A Dal Lake outside Srinagar !!! A Mini Switzerland within India !!! Surprised??? Don’t be…… Dalhousie has many such magical wonders to offer.
Dalhousie on its own is a pleasant peaceful place, where you would like to take an occasional stroll around the town; just like any other hill town. It’s the adjoining areas that are the famous tourist attractions. A short 2 day trip is more than enough to cover the entire place. You can club it with nearby travel destinations; similar to what we did.
If you want to experience how great this place is, we recommend visiting Dalhousie during an off season. That is, towards the end of rainy season. Yes that’s right 😊 Even though you might be tempted to visit this place when it’s covered with snow.
How to Reach?
Dalhousie was a part of our Amritsar – Dharamshala – Dalhousie – Amritsar trip. You can either start from Amritsar or take a flight to Dharamshala and drive drown from there.
The nearest airport for Dalhousie is Dharamshala. But we recommend that if you love road trips drive down from Dharamshala to Dalhousie. It’s breathtakingly beautiful and the pictures say it all.
The drive from Dharamshala to Dalhousie will take you approximately 4-5 hrs. Reach the place before dusk as the visibility in the mountains tends to reduce due to the mist and cloud cover that sets in as evening approaches.
Important:
This is not a place where you want to put your driving skills to test. It needs an exceptionally high level of expertise to drive through the narrow roads. We seriously recommend that you hire a chauffeur driven car to get here.
This article is more of a photo blog. A quick look and scan at the popular tourist spots around.
Dal Lake
Well not exactly !!! But this is what the locals call it due to its resemblance to the Dal Lake in Srinagar. A quick stop for a photo opp to add in your travel diaries.
Khajjiar
Khajjiar is more popularly known as Mini Switzerland. See the pics and decide for yourself!!!
Hue of green all over. We were lucky to get a frame without people. A rarity during the peak seasons!!
On our way to Khajjiar we stopped at this temple to seek the blessings of the Lord. The temple has an 81 feet tall statue of Lord Shiva.
Dainkund peak
Dalhousie is surrounded by hillocks. If you enjoy trekking, Dainkund peak is an easy to do hike.
The gradient of Dainkund is not very steep and even with normal footwear you can easily do the climb. The route also has a stair structure so it is no struggle at all.
The ever changing weather will definitely surprise you. It will be nice bright and sunny for a moment……and the next; lo and behold it’s cloudy and windy.
Walk and vanish !!! POOF!!!!! These pics were taken at intervals of 10 mins.
Driving around…..
You can spend most of you day driving through the hills. Sometimes driving without a destination in mind is fun. The local folk put up small stalls along the way. You can stop by to grab a few bites.
I can’t help but mention that we had a visitor who came by to see us off the next morning. More like GoodBye… See You Soon!!! as we headed back to Amritsar to catch our flight back home.
Life of road trips 