Shimla, the largest true hill built station in the world, houses to nearly 928,200 people (as of 2025) in its district and attracts thousands of tourists worldwide every year for its pleasent...delightful climate, the scenic views of the hills and the amazing architectural buildings of the British India times.
Through this blog, Let me take you to Shimla, as to how we explored this beautiful hill station, enjoyed the local food there & how we attempted all the adventure sports & activities... way beyond our limits.
We landed at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh; & travelled via road from Punjab to Haryana to finally reach Himachal Pradesh. It was a very beautiful ride, its hilly mountains, the scenic valleys & the cool climate just looked so unreal and just picture perfect.
We started exploring the place by first visiting a city named Old Kufri, around an hour ride from The Proper City of Shimla. Our driver halted the car at a Horse riding spot at the entrance of the city; We took the horse ride tickets & headed towards the horse station, and took our horses on an adventure ride to explore the new city to the fullest. We finally reached the old Kufri village (sum how), managing to balance on the horses and enjoy the ride at the same time (It was around half a kilometer ride on the horse). Upon arrival of the village, We saw Yaks dressed in Himachali outfit, who looked very fit and fine. We sat on the Yaks, posed for a few pictures and then explored the village by hiking around it's hilly forest.
We then headed towards the adventurous games that were available there at that perticular climate (we missed some snow & aerial games as it wasn't snowing and the wind wasn't cooperating at the time). We tried the Zip line, Valley Crossing, Balancing Bridge, Net climbing & Last but not the least, Bridge Jumping (our favourite). These were just some of the amazing sports to enjoy. We got exhausted by then, so we grabbed some sandwiches (that I'd packed in my bag earlier), stuffed them in our mouth and then climbed towards The Apple Garden. Upon Reaching the Garden, we felt it was just for namesake called garden, Since there were just countable apple trees there. And The sad part was that we weren't allowed to pluck the apples & have it for ourselves. That was sooooooo disappointing. So, We then saw a cafeteria nearby and tried some Pahadi Maggi noodles there (that was good but not worth the hype) & then decided to hike back to our car location, as the climate wasn't cooperating to go back via the horse ride. I feel this was the right choice, as this hike, i must say was one heck of an adventurous experience. Loved it!!
By this time, we were very hungry, so we stopped at the nearest best cafe & had a late.. late lunch at Cafe 103, where we tried waffles, paneer appetizers, steamed momos and some fried rice. The food there was piping hot and so yummy! highly recommended!!!! There are two more specialities of this cafe; One is that the cafe was hockey themed. We could see Some hockey jerseys with signatures & bats, trophies, some medals & also waiters dressed in hockey jerseys. One more thing that makes it special is its scenic view since it's located at the edge of a high altitude. We could almost see the entire Shimla City from the cafe's huge outdoor balcony... That was So Soo Cool!
The next day we visited The Naldehra Valley And The Golf Course ground. Here too one has to opt for horse riding facilities to get to the golf course area. We skipped it as we had explored the horse ride the other day, So after exploring the place, We headed towards Adventure resorts in New Kufri village, Located at a high altitude with chilled cold weather; It was around an hour ride from Naldehara Valley. Here too there were many adventures sports and other different sports available than Old Kufri; Like Go Karting, bungee ejection, sky swinger, etc and many other indoor games too; We chose to spend our time in the Snow Kingdom (since we were visiting this place when it wasn't snowing), and so took the tickets for The Snow Kingdom. The Snow Kingdom from the outside didn't look promising, but when we entered the Chilled Hall, our perspective changed. It had a pretty mild freezing weather (which gradually increased as time passed by), & was equipped with games like basketball, mountain climbing and other snow slides that were so fun to play with. Our fingers and feet were freezing, yet we enjoyed our time there for about one and half hour and then relaxed for the day.
Following day we began exploring the architectural buildings of Shimla. If you are a history lover, then you should visit the Oberoi Cecil Hotel, where writer Rudyard Kipling had been. This hotel had a beautiful modernistic architecture & very pleasingly aesthetic to one's eye.
We then headed to the Mall Road, where we were surprised by the cleanliness and the anti-pollution environment there (since there were no vehicles allowed to enter in the road). We also saw Indian Government Office buildings there whose architecture Was soo europian style, so much that we felt like we were holidaying in Europe than in India.
We then went on a shopping spree at The Lakkar Bazaar, & visited the surrounding locality, the schools, the church , Hawa Ghar and The Ridge (Center of Mall Road) And then also explored The Lower Bazaar, where we could get budget friendly dupes of high quality products. We then had a late lunch at the Himachali Rasoi diner located in Lower Bazaar and tried the locally famous Himachali dishes, The Himachali Dham and Siddu. They were quite appetizing, very unusual & different in taste, But we did really enjoy the food anyways.
Another surprising thing for me about this Bazaar was the lift facility, that helped people travel from Lakkar Bazaar to Lower Bazaar efficiently. This helps the foreigners as well as the local people to move around the bazaar with ease.
Finally on our way home , we were recommended (by our driver) to try the famous Besan Burfee of the Himachal (It was decent, do try it).
Andddd Soooooo, That's pretty much it I must say!!! This was my first journey with my dear hubby, and Shimla was the right choice as it was one such beautiful place to be in. If you haven't visited Shimla, do add it to ur bucketlist..... Well, Ok Then; Let me Sign off this blog here, So Until next time, Ba Bye Wanderers.