How My Chandigarh to Himachal Trip Became an Unforgettable Experience with TripLodgeUniverse

I have always been the kind of person who talks about travel more than they actually travel. My phone is full of saved Instagram reels of mountain sunrises, pinned Google Maps locations I have never visited, and group chats full of "let's plan a trip!" messages that quietly fade without a booking ever being made. Sound familiar?

Last year, something changed. My cousin was visiting from Bengaluru for a week, and she had one condition — she wanted to see the Himalayas. Not photographs. Not YouTube videos. The actual mountains. I had been living in Chandigarh for four years and had somehow never made the drive up into Himachal Pradesh. That fact, once I faced it honestly, was embarrassing enough to finally push me into action.

I started searching for travel packages online and, within an afternoon of scrolling through options ranging from confusingly expensive to suspiciously cheap, I came across TripLodgeUniverse. Their website was clear, their packages were transparent, and when I called their helpline, an actual knowledgeable human being answered and talked me through options for a full forty-five minutes without once making me feel rushed. I was sold. We booked a six-day Chandigarh to Himachal package covering Shimla, Kufri, Chail, and Manali — and what followed was the kind of trip that recalibrates something quietly fundamental inside you.

Day 1: Chandigarh to Shimla — The City Gives Way to Something Grander

We left Chandigarh at six in the morning, which I will admit felt unreasonably early until the sun came up over the Shivalik Hills and painted the highway in shades of amber and gold. Our driver — arranged by TripLodgeUniverse — was punctual, knowledgeable about the route, and had clearly done this drive a hundred times without ever becoming bored of it. He pointed out the Kalka-Shimla heritage railway route winding alongside us through the hills and told us about the 103 tunnels it passes through. My cousin and I spent the first hour with our faces practically pressed against the window glass.

We arrived in Shimla around noon and checked into our hotel — a comfortable, well-located property on a hillside that TripLodgeUniverse had arranged as part of their affordable hotels selection. The room had a mountain-facing balcony. My cousin stepped outside, looked at the ridgeline for a long moment, and said nothing. Some views do that.

The afternoon belonged to The Mall Road and The Ridge — that wide, paved promenade above the city where you walk slowly because there is no reason to hurry. We ate hot momos from a roadside stall, bought woollen stoles from a shop run by a very persuasive grandmother, and watched the evening light turn the mountains rose-gold. Shimla at dusk, I decided, is one of India's finest free experiences.

Day 2: Jakhu Temple, Kufri, and the Playful Chaos of Monkeys

Jakhu Temple was our first morning destination — a 2.5-kilometre hike through forest to a hilltop temple presided over by a towering Hanuman statue and approximately ten thousand bold, fearless monkeys. I made the mistake of holding my water bottle openly. It was gone within seconds, claimed by a particularly confident rhesus macaque who made eye contact while unscrewing the cap. My cousin found this far funnier than I did.

The temple itself, though, was genuinely beautiful — ancient, incense-thick, and offering a panoramic view of Shimla and the surrounding mountains that made the climb entirely worthwhile.

Kufri in the afternoon was a different kind of joy — horse rides along mountain trails, yak photo opportunities, and the kind of landscape that makes you understand why people fall in love with these hills and never quite leave. TripLodgeUniverse had included both stops in our sightseeing plan, and the logistics — transport, timing, local guide — were handled so smoothly that we never once had to think about the mechanics of the day.

Day 3: Chail — The Secret the Mountains Were Keeping

I had not heard of Chail before TripLodgeUniverse mentioned it during our planning call. That, I now believe, is precisely what makes it special.

The drive from Shimla took about two hours through increasingly dense forest, past the point where other tourists thin out and the road becomes yours alone. Chail sits at 2,250 metres — actually higher than Shimla — and was built by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala in 1891 as his personal summer retreat after the British refused him entry to Shimla. The story alone is worth the visit.

We saw the world's highest cricket ground — a surreal, perfectly maintained oval pitch set impossibly in the middle of Himalayan forest. We walked trails where deodar and oak trees created canopies so thick that afternoon light filtered through in scattered golden columns. We had lunch at a small dhaba where the dal was slow-cooked and the roti was the size of my face. In the evening, we sat on the hotel lawn as mist rolled in from the valley below and the temperature dropped enough to require every layer we had brought.

Chail was not on any of my Instagram saved posts. It is now the first thing I recommend to everyone who asks me about Himachal Pradesh.

