Shimla is not what it used to be 15 years ago. Now it is dotted with buildings and hotels.
Do not expect a green and beautiful hill station. Now it is a congested place with only Mall Road to visit.
The tours organised by the HPTDC costing Rs 250 are not worth as there is hardly any beautiful spots covered, and the roads are too bad to travel. Hence, if you are heading for Manali, these tours can be avoided. Kufri has no views and Naldera Golf course is worse than a scool play ground.
So, if you are visiting Shimla, focus on Mall road only. The Mall is very neat and clean well maintained and full of shops that offer lot of goods at good prices. There are many eating joints of which Gupta Bhojanalaya is good for vegetarian food. Softy for Rs 20 is the best in Shimla, so don’t miss it. Just behind Baljees on Mall road there are many cheap eating joints that offer good food like parathas, chana bhaturas, etc.
Avoid Indian Coffee House on Mall road. It serves the worst possible food, which is cheap but without any good taste. Coffee is third class, soup has no taste, and dosas never taste so bad elsewhere in India as they do in Indian Coffee House.
TOY TRAIN
The old charm of toy train is gone. I suggest to avoid the toy train as you will be dissapointed. There are no good views and you will see littered plastic and garbage all along the track. Booking toy train is another difficult task as it gets to wait listed ticket status soon after booking starts. There is no point in wasting 5 hours when you can see the same scenery in 3 hour bus journey. Tickets for general compartment are available on the spot at Kalka railway station for Rs 33 but the compartment gets very crowded.
WHERE TO STAY
Accommodation in Shimla is in abundance. But one has to be very careful while chosing location of accommodation because the vehicles are not allowed in the Mall road areas. If you take a far off accommodation then you will be spending most of your time in walking and climbing stairs. Although there is lift that transports you to the mall road from ISBT road, but even then you will be far away from the main area of the Mall where all the action is. There is large queue for the lift and will take lot of waiting time.
Locationwise the best option are the following budget hotels:
Hotel Dalziel (tel 2652691)costing Rs 725 for double room is the best located hotel for budget traveller. One can easily walk from Railway station or main bus stand (ISBT) and reach this place in 15 minutes. Rooms are neat and clean with hot showers and in house restaurant. Mall road is 10 minutes walk from here.
Hotel fernhill (Tel: 2654157) is very near to Railway station and charges Rs 880 for double room. Other hotels are Ranjan (Tel: 2652818) for Rs 330, Vikrant (Tel: 2653602) for Rs 770, Kohinoor (Tel:9817075696) for Rs 500, Grand hotel, Comfort, Woodland, Uphar, Sun View, Classic, Puneet, etc are other cheap hotels.
Hotel Flora is on Lakkar Bazar and charges Rs 1000 for double room. It is 2 Kms from railway station.
Avoid the Youth Hostel (YHAI) as it is far away and dirty. The owner/warden is a cheat and fleeces lot of money through commissions when booking taxis and tours.
ONWARD JOURNEY TO MANALI
If you are planning to go to Manali from Shimla, there are very good buses available. Most of these buses leave at 8 am in the morning from ISBT. There are two evening state buses run by HPRTC at 8.20 pm and 9.20 pm. Booking for these buses for about Rs 400 are done at the scandel point on ridge road near the HPTDC office. HPTDC runs volvo and deluxe buses for Manali. But the corrupt staff at HPTDC will deny boooking unless you come through touts or travel agents.
SHOPPING:
If you are going to Manikaran, then I should tell you that prices in Manikaran are the best for wooden articles and dry fruits. In Shimla best prices for shopping for ladies items are found at Lakkar Bazaar. Mall road has some good shops offering branded items fo good prices.
There is a very good shop on the Mall road that sells a wonderful range of ruck sacks at very low prices. It also sells the camping accessories.
PLACES TO VISIT:
Kali Bari, Scandal Point, Mall road, Ridge road, Sankat Mochan, Lakkar bazar, Ridge road, Church and Jaku temple are all close to each other and can be visited in few hours time. You will need to walk as vehicles are not allowed on these places. There are many benches and sitting areas all over so that you can rest when tired of walking.
BANK ATM
Mall road has many ATM machines so there will not be any problem in withdrawing your money.
CYBER CAFE
Interstellar travels on 34/1 Mall road is the best cyber cafe located on the first floor. It remains open till 10 pm. It also sells pen drives and memory cards at bargain prices. They also help you in transferring your digital camera photos to DVD.