Shimla – Inside Bollywood’s Favourite Background

Shimla offers much more than charming colonial buildings against a backdrop of the magnificent snow-capped Himalayas. Much more than the dozens of Bollywood songs set on Mall Road or its oldest boarding schools. The upper reaches around the Shimla region offer skating on natural ice as well as host the MTB Himalaya

Heritage Walk through Shimla

The Ridge, Shimla

Shimla has a lot of stories to tell, some legends, and more heritage, but all equally exciting. Begins at the appropriately named ‘Scandal Point’ where legend has it that the Maharajah of Patiala was exiled from Shimla after a fierce argument with the Viceroy (some stories say he eloped with the Viceroy’s daughter) and was eventually exiled from Shimla –giving this spot its name in 1892. Send yourself a postcard from the timber-structured ‘wild west Swiss’-styled 133-year-old Shimla General Post Office as a souvenir.

Kufri and Chail

Kufri to Chail

Lush green hills mark summer in Kufri– a stark contrast to the fantastic snow slopes that make tobogganing ‘the’ thing to do at the end of the year. If you’re visiting in January, try your hand at the ‘National Snow Statue Competition’ here in Kufri. A short walk around would take you past colonial-Esque statues at Chini Bungalow to the Himalayan nature park.

Kipling’s home and Viceregal Lodge

Viceregal Lodge

What makes Shimla more alluring is its glorious past, the days when it was the summer capital during the British Raj. Beneath the Kali Bari temple, at the North Bank, lays an ordinary house where there once lived an extraordinary writer, Rudyard Kipling. This Nobel laureate spent most of his summer vacations here where memories of Jungle Book still linger on. Move on to the Viceregal Lodge. This was originally built as a home and summer residence of subsequent viceroys and governors-general of India. Leave history behind, for a peaceful walk through dense forests for a quiet moment of solitude with a quaint picnic basket for the company.

Jakhu Temple Hike

Jakhu Temple

Heritage and reverence have co-existed in the hill-town of Shimla for a long time now. Hike up from the east end of the ridge of Shimla, towards the revered Jakhu temple. Through the gates of the Rothney Castle; once the home of the great naturalist, A.O. Hume, hikes uphill to a beautiful temple complemented by the hymns filling the air and the wall murals depicting Hindu myths! A looming 33m tall Hanuman statue and a battalion of His minions stay with you as you stroll through the surrounding forests.

Toy Train Ride

Toy Train

103 tunnels, 864 bridges, 919 curves, and a ride of a lifetime: Welcome aboard the Shimla-Kalka ‘toy train’. This UNESCO heritage train chugs slowly up the mountains, seemingly playing an interesting game of hiding and seek with tunnels. Gradual ascents on winding tracks, flanked by age-old trees on either side, seem straight out of a storybook. Over a century old, the ‘toy train’ still chugs into the hearts of the hundreds who travel in it every day. Made more memorable with numerous Bollywood songs, there’s nothing like a ride up to Shimla with the tune of ‘gaadi bula rahi hai, seeti baja rahi hai’ probably playing on in your head.