bike, pine trees, and a friend named Golu who almost cried
so day three in Shimla and I was just. done. Mall Road is fun for like one evening max, after that it's just crowds and monkeys stealing chips and everyone selling the same shawls. hotel wale bhaiya saw me complaining and casually said "Naldehra chale jaiye, bahut sukoon hai wahan" and honestly the way he said it made me trust him immediately
googled it for two mins, saw one golf course photo, decided that was enough research, rented a bike for ₹1000 and just left
the drive there is honestly underrated. nobody talks about it enough. pure deodar forest almost the whole way, and this one point where the valley just opens up on the left and you can see hills fading into this blue-grey haze in the distance. stopped there for like 10 mins just standing next to the bike not even taking photos, bas dekha kiya
what was supposed to be a 45 min ride took over an hour kyunki main baar baar ruk raha tha. zero regrets
also the air actually gets cold as you go up, naldehra is around 2200m and I felt it in my ears before I even saw a sign
first stop: naldehra golf course. built in like 1905, some British guy just decided to put a golf course in the middle of the himalayas and honestly. respect. I don't play golf, never held a club in my life, but you don't need to care about golf to get it — it's this stupidly flat green stretch just sitting there with mountains as the backdrop, like someone photoshopped it in
we'd carried chai in a flask (best decision of the trip tbh) and just sat there for almost an hour doing nothing. no plan. just tea and mountains and watching actual golfers play like they were in a completely different, calmer universe
then I rode a horse for the first time in my life and was weirdly nervous about it lol. stood there for a full minute deciding, guide saw me hesitating and just laughed, said "aaram se, ghabraiye mat" which somehow made it worse and better at the same time
but it was actually so peaceful once we got into the forest. temperature dropped again, sunlight coming through the pine branches in these thin strips, zero network, just hooves on dirt and some birds I couldn't identify. this ended up being my favourite part of the entire trip, more than anything in shimla honestly
if horses aren't your thing the same trail works for mountain biking too, saw some guys doing that on the way back
by then I was starving and found this tiny local market, maybe 6-7 shops, one of them making something called siddu — steamed bread with a big spoon of ghee on top. never heard of it before that day. ₹60 for one and I deeply regret not getting a second one immediately because by the time I decided, the lady had already started packing up
if you're someone who plans trips around food, put this on the list. not fancy, not instagram-plated, just really good food made by someone who's clearly been doing this for years
we didn't actually go back to shimla that night. booked a random campsite called Himalayan Hanu Peak right near naldehra, small setup, few tents, dead silent after sunset
my friend — we call him Golu — was in a tent by himself while the rest of us were next door. and obviously the second it got properly dark someone (won't say who) decided to make animal noises outside his tent and started shaking it from outside like something was trying to get in
I genuinely cannot describe how scared this man got. would NOT come out of the tent. we were laughing so hard trying to stay quiet that we almost blew our own cover twice. told him the truth next morning, he did not find it funny, still brings it up every time naldehra comes up in conversation lmao
if you do camp there tho, the site itself is actually really nice, proper mountain silence, great for stargazing if the sky's clear. just don't leave your friends alone in a tent if they scare easy
on the way back we stopped in mashobra for like 20 mins, apple orchard country, super quiet. kufri was technically on the route too but we were tired and slightly sunburnt so we skipped it, next time maybe
so was it worth it? completely. naldehra isn't really an "attraction" the way shimla is, there's no mall road equivalent, nothing that screams tourist-must-see. it's more of a place you go to just slow down for a few hours, sit somewhere, eat something new, not check your phone
went during monsoon and the whole valley was sitting in fog when we got there, proper walking-through-clouds situation, wasn't expecting that and loved it. if golf's your thing apparently march-june is better for actually playing. and a couple locals told me winter turns the whole place white with snow which I still haven't seen, kinda want to go back just for that
If you're doing a shimla trip and have even one spare day — take it, go to naldehra, don't rush the drive, don't plan the day minute by minute, just let it happen. that's kind of the whole point
Rented our bike through Himalayan Calling in shimla btw, they do cars and stays too if you need. nothing fancy just easy and reliable which is honestly all you need for a day trip like this
