Suggestions Invited For Self-Drive Trip To Punjab & HP

[Tornado]

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I want to do a self drive trip from Amritsar, Dalhousie, Manali (or Dharamshala or Shimla, ) and then back to Amritsar in first week of Jan 16.

I have following questions :

1) How is the road conditions between Dalhousie & Manali?how these conditions change during snowfall?

2)How is the road condition between Dalhousie to Shimla?

& How is the road condition between Dalhousie to Dharamshala?

3) which amongst above three routes is likely to be blocked due to snowfall?

4) If snowfall is heavy and if I need to stay only at one place? Which place is more enjoyable Shimla /Manali /Dharamshala /Dalhousie during snowfall?

5)Which vehicle is better for above three routes? SUV or Sedan?

6) During January which airport has got more chances of cancellation of flights due to weaather? Amritsar or Chandigarh?

7)How much is the distance between mubarakpur & Jassur?

8)How much length of the road near Chowkari is a bad stretch?

9)I have visited Shimla & Manali during summer (no snowfall, only snow play at Rohtang pass) 10 years back during May. So during snowfall which amongst Dharamshala, Shimla & Manali is more enjoyable during snowfall, which place gives you more chances of sight seeing as compared to others in January?

 

[Tornado]

Re: Suggestions Invited For Punjab / HP Trip During Snowfall (Jan 17)

Hmm... No answer yet.

 

[torq118]

The reply is marked as ANs:

I want to do a self drive trip from Amritsar, Dalhousie, Manali (or Dharamshala or Shimla, ) and then back to Amritsar in first week of Jan 16.

I have following questions :

1) How is the road conditions between Dalhousie & Manali?how these conditions change during snowfall?
Ans: For Dalhosie to Manali - you need to do Dalhousie - Kangra (Dharamshala is nearby, you can cover this place also) - Baijnath - Jogender Nagar - Mandi - Kullu - Manali, IMO there is nothing to worry about this stretch, the road is a normal 2 lane road, expect bad patches at times.

2)How is the road condition between Dalhousie to Shimla?
Ans: For Dalhousie to Shimla: For this route, there are two options: One is via Kangra - Hamirpur - Ghumarvin - Bilaspur - Shimla and other one is Pathankot- Hoshiarpur - Ropar - Chandigarh -Shimla, The route No. 1 is hilly terrain and would approximately take about 8-9 hours to reach Shimla, route 2 covers large part of -Punjab and the terrain is flat, hills start post Chandigarh Total time would be about 8-9 Hours

& How is the road condition between Dalhousie to Dharamshala?
The Road condition is OK nothing to worry about.

3) which amongst above three routes is likely to be blocked due to snowfall?
IMO Manali might get heavy snowfall and thereby blocked, but even then you dont worry about, the road gets cleared within a day.

4) If snowfall is heavy and if I need to stay only at one place? Which place is more enjoyable Shimla /Manali /Dharamshala /Dalhousie during snowfall?
IMO Manali it is, although Shimla is lovely too, but it doesnt get heavy snowfall. Dalhousie also gets snow but IMO there is nothing much to do there.

5)Which vehicle is better for above three routes? SUV or Sedan?
Both are equally good, it is upto you if you want to ride SUV or a Sedan.

6) During January which airport has got more chances of cancellation of flights due to weaather? Amritsar or Chandigarh?
I think Amritsar.
7)How much is the distance between mubarakpur & Jassur?
If you travel to Shimla via route 2 that i mentioned, you will cover these places)

8)How much length of the road near Chowkari is a bad stretch?
I dont have much idea about this route.

9)I have visited Shimla & Manali during summer (no snowfall, only snow play at Rohtang pass) 10 years back during May. So during snowfall which amongst Dharamshala, Shimla & Manali is more enjoyable during snowfall, which place gives you more chances of sight seeing as compared to others in January?[/QUOTE]
I will go to Manali for this.

Hmm... No answer yet.

Apologies for replying so late.

 

[Tornado]

Re: Suggestions Invited For Punjab / HP Trip During Snowfall (Jan 17)

Due to unavoidable circumstances, I had to postpone the winter trip and convert it in to a summer trip.

I have following plan now, tickets booked . (April 14 to April 21)
Delhi - Amritsar - Kasol — Manali - Rohtang Pass - Delhi.

Day 1,-Land at Delhi airport at 2 pm. Collect the self drive Honda City car & leave Delhi airport at 3 :30 or 4 pm, night stay at Ambala or Rajpura.

Day 2 : Leave for Amritsar so as to reach there at 11 :30 Am. Day time sightseeing (Golden Temple, Jaliyanwala Bagh, Wagah border ceremony) and at 6 pm leave for Manali. Night stay at Jalandhar or Una.

Day 3 : Leave towards Manali, night stay at kasol.

Day 4 : Sightseeing at Kasol & leave for Manali in the evening , night stay at Manali.

Day 5 : Rohtang pass. Night stay at Manali.

Day 6 : Manali sight seeing, night stay at Manali.

Day 7 : Leave for Delhi, night stay near Delhi.

Day 8 : Day time sightseeing in Delhi and finally reach Delhi airport at 6 pm.

My questions :
1)Can this plan be executed in given time frame or I need to do some changes as I will be travelling with my kids and wife.?
2) please suggest hotels to stay and good eating places on this route.

 

[Tornado]

I have completed the trip as planned above however could not go to Rohtang pass as road was closed 30 km prior to Rohtang pass by the border police due to the road repair work. So we went for trek towards Rohtang till we found clean snow under guidance of local guide.

Highlight of the tour was Kasol, combination of beautiful Parvati river + snowclad mountains + waterfalls, all at a time especially near Ghatigadh.

At Amritsar, I reached at 1 pm and had to spend lot of time in the traffic jam to reach the Golden Temple's parking slot. we saw the Jalianwala Baugh, had lunch and were late by half an hour for the beating retreat ceremony at border, hence could not reach the viewer's gallery,however after the ceremony was over, we went inside and interacted with soldiers and watched pak side happenings too including the gates of both countries closely.

Though there are thousands difference between the countries, I found one similarity between two. All the patriot citizens who were sitting and shouting slogans during ceremony in the viewers galleries had left the empty plastics bottles and wrappers at their places leaving the job of collecting it and putting it in the bin for respective armies!!

 

[GrandRk]

Good update Tornado. If possible can you provide road condition as well.

 

[Tornado]

Road conditions in Delhi, Hariyana, Punjab, HP on the root travelled by me are good, far better than MH except the stretch between Ludhiana & Amritsar where there are frequent diversions due to road work in progress..