Road Trip to Dharamshala and Dalhousie

Hi everyone!

I’ve asked so many queries here & received a lot of helpful recommendations/ info.
It’s time to give back a little.

We recently went on a road trip to Dharamshala & Dalhousie, and many Devis on the way.

Sharing trip details.

PART ONE

DAY 1

• Started from Gurgaon at 6:30 am, reached Anandpur Sahib gurudwara at 1:30 pm.
• Visited the beautiful Gurudwara, had the lovely langar prasad.
• Then we went to Bhakra Dam. Bhakra permit office closes at 3:15 pm.
• It was too hot so didn’t do much at Bhakra and went to Una for our night stay at Hotel Dayal (located on main highway itself).

DAY 2

• Started at 7 am for Chintpurni temple. Darshan were done very conveniently in an hour. They have golf carts & lift facility for elderly, disabled and others who need them.
• At 9:30 am, we started for Jwala ji. Had delicious Aloo Paratha breakfast on the way and reached around 11 am. At Jwala ji, autos can take you through a back entrance where you have to walk very less but it is about 100-200 metres of steep road climb.
• Next stop was at Baglamukhi Temple.
• At 1 pm we started for Kangra mata temple and reached in about 50 minutes. There’s a long inclined walk to reach the temple with lots of shops where you can buy prasad and many small things for gifting, etc.
  It’s a huge temple and you can have beautiful views of the snow covered Himalayas.
• Then we went to Chamunda Devi temple.
• Next was Aghanjar Mahadev temple in Dharamshala.
• In Dharamshala we had our stay at Agastya Residency hotel. It was really nice small hotel with beautiful location, great service and delicious food.
  The night was rough as my oxygen dropped to 89-90% but we somehow managed (I have severe lungs issues).

DAY 3

• I wasn’t well, thought of cancelling the trip and returning back home. But then discussed with my treating physician, took some extra medicines and started the day!
• After breakfast, we started at 9 am for McLeod Ganj. I stayed in the car while others went to Church of St. Johns on the way, little before the parking.
• Then they went to Kalachakra temple and I waited at a nearby shop.
• After that we took local Alto taxi till Dalai Lama temple as I could not walk.
• After that we did little bit of shopping and thereafter took cab to Woeser bakery. I love desserts!
  I had Carrot cake and Walnut tart.
• Very near to that is Crepe Pancake. It is a little quaint cafe maintained by a lovely lady!
  We had Laphing, Nutella banana Waffle, Apple tea, Mango smoothie, and Cold coffee.
• Then we went back to Dharamshala to see the Norbulinka Institute. It’s really amazing.
• The cricket stadium was closed by the time we reached. Out last stop was at the tea gardens. Spent some time there and went back to our hotel.
• I could hardly see anything but still enjoyed the day with my lovely family.

DAY 4

• I was little better than earlier. Today we were to go to Dalhousie.
• After breakfast, we went to see the cricket stadium.
• We reached Dalhousie around 1:30 pm. We stayed at Indraprastha Hotel near Subhash Chowk.
• After taking few hours of rest, we went to Subhash Chowk in the evening. It was little cold and we took light jackets.
• After clicking pictures and spending some time at Subhash Chowk, we took a walk till Gandhi Chowk. It’s about 2 kms. It was mostly flat and I could walk there slowly with few rests in between. On the way we ate sweet corn, momos, gulab jamun, pani-puri and tikkis.
• After reaching Gandhi Chowk, we did little bit shopping, visited the St. John’s Church and had yummy dinner at Kwality restaurant, and then went back to our hotel.

DAY 5

• Our plan was for Khajjiar and Chamba for the day.
• We started after the breakfast. We stopped at Beeji’s park on the way for some photos.
• After spending about 2 hrs in Khajjiar, we reached Chamba in another 1.5 hours. The road was too bad and being repaired at multiple places.
• First we went to Chamunda devi temple. You get beautiful views of the river Ravi from there.
• Then we went to Bhuri Singh museum in the city and spent about an hour there.
• After that we had lunch at New light punjabi dhaba. It’s a small local eatery but the food and service were really good.
• Then we had some sweets at nearby shops and bought few pairs of Chamba chappals.
• Next we went to the beautiful Laxmi Narayan temple in Chamba. Though it was at a walking distance only but there’s a very steep climb so we took a local cab.
• Most people visit only Khajjiar but I think anyone going to Dalhousie must not miss Chamba.
• After a long tiring day, we went back to Dalhousie. It was about 2 hours drive and the road was really good on this route.

DAY 6

• We had to return to Gurgaon so started just after the breakfast around 9 am. It was a 11.5 hours drive.
• Near Pathankot we bought some Aam papads.
• We visited Devi Talab mandir, Jalandhar on the way.
• At 2:30 we left from there and then went to Jalandhar haveli for lunch. The food, ambience and service were really good.
• Then we took a little halt at Mannat Haveli, Murthal for light dinner, before reaching home at 11:30 pm.
• It was a really tiring day. I don’t think I’ll ever again take such a long continuous drive.

Hope it will help you plan your trip.
I will share more details of individual places soon.

Happy travelling! 😊🙂