Taxi
Getting there, and getting between
Taxi service from Kangra, Dharamshala and Palampur, with every car and driver leaving from our base in Kangra. Half of what we do is not a tour at all — it is one car, one driver and one road, usually from an airport at an inconvenient hour. Below, first the towns trips start from, then the other places we pick up, then the long runs, written out with an honest driving time and what the surface does through the year.
Where our cars start
The cars are kept at Kangra, and these are the three towns trips start from. Each one says where we pick up, how long the car takes to reach you, which vehicle fits, and what people book from there.
- KangraBaseA car and a driver in Kangra town — for the temple circuit, for the airport twenty minutes up the road, for Tanda, and for the long runs out to Punjab. This is where our cars are kept, and we know the one-ways.
- DharamshalaOne of the three towns our trips start from. Kotwali Bazaar, the stadium, the bus stand and everything up the hill — plus the airport run, the Pathankot train and the long drives out to Manali and the plains.
- PalampurThe tea town, and the easiest driving in the district. Wide roads, gentle gradients and everything worth seeing within half an hour — Andretta, the Neugal, Chamunda Devi and the road on towards Bir.
Also picking up in
A car where you are standing, sent out from Kangra. Each page says where we can actually pick up and what people book from there.
- McLeod GanjCars that actually fit. McLeod Ganj is a one-way loop with a parking problem, so what matters here is not whether we can come but where we can stop — and which vehicle we send up the hill.
- DharamkotThe village above McLeod, where the road runs out before the guesthouses do. Cars come up, but not to every door — and the last stretch is often walked with your bags.
- BaijnathA twelfth-century Shiva temple and a road junction, in the same small town. Everything heading for Bir, Billing, Barot or Rajgundha turns off here — which is why half the cars in Baijnath are carrying pilots.
- Kangra AirportGaggal is one short runway on a valley floor, and the flights do not always come. We meet the ones that land, and we have a plan for the ones that do not — which is the part nobody books in advance and everybody needs.
- Amb AndauraThe broad-gauge railhead for the Devi circuit. Chintpurni is about forty minutes up the road, Naina Devi is across the Sutlej, and the hills start roughly an hour after you leave the platform.
From Chandigarh
From Amritsar
From Dharamshala
From Delhi
- DharamshalaFive hundred kilometres, of which only the last ninety are mountain. A long, flat, straightforward day that is far more about when you leave Delhi than about anything in the hills.
- Bir BillingFour hundred and ninety kilometres to the landing field, most of a day in a car, and a well-known overnight bus that does the same journey for a fraction of it. Worth a car for some people and not for most.
From Pathankot
- DalhousieThe short one. Eighty kilometres from the railhead to a hill station at nearly two thousand metres, almost all of it climbing, and the most useful transfer we run for anyone arriving by train.
- DharamshalaNinety kilometres from the last broad-gauge platform to the foot of the Dhauladhar. The transfer most people arriving by train actually need, and the one the timetable makes harder than the road does.
From Ludhiana
Further afield
Roads we drive that start and end outside the Kangra valley. The car still comes from Kangra, so ask before you plan around one: we will tell you the day, the time and the price.
- Chandigarh → Shimla
- 3.5–4 hrs · 114 km · Ask on WhatsApp
- Chandigarh → Manali
- 7–8 hrs · 270 km · Ask on WhatsApp
- Manali → Kaza
- 9–10 hrs · 183 km · Ask on WhatsApp
- Delhi → Manali
- 12–14 hrs · 530 km · Ask on WhatsApp
- Chandigarh → Dalhousie
- 8–9 hrs · 320 km · Ask on WhatsApp
- Shimla → Manali
- 7–8 hrs · 236 km · Ask on WhatsApp
Arrivals we have not written up yet
We drive these every week and quote them the same way. The full write-up — road surface, where we stop, what changes through the year — is still being checked for each one.
- Gaggal (Kangra) → Dharamshala
- 45 min
One way, for the whole car and its driver — not per person. It is the fare we quote before the car leaves and the fare you pay; nothing is added afterwards. A return the same day, a night on the road or a detour is priced when you ask. Each route page has the fare for every car we send on it.
Landing somewhere we have not listed?
We drive the whole state and most of the way into Punjab. Send us the arrival and the destination and we will tell you the time and the price.