Country & City code (STD) +91 177; Rail: 225291/131, Airport: 2426675,
HRTC Bus Stand: 2258765/2256326,  Police: 2212344

It is Shimla, but rail station is named as Simla.

General description : The largest hill city in India known as Hill Queen and capital of Himachal Pradesh state is situated at 2100-2213 M altitude. The city is on a arc shaped ridge of nearly 13 KM long consisting of 7 hills to North-West Himalayas. The British started rebuilding Shimla as a new England and from 1864-1939 the city was the summer capital of British India. Some marvelous architectural styles of buildings are still visible. The city is very congested now but full of all the ingredients of good living and attracts the tourists from all over the world. The magnificent view of mountain ranges with snow and cool climate with fragrance of pine, cedar, oaks and many unknown flowers turns it into a crowded tourist spot.

Season : Dec – Feb : Severe cold. Snow fall is expected in Dec-Jan. Mar - Apr is pleasant. May – Nov is full tourist's season in spite of monsoon during July-Aug.

Airport: Shimla Airport is situated at Jubbarhati on Shimla Mandi Rd 22.5 KM South-East. Jagson Airlines has service from Delhi.

Rail: For Railway Reservation www.indianrail.gov.in Kalka (belongs to Haryana State) is situated at the foot hill where Broad Gauge railway service from Kolkata/Mumbai via Delhi/Chandigarh terminates and Narrow Gauge service (96 KM) for Shimla starts . Shimla Station started operation on 1 st Jan 1906 and regarded as a heritage station now. The rail station is clean and provides coffee shop, refreshment room and retiring room facilities (Charge: Rs. 300/- per day during season and Rs. 200/- during off-season). From Kolkata: Howrah-Kalka Mail via Delhi Jn. arriving at 4.45AM, Paschim Express from Mumbai and Shatabdi Express from New Delhi . There are 969 bridges and 103 tunnels one of which is 1144 M long (Tunnel No 33 at Barog, 1530 M altitude is the longest railway tunnel in the world). The train timings are:Both the trains are linked to the arrival of Kalka Mail. The trains reaches Shimla at 10.30 AM and 11 AM respectively. Shivalik Express ticket (Rs.280/-) is inclusive of breakfast, newspaper and bottled drinking water. Similarly the evening trains is Down Shivalik Express.

The train takes 5½ to 6 hrs. The Super Deluxe Train named as Shivalik Express is a very comfortable one. It starts at 5.30 AM from Kalka and next train starts at 6 AM. These two trains are connected to the Howrah-Kalka Mail in regard to departure from Kalka. For down journey, Shivalik Express and another Express train starts at 5.40 PM and 6.15 PM respectively and both are connected to Down Kalka Mail which starts from Kalka at 11.45 PM daily. This apart, others train services are at 6.30 AM Holiday Special train which starts from Kalka ( May 1 – Jul 15, Sep 15 – Oct 30, Dec 15 – Jan 15), Holiday Spl. At 11.35 AM. The time table for Kalka Shimla train is given above.

Road Transport: There are 2 Bus Stands in Shimla i.e. (1) Main Bus Stand (near The Railway Station) for all the major routes viz. Delhi, Chandigarh, Dharamsala, etc., (2) Lakkar Bazaar Bus Stand for the Routes to Rampur, Narkanda, Sangla, Kalpa, Kaza, etc. There are plenty of buses (both Private and Himachal Road Trans. Corporation) ply between all the important places/villages in Himachal Pradesh. Regular bus services to and fro Delhi , Hardwar , Jammu , Manali, Dharamsala, etc are available at different times during day and night. Adequate numbers of tourists cab are also available at different Taxi stand located throughout the city. City Bus service is available from morning to evening.

AC Luxury coach (Volvo line) buses of HRTC ply between Shimla and Delhi . From Shimla to Delhi buses are at 8.25, 9.36, 10.47, 19.00, 19.25, 19.40, 19.50(deluxe), 21.45(Deluxe), 22.00 Hrs. Super deluxe Volvo buses are at 9.00, 2.00 and 22.15 hrs. and reaches Delhi ISBT (Kashmere Gate) in 5 hours. and Himachal Bhavan near Cannaught Circus in another 20 minutes.

Taxis (Tata Sumo, Qualis, Scorpio, Indica, Indigo, etc) are available on day rate basis depending on the routes and number of days.

Last Updated on Sunday, 06 March 2011 23:52