Exquisite, appealing, aesthetic, beguiling; even these adjectives can’t do proper justice to the beauty of Dharamshala. It was the month of August when I and my friend went for a short trip to Dharamshala. We went by car and the road was awesome! The lush green surrounding, mesmerising waterfalls, roadside dhabas, all added to our excitement and eagerness. An exciting trip was indeed waiting for us!

We could see the twilight when we reached Dharamshala. We passed St. John’s Church, which is the oldest church with over hundreds of graves. The church looked all the more beautiful in the evening’s essence. I was already in love with Dharamshala.

Both me and my friend are travellers and we have travelled to quite some places in India together. We had pre-planned our trip from before so that we don’t miss out on anything. After checking in at a homestay and keeping our luggage, we had the delicious Himachali Pateer and chouck.

It was a pleasant morning the next day. The wind was soft, the sun was shining up, a perfect weather to have a hell of a trip! We went to Bhagsuang Temples and the waterfall nearby. The small market called Mcleodganj, which was by far the best market that I’ve ever seen. It was beautiful, bright, colourful and full of energy. We bought several t-shirts and thangkas for ourselves. My friend bought a beautiful mantelpiece for his tea table back home. We had some coffee at the local shop and headed for Kangra Art Museum.

The next place on our list was the War Memorial. Before we could head towards Kunal Pathri, hunger pangs struck us and we had to oblige. And in what better way can a person satiate his hunger than experimenting with food, especially of some exotic place. We gorged on food at a local restaurant and finished off the delicious sweets in no time.

Kunal Pathri Temple has exotic carvings and we could decipher many of the myths and legends from the ancient history. Shiva, Vishnu, Devi Sati, Tandav Nritya, the carvings had all the Gods and Goddesses from Indian mythology. Before calling it for the day, we visited the Norbulingka Institute, which is one of a kind with the Buddha shrine and an amazing café.

It was Himachal Pradesh and the trip would have been incomplete without a visit to the Triund Hill. So, the next day, we went for Triund Hills, which is near Mcleodganj. No words can describe the beauty of this place which is stunning and breath-taking. The moment, the weather, the landscape and obviously the famous momo stalls made it our favourite spot at Dharamshala.

This trip to Dharamshala had every element that we wanted. Amazing beauty of the landscape, good weather, warm people, delicious and mouth-watering food, which all contributed to make this trip magnificent. It surely was one of the best trips that I had so far. I am sure my friend will also agree on this since both of us had a great time.