Honestly I love to visit cold places, but so far I had never made any long program or tour for the same. I have visited many hill stations but for very short period, I mean mostly in weekends and at nearby places from my place. But finally I able to enjoyed one long journey for two very cold but beautiful places Manali and Shimla for 15 days. I will never forget this memorable journey in which I enjoyed lot. We had specially planned this journey to see the snow that is why we went there in December in very cold time. Many people were saying that there will be too much cold to stay there in this time but somehow we enjoyed the coldness too. Yes there was too much cold out there but weather was absolutely awesome too. I would love to tell you about my experience and the places I visited in and around the Shimla and Manali. So let’s start.

Places in and around Shimla

Kalka to Shimla via toy train

If you are going south to north or even from somewhere else, I would recommend you this journey for reaching Shimla. Just go to Kalka first and then go for Toy Train journey for reaching Shimla which is around 100 Km away from that place. There are around 5 to 6 trains right now which are going to Shimla in different time. So you can manage one as per your schedule. These all are small trains as per name suggest in compare of normal one. The reason why I am suggesting this route is that you will surely enjoyed the scene scenery coming on the way of this route. The train runs at around 20 to 25 km/h speed and takes around 5 hours for reaching to Shimla. That is why you will enjoy those scenes even more which are coming on the way in whole journey. If you have time then you should definitely choose this journey for reaching to the Shimla. You will see around 107 tunnels on the way of the toy train journey. You will see around 300 bridges the train will cross. This train runs in between jungles, mountains and many valleys which will make your journey exciting and memorable for sure. It also halts between the stations so no worries about having refreshment. 

Mall Road in Shimla

If you want to go for shopping or restaurant then this is the idol place for both things. This road is full of famous shops and restaurants. There is no vehicle allowed on this road so you have to walk if you want to visit it. Actually it is more enjoyable as there is no vehicle noise and traffic so that you can move easily without any problem. You will found no hotels to stay on proper mall road so better you know that from starting. We reached there with the expectation of hotels but nope, but you can found one around the mall road but you have to walk long for it. As there is famous shops and restaurant out there you may found items costly in compare of other places. So watch out for it.

Ridge in Shimla

Ridge is actually big wide road situated near Mall road in Shimla. Honestly I like this place very much. I can easily spend my whole one day on this road just by moving here and there. This road includes very beautiful church, statues of three famous people and it includes lots of small restaurant to have good food. This place is also having very beautiful valley view from where you can see whole Shimla city and night view of this city from this place with all lights on is just an amazing experience. You will get sun light on this road in most of the day. So you will feel even more comfortable out there during cold time.

Jakhoo Temple in Shimla

This is wonderful place to visit. It is the temple of lord Hanuman situated at Jakhoo Mountain. You will found world’s tallest Hanuman statue in this temple. You can see this statue from whole Shimla city even it is around 2 to 3 km away from the proper city. The height of this statue is around 108 feet and it looks simply amazing. As per local people it got unveiled by Abhishek Bachchan. You will found lots of monkeys at this temple. As per story Hanuman rested here on this Mountain when he was searching for Sanjivni Booti for Lakshman. As I mentioned it is situated outer part of city, so you will found best scene scenery around it.

Kufri near Shimla

Kufri is situated approximately 45 km away from Shimla. It is good place to visit and you have to give one whole day to that place from Shimla for full enjoyment. From one point you can’t go ahead with the vehicles and you have to park your car and other vehicles and travel by horse or walking to reach particular Kufri point and other visiting points. But that horse riding is damn entertaining, we have enjoyed full day out there. At proper place you can enjoy club house where you can have different things like kids riding and adventure stuffs.  As it is situated little far away from the proper Shimla city you can go there by some taxi or hire a vehicle. I am sure you will enjoy one full day at this place.

Animal Park near Kufri

You will find out Animal Park near kufri. It is not that big one but still it is worthy place to visit. I am sure you will not regret it. I guess entry fee is of 25 Rs per person. You have to pay extra for taking camera with you. You will find out different local animals there. The main attractions are Wolf, Leopard and different kind of bears; with them you will see many other animals too. So if you have free time to spend then just give around one hour to this place too.

Narkanda near Shimla

Narkanda is at round 70km away from the Shimla. I don’t know if it is regular tourist place, but I guess it is famous or known because you can see snow point out there. When we reached to Shimla there was no snow around near places. So one person guided us and mentioned about Narkanda if we want to see snow. It will take you around 2 hours to reach there because of hill area but you will surely enjoy the trip and place in the end. So if you are going to Shimla and you don’t found any snow out there then you can go to this place by having some local guide.

