Raju’s Cottage, Goshaini, Tirthan Valley – A Pioneer in Hospitality

I will start writing the detailed travel tale of my recent family trip to Tirthan Valley but before that let me share the detailed review of Raju’s Cottage. Those who are not aware of Tirthan Valley can of course check out My Travel Guide for Tirthan Valley

Complete review of Raju’s Cottage, Goshaini – Tirthan Valley

Pictures

First and foremost, as my trademark saying goes pictures are better than a thousand words…

Price & Bookings

You can get in touch with Raju ji or Varun using the below contact details:

The price ranges from Rs 1400-1700 per person per day depending upon the choice of meals you make, veg / non-veg. Please note that the price includes all meals + juices + fruits + snacks + tea/coffee The best part is that food is served in common dinning hall which is beautifully placed and done at a fixed schedule for all meals meals. For non-veggies, trout fish is served on alternative days 🙂 …

Location

If you are coming from the Mandi/Manali/Aut – Larji side, you need to take a U-turn towards Goshaini – Tirthan Valley or Great Himalayan National Park, instead of the straight road which leads to Banjar. Once you take that road you need to cover around 8-9 KMs passing Sai Ropa FRH, then pass by Nagini Village to reach at the end of the road… Then a bridge will come and you take left on that bridge and after crossing it you will see a sign board on right saying Goshaini – 1 KM. Just before that signboard, a path goes down hill where the parking is present for Raju’s Cottage…

Parking

As stated above, after crossing the bridge at the end of the road to Goshaini you will see a sign board on right saying Goshaini – 1 KM. Just before that, a path goes down hill where the parking is present for Raju’s Cottage. There is a decent space to park about 4 cars. Couple of cars can also be parked just aside the road where space is available.

Then you need to take the luggage and passengers so that they can cross the Tirthan River on a pulley trolley (which is completely safe) to reach the guest house on the other side of the river.

Personal Experience at Raju’s Cottage

There are couple of blocks in which the guest house is divided. One is sitting at the hill where you need to hike from the base block for about 5 minutes to reach up there. It has a very nice, open common place/sitting area with nice views. However, you need to comedown for food and river 🙂 … There is one block at the base near the river, where generally only families are allowed with kids. The dining is there in this block only.

Rooms in the guest house are basic YET quite comfortable, nice, cosy and of course, very clean. The best thing was at such a remote location you are getting such kind of homely experience, which is a kind of luxury in itself for a person like me. Rooms were spacious enough with attached bathroom having hot water supply but no room heater, though couple of rooms had fire place in it. There is one single room on first floor of base block which actually caught the attention. Highly recommended for someone going to stay there alone… a perfect room to stay in solitude. Our rooms had two single beds and one double bed good enough to accommodate a family of 4 adults too.

Quality of food/juices was extremely good and everything was cooked to our familiar taste buds. Breakfast was quite good with variety of options… The food is served in fixed time slots for breakfast, lunch and dinner along with Tea/Coffees which also have fixed timings in general but you can always ask for personal preference on tea/coffee…

You can catch your own fish but they have catch and release policy 😀 … Don’t worry they serve Trout Fish every alternate day in dinner ;)…  The dining hall was very nicely done and kept. Plus you need to arrange or keep your finished food / utensils properly in organized manner yourself as per the marked labels. The leftover food is properly taken care or disposed in the end, which is kind of an X-Factor of this place and good to know that they are conscious about their surrounding nature and disposal system…

An ample garden space was there just in front of the first block at the base along with a lot of greenery which is quite refreshing… They have the cherry trees in the garden and those cherries were sweet to taste too. My son thoroughly loved them 😉 … There are few games which are kept and you can try your hands at Badminton too. Numerous nature trails can be explored around the guest house as well or besides the river which is just few steps down from the base block or a walk to the small market of Goshaini Village to mingle with locals… Apart from that you can always enjoy the bonfire in the evening as well. There are couple of places where bonfire can be made available, one in front open and one is under a covered shed. The Popcorns served with bonfire just proved icing on the cake for Vodka lovers like us, Thank you Varun for it !! 🙂

Well for booze lovers, Liquor shop is just at the start of one hanging bridge near a village named Deori as you take a U-Turn towards Tirthan Valley while coming from Mandi side. You may get some decent brands on that shop but beer is Palone 8 which is served there… Just few 200 odd Meters ahead at another shop, you can get the cigarettes for yourself as well.

Hospitality we received from Varun was super good and he took care of most of our on the fly requests too… Vishal was too soft spoken and they served whatever we requested… Thanks to them and I am sure I will find a bigger time window next summers to enjoy a wonderful holiday again with my family. Varun also guided us by pointing the primary school at the Gahidhar village for executing the DoW Causes, a step towards Responsible Travel by DoW…

Being besides the river, this place remains very cool most part of the day and even in the months of May – June, since there is so much greenery around, the heat does not show its toll at noon too while basking under the tree shades there or relaxing in the hammocks hanging in the gardens. 

Medical Help

For any medical assistance you will have to approach the Banjar town approximately 12-13 KMs from the guest house. Next major medical assistance can be sought at Kullu or Mandi about 2-2.5 Hrs away from Goshaini.

ATM

Nearest ATM is at Gushaini, about 500-600 Mtrs from Raju Bharti but remains open only up to 5 PM till bank is open. Next is Banjar, approximately 12-13 KMs from the Raju Bharti guest house.

Petrol Pump

Nearest Petrol Pump is at Larji, approximately 25-30 KMs from the guest house.

Activities and Attraction In-Around Raju’s Cottage

There is a lovely waterfall nearby the guest house. You need to drive back towards Banjar about 2-3 KMs from the guest house, you will reach a village by the name Gahidhar village after crossing 2 up-hills from the guest house. The hiking trail to waterfall starts from that village and can be covered in about 35-40 minutes. You need to be careful at some stretches on the hiking trail though, especially if it rains. The water was damn cold when we reached there but we braved to get right into the middle of waterfall and get our feet all numb 😉 …

Then you can try Hikes in Great Himalayan National Park, a waterfall near Bathad, Raghupur Fort near Shoja, Serloskar Lake, Jalori Pass from Tirthan Valley. To get more details of the places to visit in-around Tirthan Valley, you can check Travel Guide | Delhi to Tirthan Valley, Himachal Pradesh

You can also try Mountain Biking, Camping, Angling / Fishing in Tirthan River and gears/equipment for such activities are available for rent too at Raju’s Cottage. They can arrange for all the permits too which are required for hikes in GHNP or Angling / Fishing in Tirthan River.

Conclusion

In the end, personally our stay at Raju’s Cottage felt more of a home to us rather than any hotel or guest house, so kudos to Raju ji and his family for maintaining such an environment around which is really hard to beat… Like I say for Tirthan Valley that its very near to civilization yet very secluded and midst pure mother nature. The place is truly magical and has got all that one can ask for a perfect offbeat holiday destination in Himchal or Himalayas to be very frank… Offering such an enriching experience at such reasonable rates is commendable in itself

I just hope that as more and more people flood in to Tirthan Valley, Raju’s Cottage continues to provide this excellence in hospitality and amazing services to the people traveling to this part of Himalayas.