Shimla Reviews

Food, sight-seeing and shopping
Simla is best explored on foot. HTDC conducts heritage walking tours. Places worth seeing include the grand Viceregal Lodge now housing the IIAS. It can be visited at specific times. Book lovers can visit the antiquarian bookshop at the lower bazaar for rare books. Visit the newly restored Gaiety theatre for a walk down memory lane where the Victorians would be entertained. However Simla is as Indian as anywhere in the country and Jakhu Hill Hanuman temple with its bold monkeys gives a good view. Visit the museum for good miniature paintings and the Tara Devi temple if you have time.

Activities & things to do
Simla has a okayish roller skating rink ? perhaps if you have watched the 70s and 80s Hindi movies of Shammi Kappor et al you may already be on familiar terms with this place! And if you are visiting in winter it is fairyland with snowflakes sweeping down through the fir-trees and bending their branches to the ground. If roller skating is not your cup of tea an invigorating walk through the crisp mountains with lot of charted walks make it up! Take packed lunches to picnic spots, walk through the ups and downs to emerge at familiar landmarks.

Travel tips, How to reach, travel warnings etc.
The journey to Simla is itself a heritage site on which 'toy trains' still ply, passing through 103 tunnels and beautiful wooden stations. The train journey takes six hours and lifts your soul higher with every view ? don?t miss it for the world. Visit Shimla anytime during the year ? each season brings a new aspect to this ?Queen of the Hills?. During the monsoon, some of the best sunsets beckon you! And watch out for the mischievous monkeys who snatch food packets right from your hands ? and who are quite capable of snatching the glasses off your face!