your primary target is Baishno Devi, the Dalhousie-Chamba side(Dhauladhar circuit as HPTDC calls it) would be closer for you.

About Dalhousie and associated area, read the following threads:

Stopping by Himachal on Snowy Evenings - Dainkund, Dalhousie etc.

However, you can still make it to Shimla/Manali as suggested by Delhiwala.

I presume your preference would be snow - and Manali/Rohtang area is a better bet for that - though it might snow at Shimla area too around that time.

Snowfall in Himachal in higher regions
Would shimla,kalpa,sarhan trip be right in december?
Nearby place to visit from Manali

Please note that you are travelling at a peak time, and expect huge rush, costly stays (no value for money) and transportation. Definitely pre-book all the hotels - though that'll take flexibility off your tour, but given the season, can't help!

Best wishes!

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rochanashivakumar

emmbrook....thank you for the information on flights but there is no other way as both of our offices will close after 6 PM. so we have no other choice but to catch a flight after nine.
that is the reason though i have 2 months more to travel, i have posted the issue so that depending on all your advices i wanted to plan the best memorable trip.

indracal.... thank you for the help and you're right that we are planning to north india for the first time. we are intrested in visiting Vaishnavo Devi temple but priority is snow. we thought there will be snow at the temple as well so planned to visit the temple and also shimla and manali as in many posts came across i have read that snowfall will be from december to february in manali and shimla. i also think that taj mahal by rail is best then road. will fix to rail only.

i have a total of 10 days from 25 dec to 3rd january. please suggest me the best itinerary day wise the places we can visit and also have some leisure time as well. the first priority is snowfall then at the end taj mahal. so we will plan Vaishnavo Devi temple some other time if there wont be snow in the end of december tehre. if temple can be skipped then what places can be done along with shimla and kullu manali.

lots and lots of your advices and ideas and information awaited. please reply us soon so that we can book all hotels and to and fro tickets as i came to know from indracal that its the peak season. please also let me know the hotels name teh decent ones if anybody stayed earlier and that will help us tooo alot