Couple of weeks back, I went to two of the most serene and offbeat villages of Himachal Pradesh named Barot and Chindi I have already talked about it briefly in the article: Barot – Chindi Trip | Itinerary & Road Conditions where I updated the itinerary I followed, the road conditions and toll amounts I spent. Now, its time to share the detailed Travel Tale with you all and let’s begin with Day 1…
Well, it is supposed to be a start of an year of monthly Family Trips and this was going to be the first trip among them. Ever since the trip to Chaukori in last December, I did not travel with my family. So, time had come now to please them and travel along with them before my wife ends the Travel Saga in my life for not making her part of my Himalayan trip 😀 😀
Day 1 | Delhi – Ambala – Chandigarh – Mandi – Barot
It was 5 AM in the morning when we hit the roads from our house near Dwarka, though it was decided that we will leave by 3.30 🙁 🙁 … So, already there was a delay of 1.5 Hrs. Considering the long route ahead and short daylight duration I was quite anxious. In fact the anxiety was also due to the fact that Junior, Me and Wife were traveling alone for the first time as last time we were accompanied with my cousins too. So, this has to be some different experience ;)… Anyways, by God’s Grace I had made up my mind to under take this family trip no matter what, believing there is always a first time for everything 😀
We zoom passed Delhi Outer Ring Road to NH-1 and approached towards our first stop at Zhilmil Dhabha Karnal. It was still dark and traffic was least too on roads which helped us made good progress. Junior was sleeping well, so was my wife. We passed tolls of NH-1 and reached Karnal by 7 AM, so far so good. Ordered the usual Tea + Mix Paranthas with Butter. Well, to be very frank I was really disappointed for the first time there as the paranthas tasted bad, butter was not the quality it used to be and then tea was more like sugar syrup 🙁 🙁 … I had seen quality been degraded over past couple of years but this calls an end to our stoppages there. Anyways we continued after getting couple of tips to Junior as he was crying for Cricket Bat and Ball he saw in a shop there as I could imagine how this trip with him going to unfold 😀
We resumed back the journey and reach Chandigarh in mad office hours. There was too much traffic that day and we were almost in a jam when Junior had the nature’s call and started crying. There was no way to park the car in the city neither I can see any toilets around. So, the wild guess of using diapers did the trick for time being. The whole episode made me miss the turn to Ropar and we had to go all the way long till end, took some by lanes and finally reached a desolated place on Ropar Highway to sanitize Junior. After that he was completely in the mood of enjoying the drive…
We passed Ropar and went to Himachal border where the guy charged Rs 60 for entry fees into Himachal. The roads ahead were full of pot-holes and very pathetic in conditions. We moved at nail’s pace due to bad roads. I had to meet a friend Tarun Goel (a native of Himachal and famous travel blogger at LoOp-WhOlE) and it was already 1 past 15. I knew we will not reach Sunder Nagar before 3 PM and that’s what happened. We stopped at Mayur Dhabha about 8 KMs before Sunder Nagar where in fact we had the most delicious food of the trip 😀 … Tarun came there only, met the Junior for the first time. He provided all the valuable tips for Barot, the stay there and places to see around. We bid adieus and started to rush then as I knew we are in for a race to daylight.
Junior could not sustain the curves in Himalayas and unfortunately on the second trip as well he suffered motion sickness at mountains. He puked once near Bilaspur and then again as we left Sunder Nagar 🙁 🙁 … This looked a sad reality to me but I am hopeful that he will get used to it in future but doors for high altitude places for him are closed until he starts speaking to convey the uneasy feelings 😥 … Well, we moved on to Mandi and then took the Mandi – Pathankot Highway for Barot. Well the road was fine but narrow at places. It was 4 PM and Barot was still 68 KMs from Mandi which meant about 2.5 Hrs.
Continued the drive towards Ghatsani from where the road to Barot forks via Tikkan. As we ascended the road to Jhatingiri, the sun was about to set as we witnessed a beautiful sunset over hills there. The roads were very bad and with steep ascend too. It was just the first gear that worked which slowed the pace along with bad roads. Finally I called up Amichand ji at River View Homestay, Barot to ask for directions for his homestay. It was all dark then but finally after 537 KMs and 13.5 Hrs, we reached Barot from Delhi at 6.30 PM. By that time both wifey and junior were irritated to heights 😀
So, a sigh of relief for me seeing the homestay. River view home stay is located across the river and you have to cross the bridge to reach the temple road which ultimately leads to zero point where famous haulage trolley system was present in early days of Barot. We looked at the rooms which were decent enough to stay and quickly ordered tea with buns. Buns tasted lovely and brought the nostalgic feelings 😀 … Junior was much relaxed after coming out of the car as he got the space for running & jumping around 😀 😀 …
Barot was quite cold and as it was night though could not see the river but can hear the gushing sound of water next to the room. It was really calm around nothing but that sound of river flowing besides. We ordered Aloo Gobhi and Dal for dinner at night which tasted fine enough. Finally called off the long day but Junior took sometime to sleep as he slept so much in the car itself but my wife took care of him till he slept after listening all his storied 😉 …
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The Journey ahead…
30 Comments
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Hi, My friends are planning to go to Barot in month of Jan (First week) with kids. Is it good time to go? And how to book PWD guest house over there. Tried numbers given in website but none is working.
Well, regarding how to book PWD rest house you may try your luck with the process: How to Book HP PWD Rest Houses or FRHs
On the other hand Jan is OK time to go to Barot where you can spend time with your family at peace.
