A Day in Kasuali

During summer everyone living in Delhi gives to the calling of the mountains, because Delhi is hot and kids have summer vacation.

Due to a busy schedule I planned a 2 day trip to Kasauli. Since this was the first visit so decided to explore the city after spending a beautiful day in hills at Kasauli Hills resort at Kanda road in the outer of Kasauli.

Challenge : If you are in Kasauli and don’t have your own vehicle then this is the biggest problem you will have to depend on the local taxi service and thats very costly , Around 1500-2200 for a day, while all you need to travel is hardly 6-8 km. So please align your pick drops well in advance.

Places we covered in a day
Ideally since Kasauli is a smaller hill station you can cover the entire city in a day itself. And most of the points are there for the shake of it. Lots of walking involved as the vehicle will take you to select point itself and from their you have to walk your way.

#Manki Point : This is a Hanuman temple and has a history. It’s believed that Hanuman ji while bringing the sanjeevani, rested here for sometime and left a Footprint on this hill. This temple is out of the main city hub and therefore you need a Taxi , else rest stuff you can cover walking only. We went but there was traffic jam which involved walking of around a Km so we dropped and came back. The temple closes by 4:30 and afternoon traffic is very unpredictable so plan your visit in the morning hours.

# Sunset Point : There are 2points sunset and sunrise that are very beautiful and scenic we could not go for Sun rise so we went for the Sunset point and there is a Nature walk also near it that is called Gilbert trail which is next to this place. Sunset point of Kasauli is just a small spot from where you can see the sunset view of the city with a Valley view in the background.

10 minutes of photo session is more than enough time for this place unless you are a nature lover and want to enjoy the view. Since there is so much chaos of people around you might not stay for long.

Gilbert Trail : In hills it’s all about the nature , trees , hill view and a lot of walking. This is exactly what you can do here a complete track for nature lovers to explore. The can will leave you almost a km before the trail and then you have to walk up the hill. For people who are here with kids like us can skip the trail and take a smaller mountain view around right at the point the cab drops you. It’s ard 800 mtr stretch but worth a complete round with small kids ,while you can have the mesmerizing view of the mountain and the city on left.

Christ Chruch : This is at the Mall road and probably the oldest thing in Kasuali. This place is one of the historical spot of Kasauli with a history of over 100+ years. It was build by Britishers. And had a time machine of it’s own from that time given by Bailey and company of Manchester. The Church is 6000 ft above sea level and in 1880s this was the only thing Kassaulvilla had ( Kasauli was referred at Kassaulvilla )

The iron chimney to keep the church warm is a great sight here. The Turret clock here was restored recently by the EmE division of Army and had got a Limca record registered for it.

Mall road Market : The moment you step out of the Christ Church you have a complete stretch infront of you thats the only Market that is there and offers you pretty much everything in Kasauli.

Major Dhyanchand Chowk : This point is the iconic spot of Kasauli where on the left you have the Kasauli mall road Market , infront you have the Christ Church and Bus stand. He was the hockey wizard of India who scored a 101 goals in Olympics and 300 goals in other International matches. Got Gold medal in hockey in 3 successive matches in 1928, 1932 and 1936.

# Old Downtown Cafe : On the Mall road there are many spots to enjoy food but Old Downtown Cafe is one of the oldest cafe here and is spread across 3 floors offers all cusine fine dinning. There is a kids park also just in front of this place that is open from 9-5 pm

# Pracheen Hanuman Mandir : We were visiting the Gurudhwara when we accidentally ended up at this place early at 6:30 and since the board was inviting enough we opened the door and went for darshan. The Mandir and Gurudhwara here are lached from outside to keep the monkey menace away. For once we felt it was closed then a local guided us to open it and go inside.

# Gurudwara Shri GuruSingh Sahib : One of the oldest Gurudhwara of this place ,build in 1878 pretty much after the church. This historic place is very calm and peaceful for morning prayers.

With this the Day at Kasauli comes to an end and we missed to visit the Manki point and the Sunrise point. But we were content with all that we could explore.

Tips for your travel to Kasauli

Basis my own experience , I have curated few points to remember while planning a trip to Kasauli.

1. Dont take a hotel in the main Kasauli area especially around the MALL road area , it’s too crowded and you will not get the feel of hills. So it’s better take a hotel in outer and then come in the afternoon to cover all these points.
2. If you have hired a Taxi don’t book for the entire duration as most of the time you have to walk so it will be standing only.
3. Book a Taxi for Manki point before 2 ,visit it and release the taxi after a drop at Sunset point so that you can walk your way back to Dhyanchand Chowk and everything else is around Dhyanchand Chowk
4. Eat at local shops but don’t carry anything in transparent polybag or in hands as there are lot of monkeys at all tourist points. And they keep hitting on people to take the packets specially the kids.
5. Don’t miss to purchase few things from the hawkers and vendors here as that’s their livelihood here.
6. Ask the hotel to arrange for a pick drop for you till Mall road.
7. Be a early riser and enjoy the hills before the city mode takes over.