End of the year, official leaves on the verge of getting
lapsed, family wants outing, you want a holiday not more than 2nights/3 days,
Shimla is the ideal destination in December winters. Only if you are in mood to further
shift into colder temperatures & have some fun in snow. Kalka is the
nearest railhead from Shimla, KALKA SHATABDI express takes you from New Delhi
to Kalka in almost 4.5 Hours. There are 2 shatabdis – one deaparting in the
morning @007:40 hours, the other @ 17:15
hours, both from New Delhi Railway station. There are good number of Volvo buses
also plying between Delhi & Shimla. One can go ahead & get a bus
booking done from Redbus.in or makemytrip.com. There are couple of other trains
also running from Sarai Rohilla railway station to kalka but shatabdi is the best train to travel in terms of time
& conveniency. Once you reach Kalka, there are connecting Toy trains which
can ferry you to Shimla in almost 5 hours. There are a host of toy trains ,
which gives sheer pleasure to children running past 103 tunnels, though the
journey can be little boring for adults. If you happen to reach kalka at night
by the evening shatabdi, you have toy trains like “Shivalik Deluxe ”, “Rail Motor”,
“Himalayan Queen to take you to Shimla. If you reach kalka by the morning
shatabdi, “himalyan queen” is the connecting toy train for the same. In
winters, Northern Railways have big delays in train arrival & departure, so
do not be shocked if Shatabdi departs 3-4 hours late & you miss the toy
train. In that case, you get taxis from kalka to Shimla, small cars like Indica
will charge you Rs.1600, bigger cars go upto Rs.3000. Generally, if you are in
a big group, it is suggestible to hire a bigger car like a Qualis or innova.
Shimla is a small city. It is the only city/Hill station in India which does
not allow cars to come to the “Mall Road” – The most important market place
& business centre of the city. Cars generally drop you near the bus stand.
Even the railway station is nearest to the bus stand. There are “lifts” available to carry you to
the other parts of the city e.g the ridge. The city is divided into various
elevations & for going into each part you can avail the lift facility.
Normally, they charge Rs.100 to Indians for choosing the lift service. The
other surprising part of Shimla one gets to see “Human Porters” who carry your
luggage to the hotel. They also charge somewhere between Rs.100 –Rs.300
depending on the number of luggage & the distance that needs to be climbed
up. Shimla has almost 300 hotels across various segments, Budget, Economy,
Luxury. One can choose a hotel in Mall Road if he wants to live near the market
place. In seasons, a deluxe room may cost you somewhere between Rs.2000-
Rs.4000 in any of the hotels in Mall Road. If you do not want to shell out too
much, you can choose hotels in the Ridge Area, Jakhoo temple road. A deluxe
room for a night costs you Rs.800- Rs.1500 during the peak season. Hotel Wood
land is a good choice. Doing an advance booking (a month ago) via makemytrip is
suggestible . Both YMCA & YWCA also
offers cheap rooms at Rs.400 per night , but it is exclusively on first come
first serve basis. One can divide Shimla trip into 2 parts. One complete day
for local sight seeing, the other day to visit nearby areas like Kufri,
Naldehra, Narkanda. Local Sightseeing attractions are Jakhoo temple (hanumanji temple),
Shimla Church, Viceregal Lodge, Gaity Theatre, Institute of Advanced Studies,
Mall Road. One can ask the hotel for local sight seeing tours. Or one can go to
the “HIMACHAL PRADESH TOURISM’’ office located in Mall Road for booking local
sight seeing tours. They charge you somewhere between Rs.50- Rs.100 per person
in bus or tempo traveller. Kufri is located almost 21 kms from Shimla. Local
tour operators/Hotels charge almost Rs.700 – Rs.1000 for half day Kufri, Faagu,
Naldehra trip. Kufri is the nearest snow point to Shimla. On way to Kufri, you
can see “Sanjauli” home to Bollywood
actress “Preity Zinta”. Enroute to Kufri, one can see “ Green valley”, home to
various animals e.g snow leopard, bear, birds etc. Snow patches starts on way to Kufri. Once you
reach Kufri, one can hire “ponies” to go up to the Fagu valley. Please be
careful negotiating on Pony Rates . As per the union, an average uphill &
downhill journey taking you to Masu peak,
naag devta temple, Fun world & skiing point costs you Rs.380 per
person. But due to increase in crowds, the horse riding exp. Is not good at
all. The path uphill is a rocky terrain with one guy managing almost 4 horses. Once
you reach Faagu valley, you can see China Border, The snow capped Himalayas .
which is like a treat to the eyes. Do try out adventure sports like
paragliding, rock climbing, skiing there. Also do not forget to taste “Maggi”, “Chane”
“Tea” & “ garam pakore” at Masu
Peak. Children can get pictures clicked sitting on “Yaks” brought from Ladakh.
One can also pose himself/herself wearing the local costume “potu” available on Rent of Rs.100.
Kufri, Faagu takes you half day & then you can be back at the hotel. In the
evening, you can walk up to the “Tibetan Market”, try out cakes at bakeries in
mall road & have dinner at chinese market. “Thupka” & momos can be your
winter Shimla dinner. The next day you can be back to delhi via kalka shatabdi
express or you can pack your baggage to depart to other himachal places like
manali.
