Himachali food guide — siddu, dham, babru, chha gosht, Chamba chukh and the trout
The dishes of Himachal and where they come from: dham feasts, siddu buns, babru, sepu badi, chha gosht, Chamba chukh and the Kullu trout, from open sources.
ArticleVerified 2026-10-24
How to reach Himachal from Delhi and Chandigarh — by train, bus and flight
Himachal from Delhi and Chandigarh by road, rail and air: distances and drive times to 16 hubs, the Kalka–Shimla and Kangra Valley trains, and the airports.
How to read this page
Himachal has no railway into its high valleys, and three small airports whose flights come and go. So almost every trip is a train or flight to a gateway town, then a drive. The tables below give those drives from Chandigarh and Delhi, measured on OpenStreetMap roads with a car router. They are free-flow times: no traffic, no stops, no landslides. Add time for all three.
Photos: ChanduBandi (CC BY 4.0) · Pinakpani (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Balajijagadesh (CC BY-SA 4.0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
From Chandigarh, by road
Chandigarh is the nearest big gateway for most of the state. Distances are from the city's ISBT 43 bus stand; our guide to each place has the fuller arrival table.
The Shimla side
- Kasauli: 58 km, 92 min.
- Nahan: 86 km, 86 min.
- Chail: 101 km, 180 min.
- Shimla: 108 km, 181 min.
The Mandi and Kullu side
- Mandi: 164 km, 169 min.
- Banjar: 216 km, 252 min.
- Kullu: 225 km, 254 min.
- Kasol: 245 km, 303 min.
- Manali: 264 km, 289 min.
The Kangra side
- Jwalamukhi: 178 km, 197 min.
- Dharamshala: 228 km, 269 min.
- Bir: 229 km, 302 min.
- Palampur: 245 km, 290 min.
Further out
- Sangla: 334 km, 411 min.
- Dalhousie: 338 km, 329 min.
- Chamba: 353 km, 379 min.
Read the minutes with care. They are the router's free-flow figures, and Manali, Kasol and the Kangra valley towns take far longer on a busy day.
From Delhi, by road
From Delhi's ISBT Kashmere Gate the distances are below. The free-flow times understate the real drive by hours, so we give kilometres only. For Shimla the routed time is 273 min.
- Nahan: 261 km.
- Kasauli: 303 km.
- Shimla: 367 km.
- Chail: 367 km.
- Mandi: 420 km.
- Jwalamukhi: 457 km.
- Banjar: 466 km.
- Kullu: 484 km.
- Bir: 488 km.
- Kasol: 494 km.
- Manali: 513 km.
- Palampur: 513 km.
- Dalhousie: 580 km.
- Chamba: 615 km.
Overnight buses run from Delhi to the Kullu valley and to Dharamshala; ask the operator for the timing and fare, since we do not publish either.
By train
To Shimla. The broad-gauge line from Delhi reaches Kalka; the Delhi–Kalka line opened in 1891. At Kalka, 82 km and 154 min by road from Shimla, the narrow-gauge Kalka–Shimla Railway begins: 96.6 km long, built between 1898 and 1903, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 8 July 2008. It climbs from about 656 m at Kalka to Shimla at 2,075 m. The Himalayan Queen and the Kalka Shatabdi Express connect at Kalka. Sections of the line were washed out in the 2023 floods, so confirm that it is running before you build a trip around it. See Barog for its longest tunnel.
To the Kangra valley. The Kangra Valley Railway runs 164 km from Pathankot to Joginder Nagar on a 2 ft 6 in gauge, commissioned in 1929, with its highest point at Ahju, 1,290 m. It calls at Jawalamukhi Road, Kangra, Palampur and Baijnath Paprola on the way. Pathankot is 86 km from Dharamshala and 86 km from Dalhousie. It is a slow, scenic train rather than a quick one.
Everywhere else, the nearest main railheads are Chandigarh and Kalka. No train reaches Manali, Kullu, Kasol or Spiti.
By air
- Kullu–Manali, Bhuntar (KUU) serves Kullu, Manali and Kasol: Manali is 49 km and 62 min away,
Kullu 11 km and 17 min, Kasol 32 km and 70 min.
- Kangra-Gaggal (DHM) serves Dharamshala, Palampur and Bir: Dharamshala is 15 km and 30 min,
Palampur 38 km and 57 min, Bir 67 km and 111 min.
- Shimla, at Jubbarhatti (SLV) is 22 km from Shimla.
- Pathankot (IXP) serves Dalhousie and Chamba: Dalhousie is 86 km and 155 min.
- Chandigarh (IXC) serves Kasauli, Shimla and Nahan: Kasauli is 58 km and 92 min, Shimla 108 km
and 181 min.
Bhuntar sits in a deep valley on a single runway, and flights there are often disrupted by weather. Kangra is the largest airport in the state by passengers, about 210,000 in 2024–25. Flights to Shimla and Bhuntar have stopped and restarted more than once, so check the airline close to your date. When in doubt, fly to Chandigarh, which has far more flights, and drive.
Next
Pick a destination from the tables and open its own guide, or start from the weekend trips from Delhi and Chandigarh.
Places to visit
All destinations →
Chauli Ki Jali — the cliffs for climbing and valley views
Guptakashi — the "hidden Kashi" on the road to Kedarnath
Phodong Monastery and Labrang — two old monasteries on the North Sikkim road
Van Vihar
Hazratbal Shrine — the white-domed Sufi shrine on Dal Lake
Pandukeshwar — Yogadhyan Badri, below Badrinath
Gurdwara Paonta Sahib
Rasol
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Today on HimLocal
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Questions people ask
What is the best way to reach Shimla from Delhi?
By rail to Kalka, then the Kalka–Shimla narrow-gauge train, 96.6 km on a UNESCO World Heritage line, or by road. Shimla is 367 km from Delhi by car, 273 min free-flow on our routing, and 108 km from Chandigarh. Real drives from Delhi run much longer than the routed time.
Can you reach Manali or Dharamshala by train?
Not all the way. No railway reaches Manali or Kullu, so people take a train or flight to Chandigarh and a bus or car for 264 km. For Dharamshala the Kangra Valley line runs from Pathankot, 86 km away, and the airport at Gaggal is 15 km from the town.
Which airports in Himachal have flights?
Kullu–Manali Airport at Bhuntar, Kangra-Gaggal and Shimla are the three. Services at all three have started and stopped several times, so check before you plan around one. Most visitors fly to Chandigarh instead, which is 58 km from Kasauli and 108 km from Shimla by road.