Himachal Pradesh

About Himachal Pradesh
Himachal pradesh is nestled in the Himalayas, the world's mightiest mountain ranges. Himachal Pradesh is blessed with some of the most spectacular landscapes anywhere in the world. Truly Himachal tourism is a travellers paradise, with mighty snow peaks, deep gorges, lush green and golden valleys, flower filled meadows, misty woods, fast flowing icy rivers, glaciers and enchanting lakes. While the picturesque valleys of Kullu, Kinnaur and Kangra are a riot of colours, in marked contrast the barren terrain of Lahaul & Spiti have a stunning lunar landscape like beauty.
For visitors there are superb locations for relaxing and sight seeing. There are also tremendous opportunities for trekking, mountaineering, fishing, river rafting, skiing, para-gliding, ice skating and golf. Having an excellent network of roads and communication facilities, Himachal pradesh tourism has a clean and peaceful environment.

Kullu is known for its ancient temples, apple orchards and the annual Dusshera Festival, which is also famous for its handicrafts and woolens like shawl, caps, puhla, namdas and patoos. The best time to visit Kullu is during Dusshera in the October. A few kilometers from Manali is the Rohtang Pass, this is a place known for the divergent landscapes. You will find the rich greenery of the Kullu valley along with bare, brown mountains, glaciers and snowfields in Himachal tourism.

Other name:- Deva Bhoomi (the land of the gods)
Capital:- Shimla
Country:- India

Language
Hindi, Punjabi, Mahasui, Kulluyi, Lahauli, Kinnauri, Chambyali, Sirmauri, Bilaspuri, Pahari, Dogri, Kangri.

Airports
There are three airports in Himachal Pradesh, which are: Shimla Airport near Shimla, Gaggal Airport near Kangra and Bhuntar Airport near Kullu. The flights operate only seasonally due to extreme weather conditions, especially during winters. Moreover, all these airports have runways shorter than 4000 ft and so allow the operation of only the smaller aircraft like the 18-seater Dornier & 42 seater ATR, which is the most common aircraft operating on these runways.

Rail junctions
Himachal has two narrow-gauge rail tracks, one is the Kalka-Shimla Railway track that has a length of 96 kilometers. It passes through 102 tunnels and crosses 864 bridges. The track has been in existence for over a century now. Panoramic Kalka-Shimla Railway known to be an engineering marvel of British India and the level of difficulty in laying of tracks could be judged by a journey in the route.
Pathankot-Jogindernagar track has a length of about 113 kilometers.  Both of these tracks are commercially unviable but are operated because of their heritage value.

Location
Himachal Pradesh has boundaries with the Jammu and Kashmir in the North, Uttar Pradesh in the Southeast, China on east, Haryana in the South and Punjab in the West. This state is located between 30"22' and 30"12' north latitude and between 75"47' and 79"4' east longitude.

Weather
Main seasons for visitors are May to July and September to November – advance reservations for accommodation are recommended at this time. Moreover, during the monsoon the middle hills can be chilly and damp, and snow closes many mountainous areas from November to April, including the mountain valleys of Lahaul and Spiti.

Transport
Roads are the major mode of transport in this hilly terrains of Himachal Pradesh. This beautiful state has road network of 28,208 km (17,528 mi), including eight national highways (NH) that constitute 1,234 km (767 mi).Some roads get closed during winter and monsoon seasons due to snowfall and landslides. Regular bus services connect Shimla with Chandigarh, Kullu, Manali, Delhi, Mandi, Pathankot, Ambala, Chail and Dehradun and local taxis are the major local transport here. District Hamirpur has got the highest road density in the country.