Introduction
Himachal Pradesh is India's Himalayan heartland — a northern mountain state of pine ridges, apple orchards, snow peaks and fast green rivers, rising from forested valleys to the cold high-altitude desert of Spiti on the edge of Ladakh. The name means “land of snow”, and the mountains are the reason to come.
Overview
Himachal is arranged vertically, and altitude decides everything about a trip here: which valleys are open, in which months, and how long a hundred kilometres will actually take. At the accessible end are the classic hill stations, Shimla foremost among them, close enough to Delhi for an overnight journey and gentle enough for a first visit. Above and beyond them, the Kullu valley runs north to Manali and the passes into Lahaul, where the landscape changes abruptly from pine and apple to glacier and rock. West, beneath the wall of the Dhauladhar, Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj hold the centre of Tibetan life in India. And past the high passes lies Spiti, a Buddhist cold desert of ochre cliffs and thousand-year-old monasteries that is only reachable for part of the year and is the reason many people come back. In between sit the state's other draws: the Parvati valley's riverside villages, one of the world's best paragliding sites at Bir Billing, the tea gardens and forts of Kangra, and trekking from gentle ridge walks to serious multi-day routes. Take it valley by valley. The single most common mistake here is planning by map distance rather than by mountain road, and the second is arriving at a pass a month before it opens.
Discover Himachal Pradesh
Shimla runs along a forested ridge at around 2,200 metres and is the grande dame of Indian hill stations as well as the state capital. Its centre is the pedestrianised Mall and the open Ridge above it, where the whole town promenades in the evening beneath a neo-Gothic church and a run of mock-Tudor and timbered buildings left from its century as the summer capital of British India. Jakhoo Hill, topped by a temple and a very large Hanuman statue, has the best view over the receding ridgelines, and a well-organised population of monkeys who will take anything not held firmly. The approach is half of it: the narrow-gauge Kalka-Shimla line, a UNESCO World Heritage railway, climbs from the plains through more than a hundred tunnels and across high viaducts at a pace that makes the ascent legible. Around the town, the deodar forest at Mashobra and the orchards near Kufri fill easy days, and Shimla is where the long road east into Kinnaur begins — which is also the year-round route toward Spiti.
Ways to Experience This Destination
Shimla's ridge, Mall and UNESCO mountain railway, the orchards and deodar forest around Kufri and Mashobra, and the classic escape from the summer plains.
Manali's rafting and paragliding, the Rohtang Pass and Atal Tunnel into Lahaul, and the roadless trekking of the Great Himalayan National Park.
Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj beneath the Dhauladhar — the Tsuglagkhang complex, monasteries and prayer-flag trails, with the Triund ridge walk above.
Spiti and Lahaul's cold Buddhist landscape — Key, Tabo and Dhankar monasteries, some of the world's highest villages, and Chandratal lake, open in season only.
The Parvati valley's riverside villages and hot springs, the walk up to Kheerganga, and world-class paragliding from Billing down to Bir.
Frequently asked questions
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