Trip to North India - for snow. Need help!

[pjbiju]

Friends,

We (my friend's family and my family) would like to visit some places in north India (except J&K) during Christmas Vacation. One of the things we would like to do is to go to a place where there is snow (first time for our families).

Which places do you suggest? No, we are not going to drive from Pune :(

Looking for places and resorts/hotels!

Thanks!
Biju

[dadu]

Shimla, Dalhousie, Manali, Dharamshala

You need to choose first then you can go hotel hunting.

[vkochar]

Manali - 580 Kms from Delhi ( Delhi - Chandigarh - Manali ) Loads of Snow - But one hell of a drive.

Mussoorrie - Not sure if it will snow a lot but it does every December - 4 Hours drive from Delhi.

These are the 2 places I Have been recently. Manali has snow from December - March.

Stay at the Ambassador Hotel in Manali - Awesome .

[rkbharat]

Hi Biju,

how many days you have? How are you travelling. How adventourous? Whats the priority(Trekking/Relaxing/mix of both)

In december you will have snow many places in Himachal and Uttaranchal..
nearest can be Shimla, Kufri, Fagu, Chail, Narkanda to see snow.

Manali also see snow at that time. But most of these places will crowded at that time...

Dalhousie can have snow, I guess at Khajjiar.. also may be at Mussoorie (Dhanaulti).. I have seen Mussoories completely snow covered in 26-Jan-2003.

Auli is another good snow resort..

[dadu]

You can even take one of Air Dhakkan Oops!!! Deccan flight to Bhuntar Airport near Kullu and then take a taxi, its only 2 hrs drive then. But flights dont go if weather is bad at bhuntar airport, so be mentally prepared if its postponed to next day, you can do the same for Dharamshala too.

Originally Posted by vkochar

Manali - 580 Kms from Delhi ( Delhi - Chandigarh - Manali ) Loads of Snow - But one hell of a drive.

[BunnyPunia]

Originally Posted by dadu

You can even take one of Air Dhakkan Oops!!! Deccan flight to Bhuntar Airport near Kullu and then take a taxi, its only 2 hrs drive then. But flights dont go if weather is bad at bhuntar airport, so be mentally prepared if its postponed to next day, you can do the same for Dharamshala too.

Well, contrary to what many people believe, Shimla gets next to no snow in December. See this link about how Shimla had no snow last december
26th dec 2003, Shimla - The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh

25th dec 2002 - The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh

26th dec 2006 - Shimla - The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh

Dalhousie too gets quite less snow in December. The safest bet would be Manali (which gets little snow in december) as you can drive upto Rohtang (it gets blocked, so you may not be able to reach rohtang) or to solang valley for snow. The prob with Manali is that its 565km from Delhi, takes around 13 driving hours

I rode to Shimla and then Narkanda in December last yr. There was next to no black ice between Shimla-Fagu and even Narkanda has less snow. But then, not many know that 5-6km after Narkanda is a place full of snow from End Nov to March : The Hattu peak road. I would suggest, you book yourself rooms in Shimla as well as Narkanda. Stay in Shimla and then next night in Narkanda and then drive towards Hattu peak. You will definately get to play with snow.

Shimla is 355km from Delhi, Narkanda another 64km, and another 4-5km brings you to the start of the Hattu peak road.

However, i see you are coming from Pune, so, go visit Manali.
Take an evening flight to Delhi, and then a overnight volvo to Manali ( see Travelling by Volvo B7R bus in India: Volvo timings and fare from Delhi to other cities.
Spend 3 nights there, hire a taxi to Rohtang or/and Solang valley. Enjoy ur stay.

PS: Make bookings atleast 45days in advance to get good hotels in Manali

[vkochar]

Yeah. Bunny is right, there is so much rush at Manali that it is next to impossible to get bookings there.

Its a Honeymooners haven actually !! And then it is the marriage season so you will see plenty of Couples !!!

Overnight Volvo is a good option if you are not driving / being driven.

[rkbharat]

Originally Posted by BunnyPunia

I rode to Shimla and then Narkanda in December last yr. There was next to no black ice between Shimla-Fagu and even Narkanda has less snow.

Bunny I am surprised how you missed it last december, there was a snow fall somewhere around 10-11 dec 2006, it was a heavy snowfall. covering, shimla, fagu, kufri, Narkanda. I remember as it was on all news channels.

