Kangra & Dhauladhar · Western Himalaya & Trans-Himalaya
How to reach
By air
- Kangra Airport, Gaggal (DHM) — About 13 km from Dharamshala. The runway is short and hemmed in, and flights are cancelled routinely through the monsoon — always hold a road fallback.
By rail
- Pathankot Junction (PTK) — The broad-gauge railhead for the whole region, on the plains edge about 90 km from Dharamshala.
- Chakki Bank (CHKB) — The adjacent junction where the narrow gauge begins.
- Kangra Mandir (KGRM) — On the Kangra Valley narrow-gauge line, close to the Brajeshwari temple.
- Palampur Himachal (PPTM) — Narrow gauge, in the middle of the tea belt.
- Baijnath Paprola (BJPL) — Narrow gauge, for Baijnath temple and the Bir Billing approach.
By road
NH 154 — the Pathankot to Mandi highway, the spine of the valley through Nurpur, Kangra and PalampurThe Hoshiarpur and Una approach from Chandigarh and Delhi, via HamirpurThe Dharamshala–Chamba route over the Dhauladhar shoulder, open only in seasonOvernight bus from Delhi, roughly 500 km and eleven to thirteen hours
By water
Boat crossings on the Pong reservoir where the road detour round an arm is long
Getting around
HRTC buses reach almost every road-head village and are the honest way to travel here. Shared taxis run the Dharamshala–McLeodganj and Palampur–Baijnath legs, and a cable car has connected Dharamshala to McLeodganj since 2022, which matters on a road that jams solid every weekend.
How to reach Kangra & Dhauladhar by air, rail, road and water, and how to get around once there. (6)