Delhi: Shimla and Manali 6-Day Tour

Two hill stations, and they are not alike

Shimla is a colonial administrative town at 2,200 metres. Manali is a valley of orchards and rivers at 2,000. Both are cool, green and completely unlike the plains, and six days is what the mountain roads require.

Shimla

The British moved the entire government of India up here every summer from 1864 — files, viceroy, army headquarters and all — because Delhi was unbearable. What they left is a town that looks like nowhere else in the country.

The Ridge and Mall Road are pedestrian-only, lined with colonial buildings: Christ Church, the second-oldest in north India, and Viceregal Lodge, where the decision to partition India was taken in 1947 and whose teak-panelled rooms are open to visitors.

Jakhoo Temple sits at the highest point under a 33-metre Hanuman statue, up a steep walk through deodar forest. The monkeys there take glasses; leave them in the car.

Kufri, sixteen kilometres out, for the snow views in winter.

Manali

Eight hours on through the Kullu valley alongside the Beas.

Hadimba Devi Temple, built in 1553 in deodar wood with a pagoda roof, standing in cedar forest that feels older than the building. Vashisht for the hot springs, Solang Valley for the snow and the paragliding, and Old Manali for the slow end of the trip.

The drive up the valley is the actual attraction — orchards, river, and villages with slate roofs.

Practical

Private car and driver throughout, with hotels.

The roads are long switchbacks and the Shimla–Manali leg is a full day. Take something for motion sickness if you need it.

Both towns are cold from November to March and can snow in January. Rohtang Pass beyond Manali opens only from roughly May to October and needs a separate permit.