[vattyboy]

Imagine the following scene for a moment: You’re standing on a mountaintop, taking a deep breath of fresh air and enjoying the peace and view for a few minutes before descending to the nearest hut and ordering a cool refreshing drink.

With the same image in my mind. I decided to travel to hill stations to beat the heat in the Hot month of May.
Now after deciding on a vacation in the hill station, the next thing was to decide on the place. I have been to Spiti (Kalpa, Sangla, and Chitkul) in the past, and done Shimla and Manali a couple of times too. Jammu and Kashmir were also done in the past, keeping in mind it is very far from Udaipur, and going by car will take a lot of time, and with only 1 week of free time I had, it was ruled out.

Finally, after a couple of thoughts, CHAIL-KUFRI-NARKANDA-SHIMLA was decided because this time I wanted the vacations to be more relaxing i.e only a 15-16 hr. drive one way, also going to the height of 3000 above sea level the trees, plants vegetation decreases and I want to spend this vacation in greenery this time.

I booked the hotel in Chail near Shimla a month ago because in the summer you know there is very less availability of hotels.

Day 1

I woke up in the morning by 8 am, and all the luggage was packed at yesterday night by me and my family. After waking up all of us had our breakfast and then took the bath. At 10 am I started to load all the suitcases in the boot of our beloved Jeep Compass and loaded it to the brim. Jeep Compass takes 3 medium size suitcases. I also have Kia Seltos and I find the Seltos boot space slightly better than the compass.

We always take the blessings of Lord Shiva before leaving for such a long trip of approx. 2500 km. There is a very beautiful temple of Lord Shiva situated along the Fateh Sagar lake in my city Udaipur called MAHAKALESHWAR TEMPLE near Rani road.




Route Selected



Udaipur - Chittorgarh- Bhilwara to Jaipur- Kotputli - Narnaul - Ambala.

By the time we left UDAIPUR, it was noon already. Google Maps was suggesting another route till Jaipur i.e via Nathdwara, but I didn't select it because it is only a 4-lane highway till Rajsamand and single lane road of 100 km after Rajsamand till Bhilwara, and here the Chittorgarh road 6 lane highway with minimal traffic.

Enroute Jaipur





Road Review

Udaipur - Bhilwara (150 km) -

Smooth and gorgeous 6-lane National Highway with Low traffic. Distance covered in 1.5 hr.

Bhilwara- Jaipur (250 km)-

Same smooth NH with increased traffic to moderate levels. Distance covered in 3.5 hr.
We reached Jaipur by 5-5.30 in the evening.

Jaipur to Kotputli (100 km) -

This is the worst patch of 100 km, it is a torture. Worst road with a lot of potholes, no lane markings, dust, and very high traffic in Jaipur city outskirts. Distance covered in 2.5 hrs.

A Quick Dinner stop near Kotputli

By the time we reached Kotputli, it was already 8 pm so we decided to have our dinner


At Price Hotel just 10 km from Kotputli. I would rate their food quality and taste good. There is an AC restaurant inside.




Kotputli to Ambala ( 320 km)-

This is a newly built 6-lane Expressway. It is truly a piece of art. Gorgeous and smooth with absolutely no traffic. The speed limit set by Govt. on This expressway is just 100 kmph and it is extremely difficult to keep the speed under 100 kmph on this highway. 120 kmph speed limit should be there seeing the traffic and build quality of the highway. In every 4-5 km there are speed cameras installed for each which shows our speed on the display screen.
Distance covered in 3 hrs. and reached ambala by 11.30 in the night.
As this expressway is newly built there are no Hotels and restaurants. So for a night stay, I went 5 km inside Ambala City in search of Good Hotels and found this one.

Palmdel Resort Ambala City

The rooms are very neat and clean, the staff is courteous. Location is best, it is in the middle of the city and highway. The city is 5 km from here. The benefit is the next day morning I can quickly join the highway without the obstruction of the city traffic.
Price was Rs 3500 without breakfast.

Summary

Total Distance covered 850 Km in 11 hrs including stops for food.
Total Toll- Rs 1300

Loved the Jeep Compass, It is a beautiful machine with excellent mile-munching capabilities, and after driving 850km I was not tired at all. Its suspension setup provides high-speed stability.

Mileage - 18 kmpl at speeds of 100- 120 kmph, some idling plus occasional Pedal to metal driving
This is why I LOVE TURBO DIESEL.

[vattyboy]

Day 2

Got up in the morning, had an amazing buffet breakfast, and after that, I proceeded to the parking lot to clean the Compass.

In the parking lot of the resort

Route

On Ambala bypass towards Panchkula

Entry in Himachal Pradesh

There was very long traffic jam on the toll booth.

Panchkula to Chail

A 4-lane National highway with some under-construction patches on which the traffic is diverted to the opposite lane which is very dangerous, I had some very dangerous close calls there.
In past 5-6 years due to lot of construction work alongside the road, the road has lost its charm otherwise in the past we can see a lot of natural beauty and green mountains while driving on this road.

