Western Himachal Pradesh is famous as the home of the Tibetan government in exile, close to Dharamsala. The official website for Kangra district is hpkangra.nic.in.
Category: Himachal Pradesh
About 3km north of Manali on the slopes east of the Beas, Vashisht is the best and brightest of the traveller centres in the Kullu Valley. Indian tourists come here to bathe in the hot springs and tour the temples, while foreign tourists come here for the cheap accommodation and charas. Be aware of the risks. Most guesthouses close down for the winter from late October.
About 47km east of Kaza, Tabo is the only other town in the Spiti Valley. The setting, hemmed in by scree slopes, is wind-blown and dramatic, and the ridge above town is riddled with caves used as meditation cells by local lamas. The main reason to visit is Tabo Gompa (admission by donation), a World Heritage site preserving some of the finest Indo-Tibetan art in the world.
Divided from the fertile Lahaul Valley by the 4551m Kunzum La, the Spiti Valley is another piece of Tibet transported to India. Buddhist monasteries and tiny villages of whitewashed houses are dotted here and there along the arid valley floor, dwarfed by the sheer scale of the surrounding landscape. Local farmers eke out a living on the small strip of greenery that hugs the banks of the Spiti River.
Southwest of Dharamsala is the busy town of Kangra and the temples of Masrur and Jawalamukhi.
The best of the modest ski resorts in Himachal Pradesh, Solang Nullah sits at the bottom of a long, green meadow about 13km north of Manali. In summer the meadow is used for paragliding, walking and zorbing. From January to March, skiers and snowboarders can enjoy 1.5km of alpine-style runs. A new ropeway is under construction that will raise Solang to the level of the more established ski resorts at Auli and Gulmarg. A small drag-lift is already in operation on the beginners slopes above the village.
Until the British arrived, there was nothing at Shimla but a sleepy forest glade known as Shyamala (a local name for Kali). Then a Scottish civil servant named Charles Kennedy built a summer home in Shimla in 1822 and nothing was ever the same again. By 1864 Shimla had developed into the official summer capital of the Raj. Every summer until 1939, the entire government of India fled here from the sweltering heat of the plains, with all their clerks’ books and forms filled out in triplicate. When the Kalka–Shimla railway line was constructed in 1903, Shimla’s status as India’s premier hill station was assured. The city was even briefly the capital of Punjab until the map was redrawn in 1966.
The former summer capital of the Bushahr kingdom, Sarahan is dominated by the fabulous Bhimakali Temple (entry by donation; 7am-8pm), built from layers of stone and timber to absorb the force of earthquakes. There are two towers here, one built in the 12th century, and a newer tower from the 1920s containing a highly revered shrine to Bhimakali (the local version of Kali) beneath a beautiful silver-filigree canopy.
The Sangla, or Baspa, Valley used to be described as ‘the most beautiful valley in the Himalaya’ but today the valley is marred by the dams and barrages of the Baspa Hydroelectric Project. It’s still a pretty spot and a good place to see traditional Kinnauri architecture, but you need to head north to Spiti to get a real sense of peace and isolation. The hair-raising road to the valley begins at Karcham on the Rekong Peo–Shimla highway, passing the gushing outflow pipes from the hydroelectric plant.
The largest village in the valley, Sangla was once a fairy-tale village of low wooden houses and slate-roofed temples looking out over a pristine valley, but hydroelectricity is changing Sangla beyond all recognition. Wooden houses are being rebuilt in concrete and new hotels are springing up on every corner. It hasn’t quite been spoiled – yet! – but you’ll have to head into the hills to find the peace and quiet that the valley was once famous for. Walk down to the lower village to admire the old stone houses and Hindu and Buddhist temples. The Bering Nag Temple forms the centrepiece of the annual Phulech Festival in September.