Its a saying "Nature is not a place to visit its a home". And this saying suits for Himachal. I visited Dharamshala just few days before. It a beautiful place to visit with full of natural beauty. Himachal is in Shivalik Range and this place is widely famous for Flora. Its has variety of wildlife too.
Visiting Dharamshala is not that much problematic. one can easily get Volvo for Dharamshala from Delhi, Chandigarh, Shimla etc. If you have not any good experience in riding car in hill stations then personally advice you not to travel by your own vehicle, you can hire taxi and it is easily available there.
About Hotel you can find variety of hotels there stating from rs 700-7000.
Regarding safety then its a 100% secure place, people of Himachal are very innocent and helping.
Best time to visit is feb to march and September to October.