Dalhousie is a town of about 7,000 in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, laid out across five hills at around 1,970 metres and named after the Governor-General who established it in 1854 as a sanatorium and summer retreat. The DHAULADHAR RANGE fills the northern horizon.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, Roman Trail earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.
One honest note about the photographs. THREE OF THE FOUR ATTRIBUTABLE FRAMES FOR DALHOUSIE ARE UNDIFFERENTIATED MOUNTAINS, which could be almost anywhere in Himachal. Only the Shiva statue at the top of this post is specific to the place. The town's colonial architecture, its churches and its malls are described below rather than shown, which is an honest limitation rather than a hidden one.
What Is Here
THE TOWN IS A SET OF LEVEL WALKS AND THAT IS ITS PLEASURE. Gandhi Chowk and Subhash Chowk are the two centres, joined by the Thandi Sadak and Garam Sadak, the cold road and the warm road, named for which gets the sun. They are flat, car-light and lined with deodar, and walking the circuit takes an hour.
Four colonial churches survive, St Francis, St John, St Patrick and St Andrew, built between 1863 and 1909, and they are the architectural record of why the town exists.
The hills at sunset are the second image, which is the daily event here: the Dhauladhar turning pink from a bench on the Thandi Sadak.
KHAJJIAR IS 22KM AWAY AND IS WHAT MOST VISITORS COME FOR. A saucer-shaped meadow at 1,950 metres with a small lake in the middle and a ring of deodar around it, marketed as the Mini Switzerland of India. It is beautiful and it is busy, with horse rides, zorbing and paragliding in season.
DAINKUND PEAK IS THE BEST WALK, at 2,745 metres, about 10km from town with a short climb from the road to the Pholani Devi temple at the top and a view along the range. The ridge is known as the singing hill for the wind.
Chamba is 56km away and is the serious cultural trip: an old hill capital with Lakshmi Narayan temples from the tenth century and a museum of Pahari painting.
Panchpula and Satdhara are waterfall and spring walks close to town, and Kalatop sanctuary is a deodar forest reserve on the Khajjiar road.
When to Go
March to June and September to November. May, June and October are best.
Summer is the season, when the plains come up, and weekends in May and June are busy.
Avoid the monsoon, July to mid September: heavy rain, no views, leeches, and landslides on the approach roads.
December to February brings snow, which is beautiful and closes the Dainkund road and sometimes the Khajjiar one. Rooms are not heated and the nights are well below freezing.
Getting There
By train to Pathankot, 80km away and about three hours by road, which is the nearest railhead.
By road from Amritsar, roughly five hours; from Chandigarh, eight; from Delhi, twelve.
By air, Pathankot has limited flights and Amritsar is the practical airport.
The road up from Pathankot is three hours of continuous hill driving, which is the usual Himachali arrangement and is the main physical risk of the trip.
Is Dalhousie Safe for Women?
Dalhousie is a quiet family hill station and is very safe. The FCDO does publish advised-against areas for India, and being precise about them matters more than a general warning. It advises against all travel to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, except air travel to and movement within the city of Jammu, and against all travel within 10km of the India-Pakistan border, where the Wagah-Attari crossing is closed. It advises against all but essential travel to the state of Manipur, including Imphal. None of that is anywhere near this destination, and it is worth knowing which parts of a very large country the warnings actually describe.
THE ROADS ARE THE PRINCIPAL RISK, as across Himachal and Uttarakhand. Three hours of hill curves from Pathankot, shared with buses, and road accidents are the commonest serious incident for visitors in these states. Travel in daylight, refuse an overnight driver who is continuing up the hill, and say something if the speed is wrong.
Khajjiar's activities are unregulated in practice. Paragliding, zorbing and horse rides are sold by individual operators with variable equipment and no meaningful oversight. Ask about insurance and equipment, and decline if the answer is vague.
Dainkund is an exposed ridge with weather that changes fast and a drop on both sides, and the last section is a walk rather than a drive.
Monkeys are present in the town and bold around food.
Nights are cold in every month and rooms are unheated.
The Dalhousie Packing List
A high Victorian hill station: mild sunny days, cold nights, no heating anywhere.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the layer this place is built for: the days are mild and sunny on the warm road and genuinely cold on the shaded one, which is why the two roads have those names, and the evenings drop hard. Wool covers that range in one garment and covers your arms, which is the dress expectation here. A heavyweight merino base layer from November to March, when unheated rooms at 1,970 metres are the real problem.
A Columbia Powder Lite insulated hooded jacket for the evenings and for Dainkund, and a Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket.
Waterproof hiking shoes with Darn Tough merino socks: the town walks are paved but Dainkund, Panchpula and Kalatop are not.
Fleece-lined thermal leggings for December to February, when this town is properly cold.