Now the route via Swarghat and Bilaspur is in perfect condition except the first 8 kms from Kiratpur Sahib. Went to Barot on 2 June 2015.
Thank you for the update Bhupinder ji
Thanks for sharing. I am also planing end of june n I have few queries. If you answered, it will be great help.
1. Can we do Delhi-BArot ib hatchback 🙂
2. From Ambala, which route will be better
Thanks in Advance.
Hi Rajeev,
1. Yes, you can easily do it in hatchback from Delhi to Barot.
2. I will suggest that you refer: Best Route to Manali from Delhi. You can follow the route till Mandi and from there you can take the diversion. Ambala to Ropar, you must be knowing.
Regards
Dheeraj
Thanks Dheeraj.
One more query, is SWARGHAT gd for halt n tk rest?
Any idea about SWARGHAT HPTDC hotel.
Rajeev, it should be fine to halt if you need to break the journey. I will anyways suggest that you avoid Swarghat route and take Kiratpur – Anandpur Sahib – Una – Bhota – Jahu – Ner Chowk route to Mandi. You can stay at Mandi, Visco resort is a nice place. This will be less tiring route than via Swarghat – Bilaspur.
Thanks Dheeraj for quick response. Someone is joining us from Chandigarh. So my plan is chandigarh -> Mohali ->Rupnagar -> SWARGHAT ( 20 km extra from Anandpur Shahib). Is this route will be fine?
It is full of pot holes Rajeev. Very pathetic from Kiratpur to Swarghat to Bilaspur and bad from Bilaspur to Sunder nagar!! Hence avoid it if possible. Plus long bee lines of trucks too.
Take it as Chandigarh – Mohali – Rupnagar – Kiratpur – Anandpur Sahib – Una – Bhota – Jahu – Ner Chowk – Mandi.
Thanks a lot Dheeraj.
My plan is stay at SWARGHAT . From SWARGHAT back to Anandpur Shahib – n take route as you suggested -> Nangal-> Una->Bhota -> Mandi -> Jogindernagae.
Ohh… Then why not stay at Una / Ropar / Chandigarh itself. That will be more practical than going to Swarghat and coming back again from there. That is a painful drive and you sometimes gets long hours of jam 2-3 hrs sometimes.
Ok . Got you. As I was not aware to road n traffic jam, so thought HPTDC hotel at SWARGHAT will be good option. Suggest any gd buget hotel between Kiratpur Shahib n Una.
Sorry Rajeev, never stayed there on the way. Also, tried best to reach beyond Mandi at the destination itself. So, never stayed at Una or Bhota. Check HPTDC Website if they have any property there.
I stayed at Hotel Hamir, Hamirpur. Good property.
Thanks for suggesting the Rapor->Anandpur Shahib-> Nangal -> Una -> Bhota -> Awesome road … thanks a lot.
Good to know that you had a great trip to Barot, Rajeev 🙂
Thanks a lot Dheeraj for the suggestion abt route. Awesome road except few kms between Ghatasani to Barot.
We followed route Rapor->Anandpur Shahib-> Nangal -> Una -> Bhota -> Hamirpur ( night halt at HPTDC Hotel Hamir) -> Sajanpur -> Palampur -> Baijnath -> Jodinder Nagar -> Ghatasani -> Barot.
HP traffic police are very helpful.
Spent 4 days in Barot n Lohardi. Awesome place for family’s vacation.
Fabulous Rajeev, that is so good to hear. I am glad you loved the route and enjoyed your trip to the fullest. If possible, try and share your Himalayan experience with us at DoW – Himalayan Travel Community as Photo Tale or Travel Tale Or your reviews of the hotels/guest houses where you stayed or dhabhas/restaurants you ate food on your trip… All this might help others planning the similar trip too 🙂 🙂
Driving from Delhi to Barot! Wow. By look at your picture I quite sure you guys had fun. I would love to plan such a trip. I love driving trips. Dheeraj thanks for share your experience with us, Great blog!
Yes, we had quite a fun up there at Barot and loved every bit of our stay. It is such nice, peaceful and calm place to relive life with your loved ones. Thanks for liking it and feel free to shoot any queries whenever you plan to make such a trip to Barot 🙂
Wow those views!
I hope 2014 is the year for many more family trips. 🙂
You should try those acupressure wrist bands for Junior. It’s been such a saviour for us; brought down motion sickness in our little one by over 95 percent,I’d say.
Thank you so much and wishing you a very very Happy New Year 🙂 …
Wow, that is fantastic tip and I see one dedicated article too on your blog for it. Will try to get in India and test that. It will be a life saver for me.
Thank You !!
Regards
Dheeraj
I am really jealous of you 😐
He He, well please feel motivated 😉 … I get sometimes too seeing so many travel bloggers around traveling, just got motivated by them to travel almost every month for next 12 months if possible 🙂
What a great trip! Enjoyed the sights.
Thank you so very much 🙂
🙂
thank you sirji, for all the tips and updates about the place … loved it to the core. Soon coming up the stay around Barot and Luhardi visit.
Good to see some family vacation post on DOW, and wonderful gesture from your side for the local kids every time you visit remote places. Hope to join you in one of the trips next year.
He He, yeah Prasad, I want to continue traveling so you know kind of forced as I can understand family’s urge to travel. I have planned quite a few for them in the following year for them… I am loving this period of joy and happiness in travel too.
Same here, would love to join you over some trip too very soon 🙂 🙂
Regards,
Dheeraj Sharma