Go up for the day.
Sleep down here.
Yash Rock Hotel sits in the Kangra valley below Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj, with a swimming pool in the middle of it. Everything people go up the hill for is a day trip from here, and rooms start at ₹999 a night, or ₹1,699 with air conditioning — so the day is theirs and the evening is quiet.
Close enough to do in a morning.
Up in the morning for the temple, the Kora and the market, and back down for the afternoon. The road is ordinary and climbs the whole way; what you notice on the way back is how much quieter it gets on the last stretch.
When there is cricket, ask early.
The week of a match at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association ground is the week rooms up the hill stop being available at any price. Ours are down in the valley, which is far enough out to still have something and close enough that the ground is a drive rather than an expedition.
If there is a fixture you are planning around, send us the dates as soon as you know them rather than when the tickets arrive. You are not paying anything to ask, and there is no deposit page here to click through. There is more on staying for a match.
What people weigh up first.
We have driven this road in every month of the year. Ask us the morning you go and we will tell you what it is actually doing.
For most people, yes. Up the hill is busier and costs more, and everything you went up for is a day trip from here. You get a pool, a kitchen and quiet at the end of it, which McLeod Ganj cannot really offer you.
That is exactly how most people here do it. Go up in the morning, do the temple, the Kora and the market, and come back down to the valley for the evening.
Not quite. McLeod Ganj sits above Dharamshala and is where most of what people picture actually is — the Dalai Lama's temple, the cafés and the market. Lower Dharamshala is the working town below it.
That is the week to ask early. Rooms up the hill become impossible when there is a match at the stadium and ours are down here in the valley — message us as soon as you know your dates rather than when the tickets arrive.
What is down here instead.
A swimming pool, a kitchen and a roof over the valley. There is a longer piece on what the day up the hill is actually like, written by somebody who does it. Norbulingka is on the way.