Not linked and worth packing: A WARM HAT AND GLOVES for the ridge in any month; A SCARF; A TORCH, since power cuts are routine; A WATER PURIFICATION METHOD; and CASH, because ATMs are few and unreliable above Pathankot. If you intend to paraglide at Khajjiar, ask about insurance before you pay.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Dalhousie
Emergency numbers: 112 is the single national emergency number and works from any phone. 100 reaches police directly, 108 ambulance and 101 fire. 1091 is the national women's helpline and 1098 the child helpline.
Road accidents are the commonest serious incident for visitors in Himachal, and the approach here is three hours of continuous hill driving from Pathankot shared with buses: travel in daylight, refuse a driver who has come overnight from the plains and is continuing up, and say something if the speed is wrong. KHAJJIAR'S PARAGLIDING, ZORBING AND HORSE RIDES ARE SOLD BY INDIVIDUAL OPERATORS with variable equipment and little oversight: ask about insurance and equipment and decline a vague answer. DAINKUND IS AN EXPOSED RIDGE at 2,745 metres with drops on both sides and fast-changing weather. THE MONSOON, July to mid September, brings landslides on the approach roads. SNOW CLOSES THE DAINKUND ROAD and sometimes the Khajjiar one in winter. NIGHTS ARE BELOW FREEZING IN WINTER AND ROOMS ARE UNHEATED. Monkeys are bold around food.
US State Department travel advisory: the India advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/india, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: Dalhousie has a civil hospital for routine and emergency care, with Chamba about two hours away and Pathankot three. Serious cases go to Amritsar or Chandigarh, which is a long road. Dial 108 for an ambulance. Insurance covering road evacuation is sensible. Healthcare in the large Indian cities is genuinely good in the private hospitals and variable in the public ones, and the private sector expects payment or a direct insurance guarantee up front. Carry insurance with a high medical limit and repatriation cover, and carry proof of it. The commonest problem by far is not dramatic: it is stomach upset, so drink sealed bottled or filtered water, and be more careful with raw salad and cut fruit than with hot food cooked in front of you.
Official health authority: the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. covers the Himachal Pradesh state health service
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in New Delhi.
Official tourism authority: Incredible India, the Ministry of Tourism's official site. publishes the Kalatop sanctuary permits, the Khajjiar activity operators and winter road status for Dainkund and Chamba
Takeaways
Walk the Thandi Sadak and the Garam Sadak. The names tell you which to use when.
Khajjiar is the day trip, and its activities are unregulated. Ask first.
Dainkund is the best view and the most exposed ridge. Take the warm layer.
Winter nights are below freezing with no heating. That is the thing to pack for.
Solo women safety assessment: Dalhousie is an easy and rather old-fashioned place to be alone. It is a family hill station whose visitors are Indian couples and groups from Punjab and Delhi, the two central malls are flat, car-light and busy with strollers in the evening, and the atmosphere is closer to a quiet spa town than to a backpacker hub. Dress covered as anywhere in Himachal, and nothing else about the social situation needs managing; the attention here is noticeably less than in the plains. 112 IS THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY NUMBER, with 100 for police, 108 for an ambulance and 1091 the women's helpline, and there is a civil hospital in town, though anything serious means a long road to Amritsar or Chandigarh. THE FCDO'S INDIAN PROHIBITIONS DO NOT TOUCH HIMACHAL at all. THE RISK THAT MATTERS IS THE JOURNEY, not the destination: three hours of continuous hill driving up from Pathankot, narrow and curving and shared with buses, and road accidents are far and away the commonest serious incident for visitors in these states. Travel in daylight, never take a driver who has driven through the night from the plains and is now going up a mountain, and be willing to say the speed is wrong. THE SECOND THING IS SPECIFIC TO KHAJJIAR, which is where most people spend a day: the paragliding, zorbing and horse rides there are run by individual operators with variable equipment and no meaningful regulation, so ask what insurance exists and what the equipment is, and walk away from a vague answer. It is a lovely meadow and you lose nothing by skipping the activities. THE THIRD IS COLD, which sounds trivial and is the commonest complaint: at 1,970 metres the nights are cold in every month and below freezing from December to February, in guesthouses with no heating, so the warm layer is for sleeping in as much as for the ridge at Dainkund.
Reading On
Dalhousie is western Himachal and Chamba is its old capital. The Dharamsala packing list covers the Tibetan hill town south and the Kasauli packing list and Shimla packing list the lower and eastern hill stations, with the Manali packing list and Kasol packing list for the Kullu and Parvati valleys. Higher, the Spiti Valley packing list and Ladakh packing list cover the trans-Himalaya. Below, the Amritsar packing list and Chandigarh packing list cover Punjab, with the Delhi packing list beyond. East, the Mussoorie packing list and Dehradun packing list cover Uttarakhand. For the country the India travel guide for women and the India packing list carry the transport and the practical material in full. For why one wool layer covers a sunny road and a shaded one, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
