Shimla.. and then where?

Hi,

Planning on arriving Delhi May time, dropping down to Agra for a day or two, a day or two in Shimla, and then stuck.

Where is a nice place to go after Shimla - we'll want to see people after small Shimla town, so is Chandigarth good, or is it worth heading across someplace else?

Needs good connections to Delhi. Where would you go if you had a day or two near Shimla?

Thanks

what are you interested in? trekking/hiking? history? religious sights -- Hindu? Buddhist? Muslim? Sikh? nature? yoga? meditation? ayurvedic medicine? shopping for local crafts? big cities? village life? do you like lots of sight-seeing, or just relaxing? how long will your trip be, overall? do you have only a day or two free, or could you expand that to more? how keen are you on avoiding the heat and rains?

Shimla seems relatively centrally located within northwestern India (especially in terms of transit options). you could probably go just about anywhere in the north from there. certainly anywhere in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, or the UP around Delhi like Vrindavan, Gwalior, etc. it just depends on what you're interested in.

i've heard that Chandigarh tends not to be all that interesting to western tourists, but i've never been myself and obviously your mileage may vary depending on what you want to do.

Hi! In may the plains of northern India are unbearably hot. To see a lot of different people you could try McLeod Ganji, cool and interesting,surely better than Chandigar,and 12 hours by direct bus to Delhi.

I would say McLeod Ganj too. What do you mean by "we'll want to see people after small Shimla town". Shimla isn't exactly a backwater village. There will definelty be people there.

Manali was a very nice hill town, beautiful views of the mountains, lots of trekking and some old temples. There are some nice backpackers spots in old manali and varanasi. Plenty of people in summer.

Posters above have given the same answer as me.

1) Shimla => Dharamsala or
2) Shimla => Manali.

Both are interesting and have different things on offer.

Cheers
Zoltan

I'd plump for Dalhousie any day over Manali/Dharamshala. The latter have gotten too crowded/touristy for words. But then, OP seems to have only a day or two. Not sufficient for travelling all the way up. Chandigarh is really unattractive. How about Amritsar, including the border ceremony at Wagah?

sarahan
that is my plan after shimla.

if youve got the time then absolutely agree with musafirs post. see sarahan(there are actually two sarahans:the first is sometimes referred to as kinnaur sarahan.this is the place to go. kulu-sarahan the other one is a two day hike out of rampur also worth doing if youre up for some trekking).

to get to kinnaur sarahan, take the hair-raising bus up to rampur from simla,on the old hindustan-tibet highway(sutlej valley).from there you can get another bus(or if youre rich a taxi).its a couple of hours.there are a couple of government resthouses left over from the raj,which if theres no official or engineer staying can be rented.the temple itself used to provide cheap, basic,accomodation.

you may well be the only tourists as most people have never heard of it or the temple. the temple has got to be one of the finest examples of himachali architecture and its in a beautiful(almost sublime) setting with hills and mountains all around.
if you have more time the hiking in this area is really special.kulu valley must have been like this once!

manali has mountains too but lots of hotels,shops,restaurants,touts,guides,tourists of evey possible type(its a popular place for indian honeymooners!)las vegas for the himalayas!!(ok maybe not that bad) .

kulu,the town is another place overlooked and deservedly so...it s chaotic,noisy and just not much fun,EXCEPT there is a gem of a hike up to a tiny temple on a high spur above town called the bhijli mahadev(bhijli in english means lightening)anyway it is in all the guides,but very few people bother.once up there the views of the ranges and sense of isolation are unbeatable..!!!a bus goes half way up but you can walk up and bus it down.the whole trip will take a few hours.its a great side trip.good luck!

why do you want to go to shimla at all? its not that good. you should head straight through to the higher himalayas. Spiti/kinnaur for incredible scenery and feeling like you're well off the beaten track without having to sleep in a tent. Manali is nice, vashisht across the valley from manali is nicer still. The parvati valley is beautiful and unspoiled, try khir-ganga to relax in open air hot springs while enjoying views of snow capped mountains. Dharamsala is nice too, but it feels like a bit of a tibetan monk zoo/tourist trap.

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.