Himachal Hills for the Whole Family
Day-by-day itinerary
An early Shatabdi from New Delhi to Kalka, then the narrow-gauge Kalka–Shimla railway — a UNESCO World Heritage line that covers 96 km in about five hours through roughly a hundred tunnels and more than 800 bridges. Children tend to spend the whole journey at the window. Check in at Shimla by evening.
Meals: DinnerThe route
What's included — and what isn't
Where you'll stay
Hotels are confirmed at booking. Rooms in Shimla and Manali are held as family rooms wherever the property has them, so tell us the ages of your children at enquiry rather than later.
Meals
Pricing
Per person on the dated May–June departures from Delhi. Train fares are included at current tariff and adjusted if the railways revise it before ticketing.
Ritu grew up in Solan and has planned Himachal family trips for nine years. She is the reason day 6 starts early — she has watched too many families miss an evening train because nobody accounted for the Kullu-to-Mandi stretch.
Families who took this trip
“The toy train was the highlight for both kids and it cost us nothing extra in effort — tickets were already reserved when we boarded. Sissu felt like a different country from Manali.”
Prashant Kulkarni · Family of four · June 2026“My eight-year-old could not raft, which we knew beforehand, and the operator sat with her on the bank while the rest of us went. Handled without anyone feeling left out.”
Shalini Agrawal · Family of five · May 2025“Well organised throughout. Day six is a genuinely long day and I would have preferred an extra night in Chandigarh, though Ritu had warned us clearly.”
Deepak Nair · Family of four · June 2025