Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh is where the Himalaya becomes inhabitable — apple orchards at 2,000 metres, cedar forests above them, and above the treeline the passes that lead to Spiti, the Lahaul valley, and landscapes closer to Tibet than to the Indian plains below.

The state contains three distinct travel zones in complete ecological isolation from each other: the lower hills around Shimla and Dharamshala, accessible year-round; the middle ranges of Manali and the Kullu Valley, green in summer and snow-closed in winter; and the high plateau of Lahaul-Spiti, a rain-shadow desert reachable only between June and October when the passes clear. Each zone is a different country.

Spiti, at the far end of the state, is the most isolated permanently inhabited valley in India — connected to the outside world by roads open only four months a year, home to monasteries at Key and Tabo that have been continuously occupied since the 10th century. The Kinnaur district, where the Sutlej enters India from Tibet through a gorge so deep that the sun reaches the valley floor for only a few hours each day, grows apple orchards of such intensity that Kinnauri apples command three times the price of Kullu apples at any market in the country.

Places to Visit in Himachal Pradesh

• Shimla Mall Road
• Manali's Old Town
• Dharamshala / McLeod Ganj
• Kullu Valley

Things to Do in Himachal Pradesh

• Colonial hill station walks
• Mountain valley drives
• Tibetan Buddhist monastery visits
• Apple orchard country drives