The land of the Dalai Lama all the way up in the mountains is a must visit. We decided to spend a mountain weekend 1457 meters high up, and McLoed Ganj (also known as upper Dharamsala) was it. The fact that the hill station houses a number of Tibetan exiles is pretty obvious with ‘save Tibet’ and ‘sacrifices made in Tibet’ posters everywhere.
The maximum number of tourists who come to Dharamshala, come for the teachings of the Dalai Lama, and come from outside India. Walking around Dharamshala, we were surrounded with tourists from England, Israel, Germany. Even the food caters to their tastes- so besides Tibetan food, we found lots of European cusines
TO DO:
Visit the Dalai Lama for one of his teachings, or the monastery by his home. Or go for a beautiful walk up the mountains and have some local tea. Or walk through the crowded city centre and find food hotspots. Or drive down to see the most picturesque cricket stadium. Dharamshala is a place you can spend 3 days in or 3 months, you’ll always find something to do. And with tourists from everywhere, you’ll always come by friendly people.
A walk uphill and downhill was a tiring but rewarding way to spend our first day in Dharamshala. With beautiful landscape views from every side this was a perfect photo opportunity
Monastery:
The home of the Dalai Lama is right next to a beautiful monastery. A peaceful quiet place inspite of the number of people who come to visit, this is a must in your checklist for Dharamshala.
Tea Gardens:
A short drive away from McLoed Ganj is a beautiful tea estate. If you’ve seen lots of tea estates in the past this won’t stand out, but it definitely is a pretty place to visit
Cricket Stadium:
Even someone who is completely unconcerned about cricket, like me, has to appreciate this place. Imagine a cricket stadium over 1000 meters up, surrounded by clouds and mountains. Absolute heaven. Am sure most players would do anything to play here, just like we would pay any amount to watch a match here
TO REACH:
We were exceptionally unlucky with our travel to Dharamshala. Our flight in and out was cancelled. Given that its at least a 10 hour drive vs a 1 hour flight, we chose flight. Unfortunately, the only flight there is Kingfisher, which is risky. The fact that we traveled in the monsoon was riskier. On the way in, we managed to fly to Chandigarh, and have a shorter road trip (6 hours). On the way back, since our return flight was cancelled, we rented a car as a backup.
My advice to anyone traveling up north is- try booking a train to the closest spot, and rent a car after. Flights are unreliable because of the weather, and cars because traffic is completely unpredictable. Lesson learnt, I have my train tickets booked for my next trip out.
TO STAY:
After alot of research we picked our favourite resort of the lot- Chonor House, and it turned out that it’s Richard Gere’s choice as well. A quaint little boutique hotel attached to a Tibetean monastery, each room has a different theme. We got ‘Mythical Animals’ and had dragons painted all over our room. We were right next to ‘Birds of Paradise’ and ‘Wild Animals of Tibet’. The hotel doesn’t have too many rooms, and bookings are usually made well in advance, so we got quite lucky. The service was pleasant, inspite of a bit of a language barrier, but the food was a bit bland and disappointing. We found better authentic Tibetean food down the road in the city centre.
TO SPEND:
The hotel was approximately 200 USD a night with breakfast included. The meals and other activities are at a maximum of 50 USD a day
nutterbugg 