The best of KASOL and TOSH in winters

Delhi to Kasol By Bus

Recently, I went on a weekend trip to Himachal Pradesh from Delhi. We boarded our bus from Delhi in evening around 5:30pm and after completing an overnight journey we reached Bhuntar as there is no direct bus from Delhi to Kasol.

We reached Bhuntar around 8am and then from Bhuntar you can either take a cab or a local bus to Kasol. We took local bus as it was much economical to travel. It took us around 2 hour to reach Kasol from Bhuntar.

Cottage in Kasol

Stay at a Cottage, Trek to Chalal

In Kasol there are many good hotels in main market to stay, but we stayed at a cottage which is bit far from main market but worth a stay. There are many small villages near kasol where you can go by trekking, and can enjoy the beauty of hills and calmness of parvati river.

On Way to Chalal Gaon

We went to Chalal gaon through trekking, you will be amazed by beauty you will see on the way. Fresh cold air which you can never experience in metro cities especially in delhi.

View While trkking chalal

Food options – Evergreen Cafe

After returning from there we went to Evergreen cafe, which is a famous cafe of kasol and had israel food there. Evergreen café is mainly famous for non-vegetarian food, vegetarian food there was quite average. But you must try kahwa there, kahwa was very good and quite refreshing. Food in even normal cafes were quite expensive in kasol, so in night we cooked maggie and sandwich our self in cottage and had dinner.

Kasol Roads

Hot Springs near Parvati River, on to Tosh

Next morning we enjoyed hot spring bath near parvati river, believe me you can take bath for hours in that hot spring, it feels so good in that chilled weather.

Hot Spring pool in Kasol

We had our breakfast and then we left Kasol for Tosh. First we took local bus to Manikaran as there is no direct way for Tosh, Manikaran is very close to Kasol and you can reach just in 15 minutes through local bus, from Manikaran we changed our bus and took bus for Barsaini. As Barsaini is last stop till where you can go through bus and after that either you can take taxi or can trek to tosh. We choose to trek to tosh which is around 4 km from barsaini.

Outer view of Hot spring

Trekking to Tosh, amid tons of snow

Trekking is the best way to reach tosh as the scenery that you will see during that is just amazing. Hills covered with snow, with sun rays falling on hills is main point of attraction. You will see many local people travelling either through bike or car, but mostly travelers from outside prefer trekking.

As we completed our trekking and reached tosh, it started raining and so we stopped at a corner tea shop for tea, after having light snacks, we started looking for hotel to stay. As you will move from there you will see very narrow path, yes path as there is no concrete roads, just narrow path to go from one place to another.

As tosh is on hill so you will find very slippery paths and mostly it was snow all around, it was quite slippery to walk, we were taking help of each other hands to walk from one place to another. There was a hotel just near that tea shop with name: pinki didi, but local people told us that if you want to enjoy actual beauty of tosh then you should choose hotel at hill top.

We decided to go to resort at hill top , so we skipped pinki didi resort and started going at hill top, but believe me as you will start walking more and more at top, you will find roads becoming more difficult, we had no trekking equipement, nor we had any such shoes, but still as we were six people we started walking through each other help , we also took help of local people to know how to reach at top, climbing to hill top is bit difficult but once you will reach there, you will know how worth it was.

View While trekking to Tosh from Barsaini

Hill top of tosh was completely covered with snow, we took some pics and then we started looking for hotels to stay, there were many hotels like: pink floyd, hill top, blue diamond. We checked facilities and rates in each and finally we choose blue diamond to stay. There we got a big room with 5 beds which was sufficient for 6 people, we were all wet, as it was raining when we were trekking to hill top of tosh, so we decided to play in snow and then change. We locked our room and went down to play in snow, we were literally freezing in that temperature, and it was around -2 degree celcius at that time.

After playing we changed and came downstairs to enjoy bonfire arranged by hotel. Hotel was quite normal and there were 3-4 boys and they were managing everything, from cooking to cleaning to room service, everything. Hotel even don’t had any menu card, they just cook roti, chawal, daal and aloo ghobi and either you eat it or don’t eat it,there was no other option. We were so hungry at that time that we even ate chapati with sugar.

After having dinner we went to our room, but soon what we saw that snow fall has started and it was so beautiful. In extreme dark, white snow fall, snow was looking as white cotton balls are falling down, it was exteme fascinating.

We spent around 1 hour in balcony by just watching snow fall, getting clicked, chit chat. Then we went to our room and as we were extreme tired we immediately slept.

View of Tosh from Hill top

View of Tosh from Hill top

In morning after having our breakfast at hotel, we left from there back to barsaini, again by trekking that 4 km. During that 4 km, you will find only one general store to have some ready made food to eat or drink.

Then from Barsaini we took cab to Manikaran and from manikaran we took local bus to bhuntar. In bhuntar we had our dinner at mamu dhaba, good and reasonable food, and then at 8:30pm we took our bus to delhi. We reached delhi next day around 7am.

Things you must carry with you:
1. Two shoes (as shoes get wet in snow)
2. Warm jackets, 4 pair of shocks, warm caps
3. Glucose
4. Medicines
5. Torch light

If you are married and looking for beautiful honeymoon destination which comes under budget then both kasol and tosh are highly recommended.
Also people looking for fun filled weekend trip and solo traveler must include this in their travel list.