Snow above you, sunshine around you
Every winter, one question comes on our phone again and again: “Bhaiya, snow milegi?” Here is the honest answer. In Dharamshala town, not always. But step out of your hotel on a December morning and look up. The Dhauladhar stands right above the town, white from end to end, so close it feels like you could walk up and touch it.
And the sun? It is warm enough to sit outside with a cup of chai. That is the whole secret of a Dharamshala winter. You get the snow to look at, and the sunshine to live in. Most hill towns give you one or the other. This one gives you both, on almost every clear day.
Not too harsh, not too cold
Anyone who has spent December in the plains knows the other kind of winter: grey fog for weeks, damp rooms, no sun at all. Dharamshala is the opposite. Winter days here are mostly clear and bright, and the afternoons are mild enough for a long walk in a light jacket. Nights turn properly cold, and that is when the heaters, the thick razais and the bonfires come out.
“Not too harsh, not too cold,” says Arvind, who started Nandini Travels at the Kangra taxi stand in 2018. “That is our winter.” It is gentle enough for elders and small children, and cold enough to feel like you have really come to the mountains.
Where the snow actually is
If you want to touch the snow and not just look at it, here is how it works around Dharamshala. Upper McLeodganj, Naddi and Dharamkot get snowfall in some years, usually in January. It is magical when it happens, but nobody can promise it.
Triund and the Snowline, up above McLeodganj, have snow most winters. That is a trek, not a drive, so it suits people who are fit and properly dressed; our Triund trek is the easy way to do it. For surer snow by car, Dalhousie and Khajjiar are a day’s drive away. And if you want the deep, heavy snow of the postcards, Manali, Solang and Sissu are where it lies. It is a long drive in winter traffic, but for some people it is worth every hour.
Our advice: make Dharamshala your warm base, and keep one day free. When snow falls somewhere close, we drive you to it, and you come back to a warm room and a hot dinner.
Christmas and New Year in McLeodganj
From the last week of December, McLeodganj changes its mood. Cafés put up fairy lights, the lanes fill with travellers from everywhere, and the whole hillside feels like one long evening out. Many people come just for this week, to see the year out with the mountains turning pink at sunset and a plate of hot momos in hand.
If this is your plan, book early. Hotels in McLeodganj and Dharamkot fill up fast for the New Year week, and so do the taxis. Call us once your dates are fixed, and your pickup is sorted before the rush begins. And if you are here in February or March, look out for Losar, the Tibetan New Year, when the monasteries are at their most colourful.
Momos, thukpa and kadak chai
Winter food is half the reason to come. Steaming momos in the Tibetan lanes of McLeodganj. A bowl of thukpa when the sun slips behind the mountain. Kadak chai with ginger at a roadside dhaba on the way up. In the evenings, many hotels and homestays light a bonfire, and nobody wants to go inside.
Our drivers know where the chai is good and the washrooms are clean. Ask them on the way, and they will stop.
Quieter, and kinder on the pocket
Outside the New Year week, winter is the quiet season. The monasteries are calm, the Dalai Lama temple is peaceful in the early morning, and you can sit at a café window for an hour without anyone waiting for your table. Hotel rates in most places are lower than in the summer rush, so the same budget stretches further.
It is a lovely time for darshan too. Brajeshwari Mata is right in Kangra town, and Chamunda Devi and the old Shiv Mandir at Baijnath sit on one easy loop, our Chamunda, Palampur and Baijnath day circuit.
A winter day, the Dharamshala way
Here is what a good winter day here looks like. Wake up to the Dhauladhar turning pink in the first light. Chai in the sun on the balcony, then up to McLeodganj for the morning prayers at the Dalai Lama temple, when the courtyard is quiet and the butter lamps are burning. A slow walk to Bhagsu, or down to the tea gardens, before a hot lunch of thukpa.
The afternoon is when the sun is warmest, so that is the time for a café, a book and the view. Before sunset, drive up to Naddi and watch the whole range turn gold, then pink, then blue. Back down for dinner, a bonfire and a thick razai. Nothing rushed, nothing wasted.
What to pack for a Dharamshala winter
Layers, not one heavy coat. The afternoons are warm in the sun and the nights are cold, so a thermal, a sweater and a good jacket you can take off will serve you better than one big coat. Add a woollen cap, gloves and warm socks for the evenings, and shoes with a good grip if you plan to walk up to the snow.
Carry sunglasses and sunscreen too. The winter sun at this height is strong, especially near the snow. And keep a shawl and a flask handy in the car. The drive is part of the day.
How we plan a winter trip
Tell us your dates and who is coming. We pick you up from Gaggal airport, or from Pathankot or Amb Andaura station if you come by train. Airport and station pickups run at any hour, so a late flight is not a problem.
Then we keep the plan loose, the way a winter trip should be. A sunny day? McLeodganj, Bhagsu and the monasteries on our Dharamshala sightseeing day. Fresh snow up top? We drive you as close as the road allows. Want a darshan day? We set the route. You enjoy the winter. We keep an eye on the weather and the roads.