Shimla, Kasauli and Chail
The three hill stations above Chandigarh, taken in the order that keeps the crowds behind you: a cantonment with two roads, a maharaja's forest, and Shimla last rather than first.
- Kasauli
- Chail
- Shimla
- Kufri
Good for — Short trips from Chandigarh or Delhi, older parents, and anyone who wants hills without a long drive
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Three hill stations sit within three hours of Chandigarh, and almost everybody does one of them. This trip does all three in four days, and the argument for it is the order rather than the arithmetic.
The case for going Kasauli first
Kasauli is a cantonment, so the army rather than a municipality decides what gets built, and the multi-storey hotels that filled every other hill station within reach of Delhi were simply never permitted. What is left is two roads, a church, a brewery and pine in every direction.
That is the right thing to see on day one, because it resets what you are expecting from the other two. Somebody who arrives in Shimla first spends the rest of the week comparing everything to a mall road.
Chail is the reason this is four days and not three
The story is worth the detour: Bhupinder Singh of Patiala was barred from Shimla after falling out with Lord Kitchener, bought a hillside in view of it, built a palace, and levelled a mountain top to play cricket on.
The practical effect is a town inside a wildlife sanctuary, which means the forest around it has been left alone in a way that the forest around Shimla has not. You notice within a minute of getting out of the car.
The road up from Kandaghat is narrow and wooded and slower than it looks, and we do not come down it after dark for the sake of an hour.
What we do differently in Shimla
Arrive in the evening and stay the night. The great majority of Shimla’s visitors are day-trippers up from the plains, and the Ridge between six and eight, once the buses have gone, is a different place from the Ridge at two in the afternoon.
Kufri gets a mention rather than a morning. It is fifteen kilometres out and in season it is a queue for a horse ride, so we drive through it on the way in and stop only if the day is clear enough for the view to be the reason.
The toy train, honestly
The Kalka–Shimla line is a UNESCO site and the engineering is genuinely extraordinary — 103 tunnels, and a gradient held for ninety kilometres. It is also five and a half hours, and the last two are through country you have already seen from the road.
So we offer the top half: ride down as far as Barog or Solan, and the car meets you there with the luggage. You get the tunnels and the horseshoe curves and you are in Chandigarh in time for an evening flight.
Who this suits
People who have two working days plus a weekend, older parents who do not want eight-hour drives, and anyone flying into Chandigarh rather than Delhi. Every leg here is under three hours and every road is tarmac.
Day by day
How the 4 days run
- Day 12 hrs
Chandigarh to Kasauli
We collect you from the airport, the station or your hotel and go straight up. Sixty kilometres, good tarmac, one steep climb at the end from Dharampur. The afternoon is the Gilbert trail — a mile and a half of level path contoured round the hillside under the Lower Mall, shaded the whole way, which is a rare thing in this state.
- Day 23 hrs by Solan and Kandaghat
Kasauli to Chail
Down off the cantonment and across to Kandaghat, then up under trees on a road that twists far more than the distance suggests. Sadhupul on the way, where the cafés put their chairs in the river. Chail Palace grounds in the afternoon and Kali ka Tibba for the last of the light.
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- Day 32 hrs by the Kufri road
The cricket ground, then over to Shimla
The ground first thing — a full-size pitch at 2,444m, made in 1893 by taking the top off a hill, and still the military school's. Usually seen from the fence. Then the Kufri road into Shimla, arriving in time to walk the Ridge in the evening when the day-trippers have gone back down.
- Day 43.5 hrs to Chandigarh
Shimla, and down
Jakhu before breakfast if you have the legs — it is a steep half-hour through forest and the monkeys are organised thieves. The Gaiety and the Mall after that, then down the Kalka road. If you would rather take the toy train we put you on it and meet you at the bottom with the bags.
The price
What is in it, and what is not
Included
- Private car and driver for all four days, fuel, tolls and parking
- Three nights' accommodation, twin sharing
- Pickup and drop at Chandigarh airport, station or hotel
- Forest permit for the Chail sanctuary walk, arranged ahead
Not included
- Toy train tickets, if you choose to ride down
- Entry tickets at Chail Palace grounds and the Gaiety
- Food, drink and anything personal
We do not publish a rate card. The number depends on the season, how many of you there are and the sort of hotels you want, so we price each trip on its own — and whatever we quote is what you pay.
Questions
What people ask about this one
Why is Shimla at the end and not the start?
Because it is the biggest and busiest of the three, and doing it first makes Kasauli and Chail feel like a wind-down rather than the point. Taken this way round, each place is livelier than the last and you arrive in Shimla already knowing what the quiet version looks like.
Can we get onto the Chail cricket ground itself?
Usually not. It belongs to the Rashtriya Military School and access depends entirely on what the school is doing that week, so the honest answer is that you should expect to see it from the fence. It is still worth the drive up — the ground is a levelled hilltop and you can see exactly how it was made.
Is the toy train worth doing?
For the section between Shimla and Barog, yes. The whole run to Kalka is five and a half hours and most people have had enough after two, which is why we offer it one way with the car meeting you rather than as the way in and out. Seats need booking well ahead in season.
Does this work in winter?
Yes, and Chail and Kufri are better for it. Snow closes the Kufri road for a day at a time in January and February, so the itinerary needs a spare morning in it — tell us your dates and we will build the trip the other way round if the forecast asks for it.
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