Taxi
Taxi in Baijnath
A 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.
- A car reaches you
- 2–2.5 hrs
- Pickup points
- 3 in Baijnath
- Cars
- Maruti Dzire, Maruti Ertiga, Toyota Innova Crysta
Call +91 88941 60344Answered at any hour, in English or Hindi.
Baijnath
In short
Yes. Baijnath is small and we do not keep a car sitting in it, so a booking here needs a couple of hours of notice — the car comes out from our base in Kangra by way of Palampur, which is two to two and a half hours. What Baijnath is genuinely useful for is onward driving: the turnings for Bir, Billing, Barot and Rajgundha all leave from this stretch of road, so most bookings here are the second half of somebody's journey rather than the whole of it.
- Bir and the Billing road are twenty-five to thirty-five minutes from the temple.
- Palampur is forty to fifty-five minutes away and Dharamshala two to two and a half hours.
- Barot Valley is two to two and a half hours by the Ghatasani road, whatever a map says.
- Rajgundha is two to two and a half hours, and the last stretch is not a road for a saloon car.
- The Baijnath Shiva temple of 1204 came through the 1905 earthquake essentially intact.
Where we meet you
The spots a car can actually wait
- Point 12–2.5 hrs from KangraBaijnath temple
The reason most people are in the town at all, and a genuinely easy pickup — the temple sits just off the main road with space to pull in, which is rare enough in this district to be worth saying. Almost every booking that starts in Baijnath itself starts here, and the driver will know it without being given anything else.
- Point 22–2.5 hrs from KangraBaijnath Paprola railway station
The far end of the narrow gauge from Pathankot, and the point where a very slow and very beautiful train journey stops being possible. There is nothing at the station and no cars waiting, so this is a booked pickup only. Anybody arriving this way has been travelling most of the day and the last thing they need is to discover that on the platform.
- Point 32–2.5 hrs from KangraThe Bir turning
Where the road up to Bir and the Billing launch leaves the main valley road. It is the handover point we use most often — somebody comes up from Palampur or down from Jogindernagar and changes here into a car that is going up the hill. It is a junction rather than a place, so it works for a driver and badly for anyone hoping to wait somewhere pleasant.
From here
What people ask us to drive
Local detail
What it is like driving here
Getting a car in and out
Baijnath is a junction town on a good road with three bad roads leaving it, and the whole of the local driving knowledge is knowing which is which. The valley road through the town — Palampur one way, Jogindernagar the other — is wide, surfaced and quick. The climb to Bir is short and perfectly ordinary. After that it changes. The Billing launch road above Bir is steep, rough in stretches and shared with jeeps carrying pilots and wings, and we will take a car up it but not a low one. The Ghatasani road towards Barot is an hour and a half of single track above the Uhl with hairpins and no barrier, and the whole run is two hours and more whatever a map says. Rajgundha is worse again and the last part of it is not a saloon-car road at all. None of this is dangerous with somebody who drives it; all of it is slow, and a schedule built on how close these places look rather than on these times is a schedule that ends in the dark.
Who rings us from Baijnath
Two populations who overlap almost nowhere else. Pilgrims come for the temple, which is one of the oldest intact buildings in the valley, and they come in family groups by day, usually as one stop among several — Baijnath, Chamunda, perhaps Jwala Ji, with a car waiting at each. Paraglider pilots come for Billing, and they behave completely differently: they book at short notice because the flying depends on the weather, they travel with long awkward bags that will not go in a boot, they need a jeep up to the launch rather than a car, and they may need the same run again tomorrow if today does not fly. In October the two are in the same small car park at the same time. The third and smallest group are walkers heading for Barot or Rajgundha, who want dropping at a trailhead early and collecting from a different one late, and for whom the honest driving time is the entire booking — get that wrong and somebody is walking a hill road after dark.
The car
What we would send
Read more about this placeClose
Baijnath is two things in one small town, and they have nothing to do with each other.
The first is a Shiva temple built in 1204 in dressed stone, which is remarkable mostly for still being here — the 1905 earthquake flattened almost everything else of that age in the valley and left this essentially intact. The second is a road junction. Everything heading for Bir, Billing, Barot or Rajgundha turns off within a few minutes of the temple.
Which is why the car park is strange in October
Pilgrim families and paraglider pilots use the same thirty metres of tarmac, and they want opposite things from a taxi. One wants an unhurried day with stops. The other wants a vehicle with clearance, room for a wing bag, and the possibility of doing it all again tomorrow because the wind was wrong.
Book ahead rather than turn up
We do not keep a car sitting in Baijnath. Palampur is forty-five minutes away and Dharamshala over two hours, so an hour or two of notice makes the difference between a car and an apology — and for anything starting at dawn, the night before.
Questions
What people ask before they book here
Can you get us up to the Billing launch?
Yes, with the right vehicle. The road above Bir is steep and rough in places and we would send something with clearance rather than a Dzire. Tell us you are flying when you book and how many wings are coming — the bags decide the car more often than the people do.
How long is it really to Barot?
Two to two and a half hours, and that is not padding. Most of the second half is single track above the Uhl with hairpins and no barrier. Anybody quoting you an hour is reading a map rather than driving the road.
Is there a taxi waiting in Baijnath?
Not one of ours. The town is small and we do not park a car here on the chance of a booking, so give us a couple of hours — the car comes from our base in Kangra, two to two and a half hours away by Palampur. For an early start the night before is much better than the morning of.
Can we combine the temple with Bir in one day?
Comfortably, and it is the most common day we run from here. The temple takes as long as you want it to and Bir is half an hour up the road. If Billing is also on the list, start early — the launch road is slow and the afternoon weather decides more than the schedule does.
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