Amritsar
Founded in 1577 by the fourth Sikh guru, Guru Ram Das, Amritsar is home to the spectacular Golden Temple, Sikhism's holiest shrine and one of India’s most serene and humbling sights. The same cannot be said for the hyperactive streets surrounding the temple, but they're a delight to walk through for a sensory overload of sights, sounds and smells.
Shimla
The hill country in every direction from Shimla is beautiful, with plunging green river valleys and vistas over distant mountain ranges – best enjoyed away from the traffic-infested main roads. Some fairly scruffy villages and towns attract crowds of day-trippers for amusement parks, pony rides or the modest winter skiing at Narkanda, but there are a few out-of-the ordinary places to stay scattered around the region and some good walks. Golfers shouldn't miss the chance to have a swing at the unique Naldehra course.
Kullu Manali
This market town is the location of the Kullu Manali airport, and the main junction for transport to the Parvati Valley. At Bajaura, 5km south of Bhuntar, the 9th-century Bisheshwar Mahadev Temple is well worth a stop. A rare and outstandingly handsome Kullu Valley example of the classic stone sikhara temples of the North Indian plains, it's dedicated to Shiva as Lord of the Universe. The temple is covered all over with ornate carving, and niches on the outside contain superb reliefs of Vishnu (west side), Ganesh (south) and Durga (north). It's 200m east of Hwy 3.
Ladak
Spectacularly jagged, arid mountains enfold this magical Buddhist ex-kingdom. Picture-perfect gompas (Tibetan Buddhist monasteries) dramatically crown rocky outcrops amid whitewashed stupas and mani walls. Colourful fluttering prayer flags share their spiritual messages metaphorically with the mountain breeze. Prayer wheels spun clockwise release more merit-making mantras. Gompa interiors are colourfully awash with the murals and statuary of countless bodhisattvas.
Dharam Shala
Dharamshala (also spelled Dharamsala) is the second winter capital of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and a municipal corporation in Kangra district.[2] It also serves as the district headquarters. It was formerly known as Bhagsu. The Dalai Lama's residence and the headquarters of Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan government in exile) are in Dharamshala. Dharamshala is 18 kilometers from Kangra. Dharamshala has been selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under PM Narendra Modi's flagship Smart Cities Mission.[3] On 19 January 2017, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh declared Dharamshala as the second capital of Himachal Pradesh state, making Himachal Pradesh the third state of India with two capitals after Jammu and Kashmir
Leh
Few places in India are at once so traveller-friendly and yet so enchanting and hassle-free as mountain-framed Leh. Dotted with stupas and crumbling mudbrick houses, the Old Town is dominated by a dagger of steep rocky ridge topped by an imposing Tibetan-style palace and fort. Beneath, the bustling bazaar area is draped in a thick veneer of tour agencies, souvenir shops and tandoori-pizza restaurants, but a web of lanes quickly fans out into a green suburban patchwork of irrigated barley fields. Here, gushing streams and narrow footpaths link traditionally styled Ladakhi homes and hotels that feature flat roofs, sturdy walls and ornate wooden window frames. Leh’s a place that’s all too easy to fall in love with – but take things very easy on arrival as the altitude requires a few days' acclimatisation before you can safely start enjoying the area's gamut of adventure activities.
