Chail Journey (Near Shimla)

Recently I decided to plan a trip to Shimla. As i never been to shimla so i was very much excited. I talked to my wife and she told me to plan it. I searched each and every site on web to get the information about Shimla. I came to know that coz of long weekend Shimla is jam packed. At that point of time i started exploring options nearby Shimla and came to know about Chail . A small town situated around 50 Kms away from Shimla. We booked a room in hotel Grand Sunset through Makemytrip.

We started our journey on 1st october (Thursday) from Delhi ISBT Kashmiri Gate, previously we planned to go by train but because of rush didnt got the reservation. Luckily we got reservation in train for our return journey.

When we reached ISBT to catch a volvo bus to Chail, crowd over there surprised us. Anyhow we managed to get two Volvo tickets to Chandigarh. We left ISBT at 11:30 PM and reached Chandigarh at 6 AM. Volvo Bus dropped us at Sector 17 bus stand and buses towards shimla ply from Sector 43 bus stand, so we boarded a local bus for Sector 43. It took us around 15 minutes to reach there and making our pockets light by 10 rupees. From there we boarded a train towards Shimla till Kandaghat. Kandaghat is a small town and if you are going towards Chail and it is better option to change your bus at Kandaghat. Chail is around 29 Kms from here. Our journey from Chandigarh to Kandaghat was very pleasant though we were travelling in local roadways bus. It took us around 4 1/2 hours to reach Kandaghat. Kandaghat is a small town situated on the intersection of Chail and Shimla roads. Taxis from here to chail will cost you around 500 INR whereas buses will charge you 25 INR per person. My wife opted to travel by bus but all seats were full so i insisted on hiring a taxi. As we get into the bus to have a look, some villagers offered us seats. We got a feel that how much they cares about the tourists. Anyway, our 1 hours journey begin towards Chail. We saw untouched beauty of nature on our journey to chail. Very beautiful and full of freshness. We reached our Hotel around 11:30 AM. We checked-in and had rest.Hotel was Grand Sunset, previously i was worried about the hotel as this hotel was not that much popular and my wife is very specific about the ambience of the rooms. She needs rooms to be airy with pleasant paint on the walls. But i got relief when she entered the room and smiled. Room was Premium deluxe facing the valley and presenting very good view. We rested till evening and then decided to explore the local market. We opted to explore the forest road used by the villagers to commute, which is around 700 meters whereas by road it is 3 KM. We had lots of fun in our trekking towards local market. Market was not too big, nearly consists of 15-20 shops. I want to suggest you not to eat in the local restaurants as the food was full of oil and low in quality. Eating in the hotel is the best option. For local sight seeing you need to pay around 600 INR, one nice thing is that they have a union of taxi operators and have constant fare. Famous spots are Sidh Baba ka mandir, Thandi Sadak, Cricket Ground and Palace. If you do not want to indulge yourself in hectic schedule than i suggest you to stay in your hotel, have a walk, enjoy the beauty of Chail. Kufri is around 30 KM from Chail and very good tourist spot. Taxi charges are 850 INR for Kufri and 1600 INR for Kufri+Shimla. Horse ride will get 10/10. It will take you to the highest peak and you can enjoy the beauty of Himalayas. Horse riding will cost you around 250 per person. Shimla is 20 KM from Kufri and 50 KM from Chail. The road from Chail to Shimla via Kufri is not smooth but you will get away with that feeling after seeing the beauty around. very Scenic and very pleasant. Shimla is crowded just like Delhi, lots of traffic, lots of people. everyone is in hurry. The Mall is now home for famous brands. You will not get feeling that you are far away from Delhi. We spent few hours in Shimla and then came back to Chail. Next day we had our Train from Kalka station. we took a local bus from Chail to Solan(25 INR / Person) and then roadways bus from Solan to Kalka(34 INR/person). Kalka is very crowded place so it is my advise to reach there 2 hours before your train time. It may take around 2 hours to cover a distance of 6 KM(from starting of Kalka to Kalka Railway Station). Kalka railway station is 1 KM from main market. On the walk if you are hungry , try Punjabi Dhaba for food. We reached Kalka before time and explored whole station. Then boarded Shatabdi towards Delhi to end our journey on a pleasant note.