My travel trick ; Visit the place during off season . I visited at the onset of monsoon , people avoid visiting hilly areas during monsoons but it hardly rains during the beginning. I stayed for three days from 5th of July to 7th of July and it rained all of two times.
LOCATION / HOW TO REACH ?
Mcleodganj is situated in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. The best way to reach from Delhi is a train till pathankot ( cost is around 300 for sleeper class) and then you can take a bus (cost is 152 per person) or taxi ( should cost around a 1000 bucks). The bus drops you at the main square. There are different lanes from there to lead you to the town . Every lane has a different story. (I explored all )
PLACES TO STAY ?
The usual price of a hotel room is around 1000, although I dont see any point in shelling out so much money because
(a) We dont require Air conditioning , so AC rooms are a farce. The weather here is so pleasant and nice that you will not even need to switch on any fans. One night i did switch on the fan, and i woke up with a sore throat. And this was during the summers , can imagine the winters ( although I am planning to visit in the winters for the snowfall, and when I do I will put a link to that post here )
(b)You dont need Tv , because you are rarely at the hotel.
(c) The only necessary amenities you will need are a geyser (a must , the water is very cold) and a room with the view. I loved waking up to the serenity of the mountains.
WHAT TO DO?
There are a lot of things you can do here , it all depends on why you are here.
If you are in for adventure, you can trek to triund , bhagsu falls , naddi ( a small village , can be reached after a 4 kms trek). If you are here to just relax , you can visit the dalai lama temple, roam the streets, try different cuisins ( Italian , Chinese , Korean , Punjabi ) , talk to the loacls, the people here are extremley generous and helpful, they smile at you even if they dont know you , super friendl and exhibit a positive vibe.
Here is what i did,
I reached Dharamshala at 7 in the morning , after taking a bus to mcleod , I reached there at around 8 . On finding my self a cheap cosy hotel , I took a bath and got ready to explore the pace. although we were extremely tired from the journey , our excitement got the better of us and we decided to explore the place and then come back in afternoon to grab some sleep , which off course , never happened.
We had our breakfast at the Jiji Cafe, which is down the road to a bhagsu falls, it take all of two minutes to reach here from main square.
We had Jiji's special breakfast, comprising of some vegeatbles, baked potatoes , something that looked like bread , omelette , black tea , a milk tea and a chocolate cookie all for 172 rupees.
A guy was playing like music for us , it was very calm and peaceful.
We went to Tsechokling Gompa temple, and the Dalai lama temple. The place exhibits a different culture and happiness.
After that we started trekking to Bhagsu falls, took us around an hour and a half to reach here. People were taking baths even before the actuall fall, avoiding all the trek , but i recommend going up its not all that far, plus the view is spectacular.
Guys were taking a bath but girls could not because there were no changing rooms. So all girls did was dip there feet in water and enjoy the overpriced maggie ( 50 bucks) .
It rained for almost an hour while we played chess and sipped on to chai and some more overpriced maggie.
There is also a bhagsu temple on the way , but not all that important, can be conveniently skipped.
For dinner we had momos , you will find plenty by afternoon near the tsechokling gompa temple, which is 10 for 40 bucks. I recommend fried momos.
Then for dinner we had Veg tofu thupka and green tea at a restaurant near our hotel for 130 bucks.
The next morning we trekked to Dharamkot, beautiful village , took around an hour to reach there, relaxed at om cafe , where we had pan cakes and tea.
After which we trekked to Naddi , another small village up the hill , hald an hour trek, not very steep , can be reached easily.
At Naddi , we have a sunrise point and a sunset point., I watched the sunset , needless to say it was breath taking , after which we came down to mcleod.
We had some sushi and musi soup at Lung ta restaurant for 200 rupees.
The next day we headed for some falafel roll and fries ( 150 rupees) at Khana nirvana near dalai lama temple.
All in all the trip was woeth it and can be taken as a quick weekend get away. We skipped the Triund trek, but i recommend it to anyone going to mcleodganj , also do stay the night at Triund , you can find tents and food ( if yiu have your own tent , even better).
Drop any queries you may have in the comment section :)
