The Himachal grand circuit by car:nine days, four hill towns
Four hill towns, nine days, about 1,900 km. The loop runs clockwise from Delhi — up to Shimla, across to Manali, over the Mandi and Jogindernagar road to Dharamshala, north to Dalhousie and Khajjiar, then home down the Pathankot side. Clockwise is the right direction and not an arbitrary one: it climbs gradually rather than throwing you straight at Manali, and it finishes on the fast Pathankot-to-Delhi highway rather than on a hill road. A sedan bills ₹29,700 for the nine days on the 300 km per day minimum; an Innova Crysta ₹48,600.
Updated · Fares from the published rate card, Sedan ₹11/km to Tempo ₹23/km
- The loop
- 9 days · ~1,900 km
- Driving days
- 6 of 9
- Longest single leg
- Shimla → Manali, 250 km
- Sedan, 9 days
- ₹29,700
The thing to understand about a Himachal circuit is that kilometres tell you almost nothing. Shimla to Manali is 250 km and takes seven to eight hours. Dharamshala to Dalhousie is 120 km and takes four. A plains driver looking at a map will plan this trip badly, and the commonest result is three towns seen from a car window.
The nine-day version below has six driving days and three local ones, which is the minimum that gives each town a proper day. Distances and times are from the site’s corridor data and from the drivers who run this loop through the season.
Fares follow the published rate card — sedan ₹11/km, Ertiga or SUV ₹15/km, Innova Crysta ₹18/km, 12-seater Tempo Traveller ₹23/km — on a 300 km per day minimum, with tolls, parking, Himachal entry and the driver night allowance at actual.
The loop
The circuit, day by day and kilometre by kilometre
Kilometre marks are cumulative from Delhi. Clockwise: a gradual climb to Shimla, the high middle, then down the Pathankot side.
- km0
NH-5Day 1: Delhi to Shimla
8-9 hrs · 350 kmNH-44 to Ambala, then NH-5 up through Kalka, Solan and Kandaghat. The plains section is fast; the last 90 km is hill road and takes three hours. Leave by five. The car cannot reach the Mall — it stops at the Cart Road or Victory Tunnel and the rest is walked or taken by the lift.
Halt: Night: Shimla
- km350
LocalDay 2: Shimla
Local day · 50 kmThe Ridge and Christ Church in the morning, Jakhoo temple above the town, the Viceregal Lodge, and Kufri or Naldehra in the afternoon. A walking day more than a driving one, which is what Shimla is for.
Halt: Night: Shimla
- km400
NH-3Day 3: Shimla to Manali
7-8 hrs · 250 kmDown to Bilaspur and up the Kullu valley on NH-3 through Mandi and Bhuntar. The Mandi gorge section is slow and the valley road after Bhuntar is busy in season. Arrive late afternoon; Old Manali and the Hadimba temple are an easy first evening.
Halt: Night: Manali
- km650
LocalDay 4: Manali
Local day · 80 kmSolang for the snow and the paragliding, Vashisht’s hot springs, and the Atal tunnel to the Lahaul side if it is open — the tunnel has replaced Rohtang for most of the year and turns what was a full day into a morning. Rohtang itself needs a permit and carries a daily vehicle cap.
Halt: Night: Manali
- km730
Jogindernagar roadDay 5: Manali to Dharamshala
7 hrs · 230 kmBack down the Kullu valley to Mandi, then west on the Jogindernagar road into the Kangra valley. This is the leg that joins the circuit’s two axes and it is slower than it looks. Arrive in the evening; keep McLeod Ganj for a full day.
Halt: Night: Dharamshala or McLeod Ganj
- km960
LocalDay 6: Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj
Local day · 40 kmThe Dalai Lama temple and the Namgyal monastery in the morning, the Bhagsu waterfall walk after lunch, Naddi for sunset. The fit take Triund instead, nine kilometres up from Dharamkot and back. The Kangra fort and the Masroor rock temples on the valley floor are the alternative.
Halt: Night: McLeod Ganj
- km1000
Chamba roadDay 7: Dharamshala to Dalhousie
4-5 hrs · 120 kmNorth through Shahpur and over the Jot pass via Chuwari to Chamba, then up to Dalhousie. Slow, high and the best drive of the loop. In heavy rain or snow the driver takes the Pathankot road instead, 170 km and four and a half hours.
Halt: Night: Dalhousie
- km1120
LocalDay 8: Dalhousie, Khajjiar and Kalatop
Local day · 60 kmDainkund Peak early if the sky is clear, then 22 km through the Kalatop deodar forest to the Khajjiar meadow for the afternoon, and back to Dalhousie for the evening on Gandhi Chowk. St John’s church and Panchpula fill the gaps.
Halt: Night: Dalhousie
- km1180
NH-44Day 9: Dalhousie to Delhi
10-11 hrs · 560 kmDown through Banikhet and Dunera to Pathankot, then NH-44 through Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Ambala. A long final day but fast road after the first 80 km. Leave by six and you are in Delhi for a late dinner.
Halt: Home
- km1740
Delhi
Evening of day 9About 1,740 km on the loop with the local days counted, 1,900 with the detours most people add. Nine days at the rate card, tolls, Himachal entry and the night allowance at actual.
