Date: 16-18 April 2016
Venue: Shoghi, Himachal Pradesh
Done with Shimla? Himachal has a host of other options. During long weekends almost the entire Delhi Gurgaon is looking out for escapades. Consequently finding any peace or for that matter accommodation at popular hill stations such as Shimla or Nainital becomes an arduous task.
Internet searches now throw up alternatives. For instance, given the devastating tourist pressure in Shimla, small places around Shimla are shaping up as tourist spots with government guest houses, private hotels, and as we experienced in our recent trip to Shoghi, homestays. Shoghi is a village in Himachal a few kilometers before Shimla. This place now has some small hotels, resorts, and quite a few homestay options. We booked one such home Stay at Shoghi.
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How to reach Shoghi from Delhi
We started off at about 6.30 on a Friday morning. Looking at the traffic movement on the highway, it appeared to be an exodus, the whole of Delhi is trying to escape. It is therefore no surprise that instead of the predicted 6 hours on the Shimla route it took us more than 8 hours to reach Shoghi from Delhi. The route we took was Delhi>>Ambala>>Chandigarh>>Parwanoo>>Barog>>Solan>>Shoghi.
After Chandigarh, we took a 1 km detour to have lunch at the restaurant inside Pinjore Garden.
Shoghi – Slow Travel In Himachal
We checked in at our accommodation, freshened up, and pottered out. Shoghi, what they say is a hamlet. It is quiet, and serene, and gives you great views of the Himalayas and Shimla city. That apart there were not a lot of touristy things to do. This suited us perfectly since we wanted this to be a slow leisurely trip that did not involve pursuing running after a lot of touristy goals. The well-laid broad roads and little motor traffic made this place apt for long walks. And big appetites.
Places to eat in Shoghi
Dev Bhoomi Himachal is a state of temples. Because of Tara Devi temple and Hanuman temple in this area, Shoghi is also predominantly vegetarian. For locating bread and omelet breakfast we had to walk almost out of Shoghi where we came across Good Luck Restaurant. We had omelets, toast, and tea here. After the period of Navratra abstinence, this was a welcome break and we did not mind the extra oil on the omelet. There are quite a few vegetarian eating places in the main market and most of them looked simple and clean.
Breakfast in Mountains
We were told that the Tara Devi temple was not far. To give ourselves a break from driving, we hired a local who was quite versatile in that he ran a tea stall/general store/car rental service at Shoghi. The temple was about 10 km from our lodging and it was good thinking on our part to be driven by a local for the last few km., was very narrow, steep with a lot of precarious turns. It took us about half an hour to reach the temple and we first visited the Tara Devi shrine. With a neat and tidy setup, we were fortunate at being there after the Navratra frenzy.
Our driver then took us to another temple that was dedicated to the goddess Dudhara Mata. This was almost a kilometer walk and was a pretty stone and wood carving structure in the typical pyramid-like mountain temple style. If not for the driver, we would have missed this temple. This place offered the best views of Shoghi, even better than the place where we were staying. Between Tara Devi and Dudhara temple, our driver showed us various other points such as Chail, Kufri, and his village as well.
People also visit Shimla from Shoghi however we have been to Shimla many times plus we were listening to the weekend traffic jam horror stories on the roads to Shimla, hence we decided to skip it.
What to buy at Shoghi
Fruit production is big in Himachal. The byproducts of fruits are converted into juices, syrups, jam, pickles, and wines. These are low on sweetness and retain a major part of the real fruit in taste and flavor. We bought packs of sugar-free apple juice, fruit wines, apple cider beer, and some yam pickle. Wish we had picked up a few more bottles of the last item.
It was already Sunday, a little too soon, and we were on our way back to face all the odds and evens of Delhi. We had our reservations about this place but are now glad that we took this trip. If you are looking for a quiet weekend getaway in the hills, maybe near Shimla, Shoghi is the place.
Shoghi Looks like a beautiful place. I have never been to Shimla but want to visit it sometime. I will definitely remember Shoghi so I can add that as well if I can. Thanks for this, I now know about a new place.
Your knack of covering offbeat places in India is commendable. I have never heard anything about Shoghi, up until I stumbled on this post that is 🙂 Very well written and detailed post, as always!