View Along the NH5 near Solan

Stopped for bio break on the petrol pump from where i took this beautiful pictures.


30 km before Chail we need to leave the NH and join a single-lane road to Chail by taking a right turn.

View Along this road

The moment you enter this road you will leave all the traffic, city hassle behind.






This last 30 km has the best scenes and forests, the temperature starts to fall drastically within just a few km on this road.

Notice the change in Vegetation

Beauty in Natural Beauty

Finally arrived at Chail and did check in the hotel after steering for around 6 hours with an average speed of just 30 kmph.

Treehouse Chailvilas

Got a room for Rs6700 per night with breakfast.

Day 2- Total distance traveled 150 km in 6 hrs.

Mileage- got 13 kmpl due to navigating in hills.

Tolls- Rs 210.

Compass performed well on the curves and twisties, because of 350 NM of torque, I was able to surpass almost all the automobiles with just a 40% tap on the accelerator. It was climbing in 4th gear and above all the time

[vattyboy]

Day 3 (Chail to Narkanda)

1. Narkanda is a very beautiful city situated nearly 80 km from Chail at a higher elevation of 2700 m.

2. Narkanda is famous because of its fruit orchards, especially Cherries, and Apples.

3. Due to its higher elevation the temperature is low in comparison to Shimla and Chail, the air is more pure and it has more dense vegetation.

Chail- Kufri Road
If you love to drive a car on the ghats, then this road is for you, it is a single-lane road with some good twisties and you will experience some close calls with the oncoming traffic which adds to the character of the road.




For lunch, we stop at this van alongside the road. We ordered kadi chawal and rajma chawal, and the taste was delicious. Eating the hot local food in a chilled climate surrounded by such nice greenery is a very different experience.




After having lunch we started driving again toward Narkanda. After passing kufri traffic drastically decreases. If you want to stay closer to nature than Chail is good and ignore kufri and shimla.






CHERRY FARMS IN NARKANDA

We stopped at this cherry farm, it is located 7-8 kms before Narkanda.
The last time when we visited Chail all cherries were ready in the some month of May. But this year due to some disturbance in the climate, the farmers were saying that they will get ready in June.








After spending some quality time in Narkanda we drove back to Chail and called off the day.

[vattyboy]

Day 4

Woke up in the morning, had breakfast and we headed out for a walk in the dense Chail forest. This dense forest is just 400 metres from our Hotel.











After a brisk walk, we returned to the hotel, checked out from it and checked in into the New Resort.

ITC Welcome Hotel

Temperature Controlled Swimming Pool




Having Veg and Non-Veg Thali

The taste was pathetic, there were only bones of chicken without any meat. It was a waste of money.

After having lunch we didn't go out to take some rest, but in the evening when we headed out we got stuck in the hailstorm. The hailstones size was so big that it felt like they will leave the dent on my car

[vattyboy]

Day 5

Woke up in the morning and asked the person in the reception to suggest some good places to see nearby and he told us about the Shiv Temple situated on the mountain peak in Chail.



Cars only go up to a certain point, and after that, we need to walk 500m to 700m to reach the temple.










After visiting the Shiv Temple, we proceeded to the Capital of Himachal Pradesh i.e. Shimla.

Shimla

Mall Road, Shimla

Shimla nowadays is overcrowded and dirty. Sad to see that the construction is increasing on a rapid scale thus diminishing the natural forest and scenic beauty. Near the tourist spots, there were no parking spaces available and the available ones were 1 km away from the tourist spots. There was 45-minute waiting time for the lift which took tourists to the mall road.
Due to all these reasons, next time I will not include Shimla in my itinerary.

[vattyboy]

Day 6

After enjoying and having a great holiday in the hills, it was time to head back home. Woke up early in the morning, had breakfast and did all the packing of luggage and loaded it into the boot of the car.

The weather was so good that day which made it even more difficult for us to leave the hills.









Took this route for Delhi

I wanted to drive on the newly constructed DELHI TO DAUSA patch of the DELHI-MUMBAI expressway, during my return journey I opted to go via DELHI rather than AMBALA-NARNAUL. There was very dense traffic from Shimla to Delhi all the way, and the car couldn't cross 100 kmph safely.

.

Reached Delhi in around 7 hours and had dinner in Yo China restaurant.






Hotel For the Night



The rooms were good although the construction and interior were old-school, took The front-facing room with the metro station view.

[vattyboy]

Day 7

Delhi To Udaipur


Took the route of Delhi- Dausa- Jaipur- Ajmer- Bhilwara- Chittaurgarh- Udaipur.

Fresh Delhi Dausa Expressway



Delhi to Dausa is an excellent road with little to no traffic, keeping the speed under 120 kmph is very difficult. In a compass, one can maintain speeds above 150 with ease.

