Kasuali(Himachal Pradesh)

STATE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

LOCATION : KASAULI(77 km from Shimla,15 km from Dharampur,64 km from Chandigarh and 35 km from Kalka. )


We took a Tata Indica from Delhi in the morning at around 9am and started off for Kasauli and after travelling about 238 kms reached the city of Chandigrah. Treating ourselves with some fruitjuice we headed towards Kalka and in a while we were leaving Kalka and took the Kalka-Shimla high way. Some distance into the highway we had to take a left turn towards Kasuali(our destination) forsaking the highway which went towards Shimla...

We reached Kasauli, the small hill station, at around 5.30-6.00pm and as we soon realised that we were an hour late. Noticing a Bengali family coming in for a room for just the night hault, the hotel managements took the fullest advantage of the situaition as they started pitching in unusually high rates.

One strange fact about hotels Kasuali is that none of them have rooms. They all offer you suites which are priced around Rs. 1000-4000(INR)/night.That price list must have made you think twice whether to include Kasauli in ur next trip if your looking for a economic one...but trust me during off seasons these prices are slashed down to an unbelivable amount.

Kasauli:

The view of the series of hills from Kasauli


Kasauli is a quaint little town that seems to exist in a time wrap of an era that reminds one of the 19th century. Kasauli is one of the small towns developed by the British during the 'hey day' of the empire. Since this place has not been commercialised yet many tourist planners overlook this town. That has no doubt been a blessing in disguise for this town.
There is a sense of freshness which you will not notice in any other hill stations and there are deffinetly more local people around than hustling tourists in Kasauli.
One more thing I loved about this place is the relaxed speed at which the world moves around here. Ones wakes up to the clamour of the monkeys at around 6am and early enough to witness the utterly glorious sunrise from beyond the eastern hills.

View of the sunrise from Kasauli

From our Hotel porch one could get lost in counting the series of hills thats run from east to west, covered in fern and and evergreen deciduous forest.
A jacket or a wollen garment is enough to protect you against the chill that remains during the morning hours. But after the sun comes out it becomes more soothing and through out the day a pleasant weather prevails. It is not until the late evening that the urge to put on something beckons.

View from the Hotel Porch

You might find your lunch and dinner bill exceeding by just that extra margin from the what you had chalked out but relax. The hotel management is not making unfair profit. This is because food supply in the hills is a costly affair and in a town which is cut off from the main thorough fair of the highway it is not something unusual.

Places of Interest:
The main attraction of Kasauli is the sheer natural beauty that co-exists with human habitat. Its colonial ambience is reinforced by cobbled paths, small shops, gabled houses with charming facades and scores of neat little gardens and orchards. There is not much must visit places of interest but I would like to suggest individuals who love trecking, this is a perfect place for you to take a look around here.



The Church in Kasauli

Monkey Point: Monkey Point, the highest point of Kasauli and offers picturesque view of the hills, valleys, River Sutlej and the town of Kasauli. It is now under the Indian Air Force for new family apartment blocks for Indian Air Force personnel.

Sanawar: Just 6-km from Kasauli, Sanawar houses one of the best schools in the country. The Lawrence school is almost one hundred-years-old and a major attraction of the town.Then there is the Temple of Nehra Devi. There is a waterfall overlooking the temple, which is said to remain as refreshing and full of water as always even in severe summers and drought.

Dharampur: Just 15-km from Kasauli on the National Highway No.22, Dharampur is situated. Amidst the healthy air of the fragrant pines, Dharampur has one of the best hospitals in India for the cure of tuberculosis.

Looking forward to comments...