Day 4: The Long Drive to Manali — When the Journey Is the Destination

The drive from Shimla to Manali is seven hours on a good day and an extraordinary experience on any day. The road follows the Beas River through the Kullu Valley — a corridor of apple orchards, ancient temples, small market towns, and mountain scenery that builds in scale and drama with every passing kilometre.

We stopped in Mandi for breakfast at a local restaurant where the owner brought us chai without being asked and refused payment for it. We paused at the Pandoh Dam where the reservoir stretched turquoise against brown mountain walls. We drove through the Aut Tunnel and emerged on the other side into a valley that seemed to exist at a different altitude of beauty entirely.

By the time we reached Manali and pulled up to our hotel — another of TripLodgeUniverse's affordable hotels, this one with a view of snow peaks from the dining room — we were tired in the best way. The kind of tired that comes from absorbing more beauty than your mind can process in a single day.

Day 5: Manali — Adventure, Ancient Forest, and a Perfect Evening

Manali rewarded us generously. We began at Hadimba Devi Temple — that extraordinary 16th-century pagoda rising from a grove of deodar trees so ancient and massive they felt like cathedral pillars. The forest around the temple was silent in the way that very old places are silent — as though sound understands it should be respectful here.

Solang Valley came next, and it was everything — paragliding couples arcing across the blue sky, zorbing balls rolling down green slopes, small cafés on the hillside serving instant noodles that somehow tasted magnificent at altitude. My cousin — who had described herself as "not really an adventure person" six days earlier — ended up on a horse-drawn sledge in a snow patch, laughing so hard she could not speak.

In the evening, we walked through Old Manali's narrow lanes past bookshops and bakeries and travellers from countries I needed a moment to place. We found a rooftop restaurant with a woodfire heater, a playlist of soft Himachali folk music, and a view of the darkening mountains. We ordered everything on the menu that sounded interesting and stayed until they gently indicated it was closing time.

Day 6: The Drive Back and a Quiet Realisation

The return drive to Chandigarh was quieter than the journey out. Not because anything was wrong — everything was magnificently right — but because we had both retreated into our own thoughts, processing six days of mountains and monasteries, of ancient forest and starlit skies, of conversations with strangers and silences that needed no filling.

Somewhere past Bilaspur, my cousin turned from the window and said something I keep thinking about: "I came to see the Himalayas. I didn't expect them to make me feel so much."

That is what the mountains do. And that is what a well-planned trip makes possible.

What TripLodgeUniverse Got Right — Everything

I want to be specific about this, because vague praise is not useful to anyone planning a trip.

The affordable hotels were genuinely good — clean, well-located, with staff who were helpful without being intrusive. Not a single property felt like a compromise. The rooms were comfortable, the breakfasts were generous, and the views — at every stop — were extraordinary.

The cheap packages were exactly as described — no surprise costs, no add-on fees that appeared at checkout, no uncomfortable moments where I was asked to pay for something I had assumed was included. The price I was quoted was the price I paid, and for what was included, it represented exceptional value.

The itinerary was thoughtful in ways I only fully appreciated during the trip. The pacing was right — enough activity to feel engaged, enough space to feel present. Chail was included as a detour that turned out to be a highlight. The Manali sightseeing order was logical and unhurried. These are the details that distinguish a well-planned package from a generic itinerary, and TripLodgeUniverse clearly invested time in getting them right.

The driver was outstanding — safe, punctual, conversational when we wanted conversation, quiet when we needed quiet, and genuinely knowledgeable about every place we passed.

The support was real. When we had a question on Day 3 about adjusting our Manali timing by half a day, one call sorted it in ten minutes. No bureaucracy, no resistance, just practical helpfulness.

For Anyone Still Talking About Going — Go

If you are reading this from Chandigarh, or from anywhere within striking distance of Himachal Pradesh, and you have been telling yourself you will plan this trip eventually — let this be the nudge you were waiting for.

The mountains are not going anywhere, but time has a way of passing faster than we expect. The group chats will not book themselves. The savings you set aside for travel will find other uses if you do not use them for exactly this.

TripLodgeUniverse Packages make the planning easy, the experience smooth, and the whole undertaking far more affordable than you probably imagine. Affordable hotels at every destination, cheap packages that cover everything honestly, and a team that has clearly done this because they love travel — not just because they sell it.

Book the trip. The Himalayas are waiting. And they will make you feel more than you expect.