Shimla, Dharamsala, Manali, Haridwar - all in 3 weeks?

liordo

Hi there,

The 2 of us are going to North India for 3 weeks in September.
Starting in Delhi (and, inevitably, Agra), we would like to go to the areas of Shimla, Dharamsala, Manali & Kullu, Rishikesh & Haridwar.
1. Are we stuffing in too much? (if you think not, we'll consider traveling to Spiti as well )
2. Any suggestions as to how to connect them all to a logical itinerary? We thought about going Delhi->Kalka->Shimla->Dharamsala->Manali->Kullu->Haridwar->Delhi.
3. How long does it take from Shimla to Kasauli? The toy train from Kalka to Shimla sounds great and connects well to the Delhi->Kalka overnight train we considered, but if Kasauli is a few hours back from Shimla, perhaps it's best to take the Delhi->Kalka overnight, then go to Kasauli and back to Kalka, and take the toy train to Shimla 2 or 3 days later?

Help will be greatly appreciated.

karuna

As nobody has responded yet I will tell you what I think. I was holding off as I don't have much detail, particularly about the Kasuali question.

I think 3 weeks is enough time to do this. I wouldn't add more, however. Remember some of the bus journeys will take you a full day or entire night.

Your route sounds fine to me- buses link all these places so there are several possible variations. I don't think there's a more "logical" route: including Dharamsala and Manali means you will have to backtrack a bit at some point, whichever way round you do it.

Like I said I don't have any personal knowledge of Kasauli but I Googled for you and from that I think your suggestion is right- go Kalka - Kasauli - Kalka and then get the toy train. The distance between Kalka and Kasauli is half that between Kasauli and Shimla, it makes no sense to double back from Shimla that distance, the bus takes 5 or so hours from what I read.

HTH.

arunchs

Three weeks sounds just the perfect duration to me.

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liordo

Thanks a lot guys. That's settled then.

kidsan

well, dont want to rock the boat too much liordo! but personally, i would say that was a lot to do in 3 weeks.

It really does depend on your own style of travelling but i always think its best to give somewhere a fair chance before moving on to the next location. 3 weeks minus delhi, minus agra plus all that travelling (dharamsala, manali, shimla, rishi i guess) probably means a maximum of 3-4 days in each place and, though doable, you may well feel like you havent really done any of them justice.

Just my few pence worth, but how about leaving at least one out (shimla? not so exciting...)

Ok, hope this helps...K

liordo

Thanks, kidsan. Actually, we do have 3 days for Delhi & Agra in addition to the 3 weeks in the "north". But if Shimla is the "weakest link", I think we will shorten our visit there. Perhaps just take the toy train for the experience, and not stay too long.
BTW I just noticed that the way south from Kullu to Haridwar seems to go through Shimla. If that's true, maybe it's best to go from Delhi straight to Dharamsala, continue Dharamsala->Manali->Kullu, and than stop at Shimla & Kasauli on the way to Haridwar. Won't that save us some time? Can anyone comment on that?
Thanks again for all the help.

kidsan

yes, you're right, that does seem like the best route though i believe there is a direct bus from manali to haridwar (16 hours!)which would naturally miss out shimla.