Observed that people were driving dangerously fast on this road. One Endeavour, Tata Nexon, Innova Crysta and Xuv 500 zoomed past me at speeds of approximately 140- 160 kmph. The Innova guy was doing his top-speed run I guess.

Talking about the speed cameras, are sited every 5 km and only a few of them were working.
Dausa to Jaipur is a 4-lane highway with moderate traffic.

On Jaipur Ring Road


Jaipur to Udaipur is again a 6-lane highway with low traffic, The reason I choose to go to Chittorgarh from Bhilwara rather than Rajsamand is because Rajsamand road is 4 lanes and takes more time.

Reached Udaipur in 10 Hours. Still felt fresh due to the comfort of the Jeep compass.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[PaddleShifter]

Very nice photos. Being a resident of Panchkula, I havent experienced snow ever (Shimla is just 96km from my home). But I have visited Chail around three or four times and Narkanda once.

During my first ever visit to Chail, we (a group of 12 guys) stayed at Chail Villas Swiss tents and cottages. Is this the same in which you stayed? Its located on the Chail Kufri road and due to lower light pollution in hills at night, the city lights of Shimla are a view to experience from the hotel lawn around the tents.

[haisaikat]

That is a precise and good travelogue. Photos came out nice and your machine has returned some envious mileage figures. Chail is beautiful and also on our pending visit list. We drove to Himachal (Navratri in the Himachal - A 4500+ KM Roadtrip from Kolkata in an Innova Crysta) last year from Kolkata and Shimla was our last stop.

We stayed at Hotel Combermere for only two advantages, one they have their own parking and two they have a separate private lift to the mall road. Yes there is a change of lift required on floor 6 but nonetheless it removes your dependency on the tourism public lift. Also tourism lift closes by 9 pm I think and the private lift is not bound by such limitations. Also one more thing, opposite tourism lift there is a public parking.

Keep travelling and waiting for more trips from you.

Sharing some pics

This is the shared parking at the ground level in front of Combermere, the hotel is the building in the background, this is adjacent to the tourism lift


Shimla mall evening

[Rahkehs]

If I am remembering correctly, I traveled from Dehradun to Vadodara and back last year and the road from Bhilwara to Udaipur via Nathdwara was equally good. It’s 4-Lane all the way and the speed-limit is higher at 100KMPH.

[vattyboy]

Originally Posted by PaddleShifter

During my first-ever visit to Chail, we (a group of 12 guys) stayed at Chail Villas Swiss tents and cottages. Is this the same in which you stayed? It is located on the Chail Kufri road and due to lower light pollution in the hills at night, the city lights of Shimla are a view to experience from the hotel lawn around the tents.

Hi, paddle shifter,

This is the hotel where I stayed. But the name is quite different I guess, otherwise, all the points you mentioned are experienced in this hotel too.

Originally Posted by haisaikat

That is a precise and good travelogue. Photos came out nice and your machine has returned some envious mileage figures.
We stayed at Hotel Combermere for only two advantages, one they have their parking and two they have a separate private lift to the m, all road. Yes, there is a change of lift required nonetheless it removes your dependency on the tourism p ubl,ic lift. Also, the tourism lift closes by 9 pm I think and the private lift is not bound by such limitations. Also, one more thing opposite tourism lt there is public parking.

Hi Haisaikat thanks.

The public parking near the public lift was full and I had to park my car 2 km ahead. Great to hear that your hotel had a private lift that made things easier for you. Next time plan to stay in Chail and visit Shimla only 1 day. Chail is closer to nature.

=Rahkehs; remember remembering correctly, I travelled from Dehradun to Vadodara and back last year and the road from Bhilwara to Udaipur via Nathdwara was 4-lane. It’s 4-lane all the way and the speed limit is higher at 100KMPH.

Bhilwara to Udaipur via Chittorgarh is a 6-lane highway.
For going to Nathdwara one have to leave the 6 lane highway to join Bhilwara- Nathdwara 4 lane highway which is slow in comparison to Bhilwara- Chittorgarh highway.

Instead of leaving the 6 lane highway. One should continue driving straight.

Jaipur to Udaipur is a straight 6 lane road.

[saubi2299]

Originally Posted by vattyboy

The public parking near the public lift was full and I had to park my car 2 km ahead. Great to hear that your hotel had a private lift that made things easier for you. Next time plan to stay in Chail and visit Shimla only 1 day. Chail is closer to nature.

Having stayed in Shimla for more than a year, I will suggest that one should stay in or around Hotel Oberoi Cecil, depending on budget. One can search for Hotels in Chaura Maidan.
One can easily walk to the Mall Road from there, or can take shared cabs running on frequent intervals. The road is restricted otherwise for any vehicles other than licensed shared cabs and some govt vehicles.

Another advantage is that you will avoid the Shimla city traffic and will be away from chaos.