Khajjiar
Khajjiar, at around 1,951 m between Dalhousie and Chamba, is a saucer-shaped meadow ringed by deodar forest, with a small lake at its centre.
Himachal Pradesh⛰ 1,970 m2 itineraries
Dalhousie
Dalhousie at 1,970 m: the hill station itself, Khajjiar's meadow, Kalatop's forest, Chamera Lake — and copyable itineraries for one to three days.
Itineraries you can copy
All 2 →
Day plan · First visitClassic
One day around Dalhousie — Panchpula, Kalatop and Dainkund
A single-day Dalhousie loop: Panchpula's streams, Kalatop's deodar forest, and Dainkund, the highest point near town. Free, copyable itinerary.
Best Apr–Jun · Sep–Oct
See the plan →
1 night · 2 days · First visitClassic
Two days in Dalhousie — Dainkund and Khajjiar
A two-day Dalhousie plan: Panchpula, Kalatop and Dainkund on day one, then Khajjiar's meadow and Chamera Lake on day two. Free, copyable plan.
Best Apr–Jun · Sep–Oct
See the plan →Dalhousie is a hill station built across five hills in Chamba district, facing the snow-capped Pir Panjal range. The British acquired the land from the ruler of the Chamba princely state in the 1850s and developed it as a summer retreat and sanatorium — the bungalows, churches and the three-level mall walks connecting them still carry that English-hill-station character today.
A short walk from the main square covers Panchpula, where five streams meet, and Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary's deodar forest. Dainkund, the highest point near town, and Pohlani Mata Temple on the same ridge walk, are a short drive further out. Khajjiar — a saucer-shaped meadow ringed by deodar forest, with a small lake at its centre — and Chamera Lake behind its dam on the Ravi river are the two proper day trips.
A day covers Panchpula, Kalatop and Dainkund close to town; a second reaches Khajjiar and Chamera Lake further out. See the one-day plan and the two-day plan for both, and things to do in Dalhousie for the same stops laid out with costs and timing.
Photos: Harvinder Chandigarh (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Truewebsolution (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Amit J Sangekar (CC BY-SA 4.0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
Places worth the drive
Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary
Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary, recognised in 1949, lies between Dalhousie and Khajjiar — deodar and oak forest with marked walking trails and a rest house.
Dainkund
Dainkund, the highest point near Dalhousie, is a gentle ridge walk to a small shrine, with views over three rivers spread out below on a clear day.
Chamera Dam
Chamera Dam, a concrete gravity dam across the Ravi river near Dalhousie, holds back Chamera Lake and powers three hydroelectric plants totalling 1,071 MW.
Pohlani Mata Temple
Pohlani Mata Temple, about 10 km from Dalhousie, is a small ridge-top shrine to the local deity Pohlani Mata, with a teahouse and views of the Pir Panjal range.
On the map
Open the Dalhousie map →The places a Dalhousie day reaches, with the road time from town. Each opens on the map with its plans and pages beside it.
Before you go
All articles →Things to do in Dalhousie — 6 worth the drive, and what each costs
Six things to do in Dalhousie sorted by distance from the GPO, with measured drive times, what each one costs, and the best time of year to go and see them.
How to reach Dalhousie — the Pathankot road
Getting to Dalhousie via Pathankot in about two and a half hours, by road from Chandigarh, or by HRTC bus — and what the approach actually involves.
The best time to visit Dalhousie
Dalhousie by season, using its own IMD weather record: when the roads to Khajjiar and Chamera Lake are driest, and how cold winter here actually gets.
Questions people ask
How many days do you need in Dalhousie?
One day covers Panchpula, Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary and Dainkund, all close to town. A second day reaches Khajjiar and Chamera Lake, the two proper day trips further out. Most visitors combine both into a single 2–3 night stay in and around the town itself.
Is Khajjiar the same as Dalhousie?
No — Khajjiar is a separate meadow-and-lake spot about 38 minutes' drive from Dalhousie town, often visited as a day trip from it rather than a place to stay overnight, though a handful of hotels exist right there too.
What's the best time to visit Dalhousie?
April to June or September and October — both sit outside the heavy July–August monsoon, when Dalhousie's own IMD record shows 588 mm of rain falling in July alone, more than four times any other month on the same record.
Photographs by Wikimedia Commons contributors (CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA), resized; each picture is credited on its own page.