the poor traveler...

hi indiamikers,

i found many foreign tourists to be avid india tourers. that's good considering many indians (including myself) are fairly less-touring souls although there are quite a number of indian vacationers that have posted quite good remarks here.

i'm an avid travel enthusiast as i've spelled out in my profile. however, i've, till date, only been to dehradun (mussoorie foothills), nainital and ooty amongst the hill stations.

i'm planning on a tour to manali shortly. i've my railroad reservation upto chandigarh. i've seen many posts about chandigarh isbt - one at sector 17 and the other at sector 43. as taxis/cabs are way too costly for me, i'd like an early morning delux or volvo bus to manali with/without advance reservation.

please guide me on this.

Yes, first time seeing a poor traveler with head in sand but beer in hand!


Anyway welcome to IndiaMike, balaji71!

You would be finding a lot of buses from Sector 43 bus stand for Manali. It would be better to get a seat reserved by visiting Himachal Road Transport Corporation website.

There will not be any necessity if wish to travel by Semi deluxe buses.

thanx prakaant. i've booked my seats in volvo from chandigarh to manali. let me spell out my travel itinerary in short. i'd be traveling to chandigarh by train. the volvo bus to manali is at night the same day. however, my return to delhi is boarding from kalka. but i've not booked any return bus from manali to kalka. i'm not sure if there's any bus from manali to kalka. can you please help me out here?

ps: this is my third journey to hills in 9 years! so poor traveler am i!! however, i'm longing for more such tours to hills. this time i'm going to go all the way to rohtang, if weather and kismet permit.

I also doubt if there are buses from Manali to Kalka. You most probably will have to change buses at Chandigarh.

There could be one option, subject to verification by aarosh:

Poor traveler may reach Chandigarh from Manali and wait there for the Delhi bound train to arrive from Kalka. Once it arrives, he may board at Chandigarh.

TTE's visit takes place only after Chandigarh. This would save the hassle of traveling from Chandigarh to Kalka! Thus, saving some money for next trip!

Changing of boarding point by visiting the PRS could another risk free option.

There is no stoppage between Kalka and Chandigarh!

thanx prakaant and aarosh.

i've heard chandigarh station gets quite crowded by passengers to and from the northern cities. a railway person told me kalka gets crowds only in non-monsoon time and that too only by hill-station visitors. i'd have three hours spare time after getting down at chandigarh which i can use to travel to kalka by bus. i think i'll stick to boarding at kalka.