Narkanda is a beautiful town of Shimla district in Himachal Pradesh. Our trip started from Chandigarh by road to Shimla which takes about three and a half hours. About 64km from Shimla and at an altitude of about 2,470 mt lies Narkanda which is India's oldest Ski-resort.

The road from Shimla via Kufri to Narkanda was pretty bad and driving was slow as the traffic too was congested in certain areas. Still, we managed to reach our destination well before sunset. Since we hadn't bothered with advance bookings, we looked for the circuit house and luckily found a room available for the night. Here is the picture of the circuit house.

http://www.xomba.com/circuit_house_narkanda

It was only after we had settled ourselves comfortably in the room that we went out to look around the place. The scene from Narkanda is very beautiful as you will witness from these pictures of the mountains and the valley. There were some clouds on the horizon which obscured the view of the Himalayan ranges that day.

Narkanda

Trees in Narkanda

Narkanda Valley

Himachal Pradesh is famous for its apple orchards and we found plenty of them all along the route and also in Narkanda and rest of the places as well. Narkanda is considered to be an important horticultural centre. The other place of tourist interest is the Hatu Peak, which is the highest peak in Narkanda at 3,400m.

The Hatu Peak Narkanda

The scenic beauty is absolutely breathtaking from that point and the road to this point was also equally treacherous and nerve racking one. We could see the complete Narkanda valley and town from the top and the surrounding majestic mountains. There is a temple at the top. Himachal Pradesh is also known as the land of Gods, or should we say Goddesses. The people there mostly worship different Godessess.

Temple at Hatu Peak

The view is fantastic from the top. Take a look at these pictures:

Top of Hatu Peak

View from Hatu Peak

The place was very cold at night as the temperatures dropped drastically due partially to the clouds in the horizon. The Himachal Pradesh tourism department has their hotel called The Hatu in Narkanda and you can book rooms in advance online at their website.
http://hotelhatu.tripod.com/

There are also some other places of tourist interest in Narkanda, but as we did not have enough time, we did not bother seeing them. For more info on the places in Narkanda:

http://www.journeymart.com/DExplorer/AsiaIS/India/india_addon/mountainescapes/Narkanda.asp
http://www.travel-himalayas.com/himalaya-travel-attractions/narkanda-travel-tours.html
http://www.tourtravelworld.com/hot_spots/shimla/narkanda/

As night fell, we returned to town and had a good dinner at one of their local Dhaba called the "Himalayan Dhaba". The food was delicious and hot and we were very satisfied after a long day of driving.

The next day early morning we could see the snow covered Himalayan ranges in the far horizon as the sky cleared a bit. We then set off early on our way to Sangla. That is yet another story.

Other related articles on the road trip to Himachal Pradesh:

http://www.xomba.com/himachal_pradesh_trip_sangla
http://www.xomba.com/himachal_pradesh_trip_last_indian_village_chitkul
http://www.xomba.com/himachal_pradesh_trip_kalpa
http://www.xomba.com/himachal_pradesh_trip_sarahan_valley_flowers

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