The nine-day Himachal circuit at a glance
Hours are real hill-driving hours rather than map estimates. The three local days bill the 300 km per day minimum, which is why the nine-day fare is flat rather than the sum of the legs.
| Day | From → to | Km | Hours | Night | What you see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delhi → Shimla | 350 | 8–9 | Shimla | NH-5, the Kalka climb, the Ridge |
| 2 | Shimla local | 50 | 2 driving | Shimla | Jakhoo, Viceregal Lodge, Kufri |
| 3 | Shimla → Manali | 250 | 7–8 | Manali | Mandi gorge, the Kullu valley |
| 4 | Manali local | 80 | 3 driving | Manali | Solang, Vashisht, the Atal tunnel |
| 5 | Manali → Dharamshala | 230 | 7 | Dharamshala | Jogindernagar, the Kangra valley |
| 6 | McLeod Ganj local | 40 | 1.5 driving | McLeod Ganj | Dalai Lama temple, Bhagsu, Naddi or Triund |
| 7 | Dharamshala → Dalhousie | 120 | 4–5 | Dalhousie | The Jot pass, Chamba |
| 8 | Dalhousie local | 60 | 2 driving | Dalhousie | Dainkund, Kalatop, Khajjiar |
| 9 | Dalhousie → Delhi | 560 | 10–11 | Home | Pathankot, NH-44 |
| Total | The loop | ~1,740 | ~45 driving | 8 nights | Four hill towns, one car |
Fares for the nine days: Sedan ₹29,700, Ertiga ₹40,500, Innova Crysta ₹48,600, 12-seater Tempo Traveller ₹62,100. Tolls, parking, Himachal entry and the driver night allowance at actual. The Jot pass on day seven closes in snow; the Pathankot alternative is 170 km.
The order
Why clockwise, and why Shimla before Manali
Three reasons, and the first is altitude. Going clockwise climbs gradually — Shimla at 2,200 metres on day one, Manali at 2,050 with Solang and the tunnel above it on day four — rather than putting the highest ground at the start. Anticlockwise reaches Manali on day two off the back of a long plains drive, which is the version people most often regret.
The second is the finish. Clockwise ends at Dalhousie, which comes down to Pathankot and then has 480 km of four-lane NH-44 to Delhi. Anticlockwise ends at Shimla, which means the last day is a hill descent followed by the Kalka road, and the final day of a nine-day trip is the worst time for that.
The third is the Jot pass. The Dharamshala-to-Dalhousie crossing over Chamba is the single best drive on the circuit and it is better taken on day seven, when you have a hill driver who has had six days of practice, than on day two.
KalatopThe passes
Rohtang, the Atal tunnel and what is actually open
The Atal tunnel has changed this circuit substantially. It runs under the Rohtang pass to the Lahaul side and stays open far longer in the year than the pass itself, which turns a day-long Rohtang expedition into a morning drive to Sissu or Keylong and back. For most visitors on a nine-day circuit, the tunnel is the right plan and Rohtang is not needed at all.
Rohtang itself is a different proposition: it requires a permit, carries a daily cap on the number of vehicles allowed up, and is shut by snow for a large part of the year. If crossing the pass rather than reaching Lahaul is the point, say so when booking and we will arrange the permit — but it is worth being clear that the tunnel gets you to better scenery with less uncertainty.
The Jot pass on day seven is the other one to know about. It closes in deep winter and is slow in the monsoon, and the alternative is the Pathankot road: 170 km instead of 120, four and a half hours instead of four, and considerably less interesting. The driver makes that call on the morning.
The variations
What to cut at six days, and what to add at twelve
At six days, cut Dalhousie. It is the furthest town from Delhi and reaching it costs the Jot crossing plus a 560 km run home, which is two of your six days. Shimla, Manali and Dharamshala in six days is a comfortable trip; adding Dalhousie to it is not.
At twelve days, add Kasol and the Parvati valley after Manali — three hours from Manali, a completely different valley, and the Kheerganga trail if anyone in the party walks. Then Narkanda and Sarahan on the Hindustan-Tibet road beyond Shimla, which is where Himachal stops being hill station and starts being Kinnaur.
What we would not add at any length is Spiti. Kaza is eight to nine hours from Manali over a 4,590-metre pass, the road exists only from roughly June to October, and the altitude needs a gradual ascent. It is a trip of its own, not an extension to this one.
Weekend getaways from Shimla, including Narkanda and Sarahan
The car
Which vehicle for a Himachal circuit, and why a sedan is the wrong answer here
Unlike Rajasthan, where a sedan is genuinely fine, Himachal argues for ground clearance. The Jot pass, the Solang road, the Parvati valley if you add it, and the approach roads to a good many hill properties are gradient-and-surface problems rather than distance problems, and an Ertiga or Innova Crysta handles them in a way a low sedan does not.
For two people we would still quote the sedan at ₹29,700 and it will complete the circuit — our drivers do it regularly. But for four people with nine days of luggage over 1,900 km of hill road, the Innova at ₹48,600 is the vehicle we would actually recommend, and most of our nine-day Himachal bookings take it.
For six or more, the 12-seater Tempo Traveller at ₹62,100. It is the only option that carries the group with luggage, and the Jot pass and the Kullu valley road both take it comfortably.
Three things the drivers would tell you
Hours, not kilometres
Shimla to Manali is 250 km and seven to eight hours. Plan every day of this circuit on the hours column, not the distance column, and the trip works.
The Mall roads are walked
Shimla’s Ridge and Mall and much of McLeod Ganj are closed to vehicles. The car drops at the edge, which means the first and last twenty minutes of several days are on foot. Factor it into early starts.
Check the Atal tunnel on the morning
It stays open far longer than Rohtang but conditions still close the approach. The driver checks before setting out on day four; there is no point committing the day in advance.
Monsoon means slack
July to September brings landslide closures on the Kalka, Mandi and Jot sections. The circuit runs through it but build a spare half-day into any fixed onward booking.
Carry warm clothes whatever the month
Solang, Dainkund and the Jot pass are cold at any time of year, and the temperature difference between Delhi on day one and the Jot on day seven is not small.
Questions people ask
Frequently asked questions
Our team is here to help. Contact us for personalized assistance.
