Drive to Kulu

VMG · 23rd June 2005, 15:44

Planning to drive/Rental car with driver to Kulu from Delhi in between halt at Simla/Chandigarh. How far it is? How is the road condition? How much time it will take for each sector? Is it advisible to go in winter? Pl. advise.

greatDrive · 23rd June 2005, 16:18

Hi VMG,

Last year I drove to Kufri( Near Shimla) from Noida. Road from Delhi to Chandigarh are fabulous, You can cover this strech in 5 hours. Shimla is 110 km from Chandigarh and it will take around 3 hrs to reach Shimla if you dont halt in between.

Road condition till Shimla is good but If you go when monsoon arrives, then there maybe landslides and road blockages.

Best time to visit HP is in Winters ( Feb to March) You can find good amount of Snow and will enjoy very much if you have not seen snow before.

cheers

turbo_lover · 23rd June 2005, 21:46

the drive to shimla from delhi is very good ... roads are well maitained gas /service station are very frequent ..

i drove from delhi -chandigarh- shimla -Kufri with mom and dad a month back ...i love driving in the hills ..

winters ...they have frequent road blocks ,landslides ..the way up to Kulu is narrower ...kulu gets quite a bit of snowfall ..bus is safer

i am not sure of the drive time to Kulu from Shimla

but delhi to chandigarh took us 3 n half - 4hrs hours ...
chandigarh to shimla 3 hours ..
shimla to kufri 2 hours i think ..

it took us 7- 8 hours from kufri to chandigarh without any stop overs ..

Surprise · 24th June 2005, 09:59

Do not be in hurry while driving even if it is going take half an hour or so extra. Avoid driving late in the night.

Post pics and your experience after you complete the trip

tsk1979 · 24th June 2005, 10:38

Horrendous. Actually till Kiratpur Sahib its NH and pretty good. Near kulu/manali the monsoons cause a lot of headache. I presume you will be travelling in july. On a sidenote that road had a 7 hour traffic jam recently. If its hills you want i suggest Uttranchal or shimla-kufri-chahal. Great awesome road and less risky too.

khaadu75 · 24th June 2005, 13:43

Surprise, contrary to wat u say I advise people who r not comfortable in the hills 2 drive at night. Its safer .. U know when a vehicle is headed ur way , a lot of people cant see the valley below so psychologically not scared as sometimes trying to drive away from the gorge leads to a lot of accidents.

cheers

khaadu75 · 24th June 2005, 14:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbo_lover

the drive to shimla from delhi is very good ... roads are well maitained gas /service station are very frequent ..

i drove from delhi -chandigarh- shimla -Kufri with mom and dad a month back ...i love driving in the hills ..

winters ...they have frequent road blocks ,landslides ..the way up to Kulu is narrower ...kulu gets quite a bit of snowfall ..bus is safer

i am not sure of the drive time to Kulu from Shimla

but delhi to chandigarh took us 3 n half - 4hrs hours ...
chandigarh to shimla 3 hours ..
shimla to kufri 2 hours i think ..

it took us 7- 8 hours from kufri to chandigarh without any stop overs ..

Guys, The drive to Shimla from Dli is a very gud drive with a super high way uptil Ambala ( 200 kms ), After that till Kalka its a single road so one has to be slightly careful though the road is good again but a lot of small towns enroute. Kalka to Shimla is one of the best drives I feel in our part of the country .... Wide road with nice sweeping turns and super smooth surface !! This stretch is about 85 kms .... and if one is comfortable in the hills it takes not more than 1hr 45 mins !! Lesser if u know the road like the back of ur hand ..lol --- cant divulge how much time i take as that wud entail bragging ..... !!! ( HINT for this stretch :- Along the centre of the road u will see a white line is broken about every 6-8 ft .. but if u notice on some turns the line will be constant with out any breaks in the line .. That means that its a turn where u have to drop a gear, but if the line thru the turn is not constant u can take the turn with out using ur brakes r even down shifting . We do Kalka - sml with out using our brakes unless a vehicle comes up in front or some other hazard but if I get an empty road one can do it in the saem time with out the brakes being used even once . SECRET that got passed from Dad 2 Son and now to bhp members. ) Try it and u'll undestand wat I'm saying ....

