Shimla-Kullu-Manali from Mumbai(a budget trip guide)

Firstly for your perspective of a budget trip, i will disclose the trip cost which we spent for a 5 Night-6 Days trip for 4 people. We had booked a package for 40K which included our Travel(Car-Swift Dezire) from Chandigarh to Chandigarh, Breakfast, Dinner and Sightseeing.

We had our flight book for Chandigarh on 25th Jan evening, however due to the customary delay due to flight cancellation, we had to reschedule it to 26th Jan -Republic day morning, all thanks to Indigo airlines!! Which meant that we were losing a day of sightseeing in Shimla....however we had no option.

Day 1 - Shimla

It was around 4.30pm when we met our driver at Chandigarh airport and commenced our trip to Shimla. The distance to our hotel was around 120kms and the time was showing as 3.30 hrs to reach. The ride was swift within the city and within no time we had reached the Chandigarh-Himachal Pradesh border. After crossing over the landscape just changed drastically. We were surrounded by mountains from all side. The zig-zag roads have started making their presence felt. We took a break for some tea and maggie at 6pm and felt the shift in the mercury drop just instantly. The temperature was around 10 degrees when we got out of our car. The winds blowing would instill shiver down our spine with the icy cold breeze.

Upon reaching we had our dinner and called it a day. The cold was unbearable. Fortunately we had heater equipped bed, which provided the much needed warmth.

Day 2 - Shimla

Kufri

We had to make good use of day 2, so we had an early head start. The ride to Kufri was a 45 min scenic ride. The beauty of Shimla which we had earlier only seen in movies and travel vlogs, was simply breathtaking to say the least. The view of colorful buildings stacked one over other was beyond magical. The view was awe-inspiring throughout the ride and we reached Kufri.

Jakhoo Hanuman Mandir

Shimla Mall Road

It was our last night in Shimla. This place will always have my heart. I would like to spend a week long stay in Shimla, sometime in the near future. After snowfall this place turns in to wonderland, though we missed that sight, but thoroughly enjoyed our time.

Day 3: Shimla to Kullu

Now is a ride you will definitely enjoy. The view of the snow cladded majestic mountains all along and the temperature drops even further. Kullu is a one stop destination for all sort of adventure activities. We decided to do River Rafting.

After the activity we had our lunch as we were very hungry and finished some shopping. We had to ride for 2 more hours to reach our hotel room. It was near the Manali mall road. We had our dinner and the temperature had already dropped below zero!! This ended our 3rd day.

Day 4: Solang Valley - Koksar

Our driver was were helpful and had already inquired with his friends to understand if there is snowfall at any location near to our hotel room. However even though the temperature was sub-zero, it was not yet snowing in the city. Plan for today was to visit Solang valley and if we were lucky we could see snowfall there. However after riding for 1 hour when we reached Solang, snow was no where to be found!! Our driver Kailash ji informed us that if we are ready to go further, we can enjoy the sight of snow at Koksar, and we instantly agreed.

The ride to Koksar was beyond amazing. This is one of the experience i am going to remember for my entire life. We stopped at the beginning of the Atal Tunnel to capture some images

After crossing the 9kms long Atal Tunnel, when we reached the other side the landscape, the weather, the vibes of the place was all different. We could feel the shift in the atmosphere. We reached Koksar in no time. And felt the frozen snow, turned into ice for the first time. We spent more that 2 hours here, enjoying our heart out and capturing memories.

By 4pm the weather here started to change. The wind blowing was unbearable now. We decided to bid adieu to the Snow here and quickly got in our car to ride back.

Day 5: Manali local sight-seeing

Vashista mandir - Ram mandir

Hadimba Temple

Club House

Tibetan Monastery

Finally after finishing all our sightseeing we were dropped at the Mall road, where we did the shopping. However after spending sometime here, it started to rain and the atmosphere turned even more chill. This set the stage for the snowfall later at night. We rushed to our hotel room.

We were disappointed that we could not see live snowfall in this much awaited trip. However we were a lucky bunch, because it started to rain Snow at 10pm. We could not believe how fortunate we were and went running out side to catch a glimpse of the live snowfall. When that fall touched me, i cannot describe the feeling in words. We enjoyed a lot :) . And it rained Snow all night. Manali had turned into a winter wonerland now....a sigh of relief for the locals as this meant even more tourists flowing to this heaven on earth!

Day 6: Manali to Chandigarh

We had a leisure morning. Had our breakfast and went for a stroll outside. The surrounding has just transformed. The dry apply trees around us has turned into white snow capped beauty. All the other trees had an icy coating which was adding to the contrast. For someone who has seen Snowfall for the first time, this was a sight to behold. It is least to say that we were all spellbound and promised to ourselves to visit this place again.

We left for Chandigarh by 10am and this was going to be a tiring journey, as it takes 8 hrs to reach the airport. We had our flight booked for the same evening back to our home Mumbai :)

I hope you liked our itinerary and hope this helps you to plan your trip as well. Do reachout to be me for any queries.

Shimla Hotel: Sunrise Villa

Manali Hotel: Manali Green

Tour agent: Top Hills Travels