MNSTravels || Himachal Pradesh Trip Part 1 || Shimla and Kufri


Hey guys! How are you doing!? This blog post marks the start of a new section of Moonshine and Sunlight, because I have been bit by a bug, the Travel bug! Since I have grown up across the country, long vacations or holidays meant going to our home town and long weekends etc meant visiting places nearby. And since I have stayed in places with forest and reserves in the vicinity the most, those were our places to go!

I can safely say that I have been to almost all reserves, sanctuaries in India but I would love to visit the ones I haven’t been to because, travel bug :P !

But today I am not going to write about those, I am going to share everything about my most recent trip and that trip was to Himachal Pradesh. I will soon be sharing all about two more places, but first this in two parts.

Because I don’t want to write one lengthy post, I am writing this in two parts. So let’s get started!

Day 1: Delhi to Shimla –

How to get there? I flew down to Delhi and met with my family there, then directly from the airport left for Shimla, early in the morning. So, Bangalore -> Delhi -> Shimla. One day’s journey by car.
You can save up to half a day’s travel, if you go to Chandigarh Directly and from there take a car. You also have buses available, but since we were a family of four, we preferred renting a car for the whole trip. Please message me on my Facebook page if you want the car rental details.

Since we reached Shimla around 8 pm, after a day’s travel, we decided to take some rest to be ready for the next day. Also, mostly everything was closing down by the time we reached.


View of Shimla 

The Horses at Kufri 


At Kufri !
Day 2: Shimla and Kufri –

We left for Kufri in the morning, about an hour and a half’s drive from Shimla. You have to go on horses to reach the actual place where visitors go, the top of the mountain. Honestly, it was a very, very dangerous route. Apparently, the actual road was closed for repairs, so they were taking the visitors from another route which was rocky and muddy in some parts and it was plain dangerous, because of the number of horses going through a narrow ledge of the mountain. When you reach at the top, you have a 20INR ticket per person and it opens into a small valley dotted with various shops for food and warm clothes.

There is a place where a group of people will offer to show you few places via a telescope in exchange of 200 INR per person. DO NOT go for that! It is not worth, as they will hurriedly show you 5 – 6 places/points from a cloudy telescope, which are easily visible by naked eye. Other than that there is a small temple, a “Fun world” which has a few attraction like zip lining, Go karting on the highest course etc, I would rather ask you to go for this , not the Telescope BS.

The view from here is lovely, but we didn’t get any snow here. Relax for some time, soak up the cool breeze and the view, but do not spend a lot of timehere, if you plan to explore Shimla in the same day.
Although I wanted to explore the city a bit, but due to the shortage of time at hand, we directly headed towards the Mall Road. There are quite a lot of places on Mall road including the Church, Scandal Point, etc.


View From Kufri 

Temple in Kufri 

Green Vallley, while returning from Kufri 


I wanted to visit Lakkar bazar, but again due to shortage of time, I couldn’t. The scandal Point is a nice place to be at, beautiful in fact! We also visited the Kalibari, where I encountered a monkey who gets his kicks by scaring people. Hahaha! It was delightful to roam around The Mall during the sunset! I would recommend you go there with a bit of time at hand to properly explore the places to eat at and shop!

After a bit of shopping after the sunset, we went back to the hotel and on the way I picked up some Cape Gooseberries! They are delicious, in case you haven’t had them!



Church near Scandal Point 

Shimla Post Office 
Day 3: Shimla to Kullu – Manali –

How to get there? We started early morning from Shimla and headed towards Kullu and Manali. It was almost a day’s drive. It easily takes 8 -10 hours if you make multiple stops.
 Kullu has a lot of river rafting places, but there are only some who are approved by the government and trained properly. Make sure, you have a change of clothes ready in case you go for river rafting and opt for a trained professional to accompany you.

Up ahead, in Kullu there are a lot of shops and factories which manufacture Kullu Shawls. They are really beautiful and make really great gifts, but please be careful because they usually quote any price they like. Visit a few different shops, before you make your purchase.

The Road trip to Manali is really beautiful. The road goes alongside the rivers and the natural beauty is breathtaking! Soak up as much of that as you can!
I think it is time for a pause so, I will end this post here and will start the next one with Day 4.


On my way to Manali
Remember to: Focus on the view and nothing else in case you are scared of heights or get nauseous easily. Carry something light to munch on, also do not eat a lot or nothing at all before setting out for the trip.

Hope you like the post, since this is my first travel post, I would really appreciate all your critical feedback. Also, do let me know what you think about the pictures!

Have you been to Shimla, Kulu and Manali!?  Share your experience in the comments below! Would love to know!
Loads of love,
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