Shimla.. and then where?

ps - chandigarh is most definitely not good. it was probably the most boring place i went to in india, i know its prosperous etc. and it has interesting architecture (not interesting in a good way - indias only 60s planned city kind of interesting) but you'd be hard pushed to find half an hours worth of excitement there.
pps - head up through new manali to old manali to avoid the hotels.