Its been quite sometime for not having updated anyting on my travel posts. Today I have decieded to update my travel posts. Like I said I was out on a vacation for the last couple of days, now when I am back I had to give you some info on these two amazing paces that I visited : Dalhousie & Amritsar. In today's post I will only deal with Dalhousie.
A brief info on Dalhousie :
Dalhousie is a hill station in Himachal Pradesh , India. Dalhousie, as the name suggests , was named after Lord Dalhousie who was the British Governor-General in India . Dalhousie was established in 1854 by the British Empire in India as a summer retreat. It is built on and around five hills. This lovely hill station is surrounded by snow capped peaks. Dalhousie is situated between 6,000 and 9,000 feet above sea level.
How to reach Dalhouie :
If in India , you can search for any train that goes via Pathankot / Chakki Bank. Pathankot is at the meeting point of three states : Punjab , Himachal Pradesh & Jammu and Kashmir. Pathankot serves as the travel hub for these states. Pathankot is the last city in Punjab ; situated in the foothills of Kangra and Dalhousie. Hence , the city is used as a stop over before heading into the mountains of Jammu and Kashmir , Chamba , Kangra & Dalhousie. You can either take a private cab or a luxury bus ( easily available just outside the railway station ) to reach to your destination.
Its a two and a half hours drive to Dalhousie from Pathankot. Once we reached there , we checked in our hotel 'grandview' booked earlier . Its a beautiful hotel with breathtaking view and hence aptly named ' grandview '. We made our booking in the luxury suite and availed the honeymoon package. The rates keep varying according to season. So its better if you go through the hotel's official website for tariff & packages. And we were definitely among the lucky few to be getting the suite where most bollywood stars halted during their stay in Dalhousie ; the latest being ranveer singh while shooting for his movie "LOOTERA". (Source : the waiter assigned for our suite).
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| grandview hotel |
bar and dining area inside our suite
anniversary cake and wine exclusively the couple
candle light dinner arranged for us
sitting area in our suite
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| our room at grandview |
The main tourist attractions in Dalhousie are Khajjiar , Chamera lake , Chamba city , Kalatop & Snow Point on the way to Kalatop. Cabs are easily available just outside the hotel . These cabs generally cover three places in one day : chamera lake , khajjiar and chamba city tour and charge around rs.1600. This long day tour generally becomes a little tiring towards the end . So if you have a couple of days in hand , then you can visit these places on separate days.
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| a narrow view of chamera dam lake |
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Chamera dam lake accumulates and stores the water of River Ravi and aid the hydroelectricity project in the region. Chamera Lake is close to Dalhousie town (16km ) and falls under the Chamba district in the state of Himachal Pradesh , India. The reservoir of the dam is the Chamera Lake. You can make your trip to Chamera Lake adventurous. They provide a range of water sports : paddle boating , speed boating , sailing , rowing , angling and so on , giving you plenty of options to choose from. And yes houseboats and shikaras are also available. We could not gather the courage to try any of these sports as it was freezing cold out there. Its best if you are there during the summers.
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| chamera dam lake |
From here , we headed to Khajjiar valley also known as India's mini Switzerland. Khajjiar too falls under the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh , India ( 24km from Dalhousie ). The place is surrounded by dense forests and green meadows making it a picturesque location. During our visit to khajjiar , the valley was partly covered with snow and partly it was fully green ; a rare sight (lucky we). We also witnessed snowfall , ya I know it must be a regular sight for many of you but not for us ; so we enjoyed it immensely. A few food stalls are also there to satisfy your hunger pangs. You can try having tea and maggie sold in those stalls. Trust me , I have tasted the yummiest maggie preparation there till date. While we ordered for yet another plate of maggie , I carefully observed the way the cook prepared the maggie, and tried preparing in the same way once back home but somehow that particular taste was missing. All in all I loved Khajjiar.
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| green khajjiar valley |
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| snow filled khajjiar valley |
Now lets go to chamba , to unwind ourselves. Chamba is a small town in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh , India. The city boasts of some of the oldest temples in the country. After a day long tour, we were dead tired and preferred exploring the city on wheels.
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| on our way to chamba |
The next day , we planned a trip to Kalatop Khajjiar Sanctuary. Kalatop sanctuary is an animal sanctuary in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh , India. This is a good place for trekking. But the only problem here is there are not much accomodation ; as the place is not that commercialised like Dalhousie. Except for Kalatop Forest Rest House where a couple of scenes were also shot for the bollywood flick " lootera ". But during our visit , we could not make it to Kalatop , as the roads were closed due to snow slide. Thus, we were happy being able to make atleast to Snow Point ( on the way to kalatop ) .
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| snow point on the way to kalatop |
With this we ended our Dahousie trip , and headed back to Pathankot.
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| snow point |
P.S. : For cab booking , its better if you book them through Himachal Pradesh's official tourism website. ( for safety and security purpose ).
Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing your lovely experience with us. Hotels in Dalhousie are very Good. There are around 27 places to visit in Dalhousie. Explore all.
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