Places in and around Manali

Mall Road in Manali

Just like Shimla, in Manali also you will found Mall Road. But in compare to Shimla you will found it less developed. You will see all popular shops and restaurant out there. Let me tell you at some places you can really have good stuff in cheap rate unlike Shimla’s Mall road. But better you learn Bargaining stuff before going for shopping here. Lol. You will see lots of travelling agents on this road from where you can easily book taxi if you want to visit near places or go somewhere. You will also found local Bus station on the Mall road itself. Just like Shimla here also no vehicle allowed at particular this road, you have to walk to visit it.

Hadimba Temple in Manali

This is the temple of Hidimba devi located at around 3 km from Mall Road the center of Manali. This temple is surrounded by the cedar forest. You will find out whole forest with long trees around the temple. The scene scenery is simply amazing out there. You can have taxi or hire vehicle for visiting it, but let me tell you 3 km is not much, so better you go there by walk to enjoy the weather and scenes around the temple. I am sure you will enjoy the walking trip for this temple. You will find out many local stores and shops for shopping too near the temple. You will able to see Yaks (local animal) and Rabit out there carried by local people for photography purpose if you are interested.

Manu temple in Manali

This is temple of Manu Rishi who is said to be creator of the world located at old Manali city. It is located at around 3 to 4 km away from the Mall Road of Manali. We have visited this place by walking, 3 to 4 km is nothing but last 1 or 2 km of walking is very hard as temple is on little height. There is road but you may found it difficult like we experienced. But temple is worthy to visit. The temple is made of wood and stone with great interior. 

Club House at Manali

Club house is also located at old Manali, in fact it will come on the way of Manu Temple from proper Manali. If you are getting bored for some reason then this is the best place for time pass with family. Here you will get different kinds of entertaining rides outside the club house and food restaurants. Inside the club house you will found different indoor sports activity like badminton, Carom, Pool, Snooker, etc. and also some shops for shopping. So you can easily spend your one whole day in this club house. So if you feel bore in Manali which is very rare thing, then you can chill out your time here.

Vashisht Temple at Manali

This temple is located near the Biyas river bank on the way of Rohtang pass. It is around 5km from Manali and last 1km is really hard as this temple on little height. This temple is famous for its hot water springs. The water of this spring was really hot even in the December month. But yes one bath in it can take your whole tiredness and give you refreshment. So it is worthy to visit one time. It is little far away from city so better you rent some vehicle to reach there.

Rohtang Pass near Manali

This place is located at around 50km away from the proper Manali. It is on the height of 13000ft. Its way goes to Manali to Leh further. Let me tell you the way of reaching there is really dangerous. It is a snow point near Manali where you find out snow almost in every month of the year. You will find out lots of tourist at this place. Especially there is too much traffic in season time, so better you go out there to visit it early in the morning. In off season too you will find many people there but not as much as compare to season time. You will find out lots of snow here and you can also enjoy the winter sports (depending on amount of snow). You will also get few small snack stores out there. Let me tell you, there is freezing cold out there. So don’t forget to wear warm clothes. And also there is lots of snow out there so better you rent the special clothes and rubber shoes to go there which is available on the way of Rohtang pass. With those special clothes and rubber shoes your clothes will not get wet. So you will able to enjoy fully.

Solang Valley near Manali

This is special valley located near Manali which comes on the way of Manali to Rohtang pass. It is around 14km away from the Manali. This place is for its summer and winter sports. These sports include Skating, Parachuting, Paragliding, Zorbing, etc. You can also enjoy horse riding and rope way ride at this place. It is also worthy place which you can visit when you are planning to go Rohtang pass. 

So this is it. Both Shimla and Manali are wonderful places to visit. Both are good at their own. There are lots of fun place around them. So you can allot more days if you are planning for these two places, I am sure you will not get bore. If you want to enjoy the snowfall in these areas then better you choose the December end or January month. You will surely able to see snow fall in this time. We went there in December starting but we have seen snowfall for very limited time, in fact almost nothing. So better you think about planning from starting on the basis of what you want to see. About food, you will find better food places at both of the places, at some places you may found food little costly because of tourist place. So hope my article will be helpful to guide you in your journey of Manali and Shimla. Have fun.

Image Source: All taken by me