The Hindu : Other States / Himachal Pradesh News : Shimla has season's first snowfall

[pjbiju]

Thanks for the info guys! TeamBHPians are people one can really depend on, when you need them.

We have around 8 days to spend at these places (excluding the traveling time from Pune-Delhi and Delhi-Pune).

[rkbharat]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Thanks for the info guys! TeamBHPians are people one can really depend on, when you need them.

We have around 8 days to spend at these places (excluding the traveling time from Pune-Delhi and Delhi-Pune).

You can cover both Shimla (Near by) and Manali in the trip. You can either hire a taxi from delhi (if ready to spend more but full flexibility) or take those HPTDC or Raj National Express buses

Day 1. Delhi to Shimla
Buses generally depart in the evening between 6:00PM to 8:00PM and will reach shimla around 3:00 AM or 4:00AM in the morning..

If you are going by Taxi you can start early morning say 4:30AM and will reach Shimla around 12:00 PM...

Relax, move around in shimla, mall road

Day 2:
Hire A taxi (in case came by bus) or take your delhi taxi to a day trip to Fagu, Kufri and Narkanda.. this all can be covered in a day... You can also go to chail... as you have enough time, you can split it into two days...

I always stay at Chail (Chail Palace have nice cottages) and drive down to Shimla of Kufri.

So it will be 3 days in shimla an around, and testing luck for snow fall....

4th day you can start early morning (I have no idea if there are Volvo buses from Shimla to Manali) but it takes 9 hrs to reach Manali from shimla from own car.

spend rest of the fourth day in Manali, 5th day try to explore towards marhi, till you get complete snow to play around...

6th & 7th day spending in Manali and around....

Hadimba cottages in manali are very good options Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3

But they need to be booked well in advance, also its located 1 km away from the bustling market. You can always walk down or take an auto to market.

This is just by my personal experience and liking

[greatDrive]

I remember my college days in Chandigarh, way back in 1995-96, Went to Shmila to see the snow fall for the first time in life. And we were lucky that we got to see it on the eve of new year day.

Went again in Feb 2004, It was a lot of snow all around Shimla. Another place to just see snow and play around if you are goung to stay in Shimla is Kufri (17km From Shmila).
See this Pic from kufri ( 07 feb 2004).

[BunnyPunia]

Originally Posted by rkbharat

Bunny I am surprised how you missed it last december, there was a snow fall somewhere around 10-11 dec 2006, it was a heavy snowfall. covering, shimla, fagu, kufri, Narkanda. I remember as it was on all news channels.

The Hindu : Other States / Himachal Pradesh News : Shimla has season's first snowfall

The thing is, snow season is slowly shifting towards Jan and Feb now.
The pic posted by greatdrive supports this..
I went to Narkanda on the 18th December 2006
This is the pic of the only black ice i came across after Kufri.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a44...a/IMG_7970.jpg

5-6 yrs back, riding on this road on a bike would have been next to impossible.

Then, again, 24th Jan 2007

this is the pic of the shimla-kufri road. No black ice, just a frozen lil stream, that too in the sun-shade area.
http://www.xbhp.com/autopictorials/d...G_9218edit.jpg

5-6 yrs back, no one would have been able to ride on the Hattu peak road from Narkanda. This peak is at 10,000feet, and the road used to be covered with snow from dec to march. but this year, all we got was this frozen pond, around 4km before we reached the peak
http://www.xbhp.com/autopictorials/d...G_9327edit.jpg

Later, i actually managed to ride till the 1km milestone to the peak
http://www.xbhp.com/autopictorials/d...G_9346edit.jpg

[gd1418]

Dhanolti & Laal Tibba both have ample snow from mid-December..Just an hour and a half drive from Mussoorie.

[greatDrive]

Originally Posted by gd1418

Dhanolti & Laal Tibba both have ample snow from mid-December..Just an hour and a half drive from Mussoorie.

Can you please post more about this place on how to reach and place to stay and visit? I am relocating to Gurgaon in Nov and will plan a trip to mussoorie in dec or Jan.
Thanks

[BunnyPunia]

Dhanaulti : A few km before you hit Mussoorie, take a right. Dhanaulti is another 25km or so from here. Its a peaceful laid back town as compared to busy Mussoorie! It is also lil above Mussoorie at an elevation of 7543 feet. It will take around 8-9 hrs from Delhi to reach Dhanaulti via Meerut-Roorkee-Mussoorie

Laal Tibba : this is mussoorie's highest peak, located in Landour (old mussoorie)