Planning a trip to Himachal Pradesh.....
 

This coming June, planning to arrive in Chandighar by air and spend the night at a hotel. Next day planning to drive to Mandi, 200km from Chandighar, We are avoiding Simla as iwe were told it is crowded. Plan to stay in Mandi for three nights in a clean hotel with good food to eat. Do you have any recommendation on hotels or resorts? Plan to do day trips from Mandi about 100Km each way for two days while we are there. Is there any suggestion for side seeing trips? Please any info this will help.... Thanks.

Haven't been to Mandi, but have driven from Shimla to Dharamsala in June a couple of years ago. Shimla did have a lot of tourists -mostly Indian. Because it is high season, there were a lot of activities, like evening concerts on the mall going on. I actually enjoyed it more than in October, when it was more quiet.

Have you driven on mountain roads in India before? Keep in mind that you can really only average about 50 km per hour, and even at that it can be terrifying in spots!

Instead of driving to Mandi, doing long day trips, then driving back to Chandighar. I think I would instead fly into Chandighar, take the toy train up to Shimla, then drive to Mandi and on to Dharamsala, flying out of Kanga airport. Less backtracking.

IWe (dtr and I) wer in HP also in June (2010).

Stayed at Visco Resort in Mandi. Loved it, but it is not what I would call
"resort". Pretty setting on river (which was dry) and bright, clean rooms (ours was pale pink--much nicer than it sounds). Delcious food and lovely staff. Lots of Indian vacationers there; I think we were the only Westerners. We stayed in the "annexe" building (not the buidling where you check in). Breakfast was room service if you wishes, for no extra charge.

But three days in Mandi????!!!

We loved Shimla. The crowds were not bothersome, but fun. I never felt the Mall was too congested, and the surroundings are beautiful. Now Manali--THAT was congested!!

Since you are gong to HP, may I recommend checking out Judge's Court in Pragpur? Fantastic place, adjacent --a fwe minutes' walk--to village of Pragpur and near another lovely village called Garli.

Hi there. I lived in Himachal in 2008 and 2009. If you are looking for a beautiful peaceful place then Rewalsar may fit your requirements. Good luck!

Thanks to each of you who replayed here. Reading more, I have decided to fly to Chandigarh, stay over night. Take kalka - Simla train next day. Stay outside shimal city center, that is at Mashobra for quietness. Is ther any good resort/ hotel comes to mind? Is there stricking place comes to your mind to do day trips from shimla? After three days, returning to Delhi via Chandigarh.

I loved Wildflower Hotel outside Shimla. You can taxi into Shimla. It is very peaceful.

This special package runs through the end of June. Note the rate is for four nights:

http://www.oberoihotels.com/oberoi_w...WFH_SO_JUN2012

When we went, we didn't want to mountain bike, so they substituted hosrseback riding. The rafting was amazing.

Thank you for your tips, my travel agent also recommending the wildflower hotel!