Overall time --- Dli - Chd = 4 hrs , Chd-Sml = 2-2.5 hrs, Sml-kufri = 20-25 mins . Sml-Kullu = 5 hrs !! Try avoiding travelling to Himachal during monsoons as a lot of land slips happen and u basically have to drive with one eye on the road and the second up the mountain side .. NO KIDDING _ !! Winters is a gud time if u wanna see snowfall but then snow is a totally different story when it come sto driving on it .... NO BRAKES AT ALL .. !! Tips for snow driving in November as its too early and one will probably 4get by then .lol ..

Cheers

P.S - Instead of Manali I wud advise people to travel to the Sangla Valley, less commercial and thousand times more scenic. Manali and Shimla are two towns which r hated most by loicals as natural beauty has been substituted .

Tarun · 24th June 2005, 17:05

There's also a small hill station named Kasauli or Kasauni, half way on kalka-shimla highway. A road cuts from the highways & leads to the town. This road is pretty small and one has to be cautious while driving. Quite peaceful and scenic, sunrise and sets are most talked about things for this place. You can always move to shimla, kufri, chahal thereafter.

23rd June 2005, 15:44	#1
VMG BHPian Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Chennai Posts: 346 Thanked: 35 Times	Drive to Kulu Planning to drive/Rental car with driver to Kulu from Delhi in between halt at Simla/Chandigarh. How far it is? How is the road condition? How much time it will take for each sector? Is it advisible to go in winter? Pl. advise.
	() Thanks

23rd June 2005, 16:18	#2
greatDrive BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 547 Thanked: 7 Times	Hi VMG, Last year I drove to Kufri( Near Shimla) from Noida. Road from Delhi to Chandigarh are fabulous, You can cover this strech in 5 hours. Shimla is 110 km from Chandigarh and it will take around 3 hrs to reach Shimla if you dont halt in between. Road condition till Shimla is good but If you go when monsoon arrives, then there maybe landslides and road blockages. Best time to visit HP is in Winters ( Feb to March) You can find good amount of Snow and will enjoy very much if you have not seen snow before. cheers
	() Thanks

23rd June 2005, 21:46	#3
turbo_lover Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,377 Thanked: 9 Times	the drive to shimla from delhi is very good ... roads are well maitained gas /service station are very frequent .. i drove from delhi -chandigarh- shimla -Kufri with mom and dad a month back ...i love driving in the hills .. winters ...they have frequent road blocks ,landslides ..the way up to Kulu is narrower ...kulu gets quite a bit of snowfall ..bus is safer i am not sure of the drive time to Kulu from Shimla but delhi to chandigarh took us 3 n half - 4hrs hours ... chandigarh to shimla 3 hours .. shimla to kufri 2 hours i think .. it took us 7- 8 hours from kufri to chandigarh without any stop overs ..
	() Thanks

24th June 2005, 09:59	#4
Surprise Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Chennai Posts: 2,528 Thanked: 459 Times	Do not be in hurry while driving even if it is going take half an hour or so extra. Avoid driving late in the night. Post pics and your experience after you complete the trip
	() Thanks

24th June 2005, 10:38	#5
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,726 Thanked: 23,058 Times View My Garage	Horrendous. Actually till Kiratpur Sahib its NH and pretty good. Near kulu/manali the monsoons cause a lot of headache. I presume you will be travelling in july. On a sidenote that road had a 7 hour traffic jam recently. If its hills you want i suggest Uttranchal or shimla-kufri-chahal. Great awesome road and less risky too.
	() Thanks

24th June 2005, 13:43	#6
khaadu75 BANNED Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: same as the proposed venue for F1 ;-) Posts: 1,156 Thanked: 19 Times View My Garage	Surprise, contrary to wat u say I advise people who r not comfortable in the hills 2 drive at night. Its safer .. U know when a vehicle is headed ur way , a lot of people cant see the valley below so psychologically not scared as sometimes trying to drive away from the gorge leads to a lot of accidents. cheers
	() Thanks

24th June 2005, 17:05	#8
Tarun BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: New Delhi Posts: 159 Thanked: 17 Times	There's also a small hill station named Kasauli or Kasauni, half way on kalka-shimla highway. A road cuts from the highways & leads to the town. This road is pretty small and one has to be cautious while driving. Quite peaceful and scenic, sunrise and sets are most talked about things for this place. You can always move to shimla, kufri, chahal thereafter.
	() Thanks