Weekend trip to Kasauli with kids

Driving down for a weekend trip to Kasauli with kids, from Delhi could be the perfect option for a long weekend and a short retreat in the hills. Nestled in the Shivaliks, Kasauli is a cantonment town with presence of both army and the air force. There are the usual top places to visit in Kasauli and besides that, you can spend your time walking down some pretty trails amidst the pine forests, or visiting the sites which bore witness to the history, trying some lip smacking food or just relaxing in your resort.
This post will tell you about the best places to visit in Kasauli as well as the other must-dos when you’re there.

Reaching Kasauli
While one can reach Kasauli by train, bus and a car, this post is based on a drive (self or chauffeur) from Delhi to Kasauli with kids. When it comes to long drives in India with kids (especially young kids), the first thing that crosses our minds is availability of clean restrooms. That is very well taken care of by the Murthal dhabas (which are no longer Dhabas) and some of the highway petrol pumps (gas stations) which have clean restrooms.

Pitstop at Murthal Dhabas
The trio of Murthal Dhabas which are very famous are Gulshan dhaba (the oldest one, the first time I went there was 8 years ago but also the least flashy and smallest amongst the three), Amrik Sukhdev (huge and on busy days, you will not be able to find parking or space inside the restaurant), Dharam Garam (Super flashy, after all its owned by and based on Dharam Paji, really big and spacious and the one I highly recommend going with kids). Dharam Garam has these autos and jeeps that kids can sit in and enjoy, kulfi stations, VR game stations and of course awesome food. We tried their Rajma chawal, chaat and multiple other things and everything was pretty good.

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In Kasauli: Top places to visit in Kasauli and things to do

If its a weekend trip to Kasauli, I would recommend spending enough time to just soak in the sights and smells of the pine forests too along with sightseeing.
The day we reached Kasauli, we just enjoyed our resort, spent a nice evening in the infinity pool, nestled amidst pine forests, listened to some old Hindi songs (live) and enjoyed good food in our resort. The next day we started with some early morning walks around our hotel. After breakfast, we headed to visit Manki Point (one of the top places to visit in Kasauli) after which we visited the Christ Church, another one of the best places to visit in Kasauli and then the Mall road for lunch. We then retired to our resort for some time and returned in the evening to go to Gilbert Trail and a drive around in Kasauli.

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Manki Point – Yes, it is spelled like this and not Monkey Point although they really did mean Monkey where they called it Manki Point.
It features first on the top places to visit in Kasauli, both literally and geographically. It is the highest point in the region and it isn’t a usual monkey spotting point rather the town’s Air Force Station.
There is strict checking when entering the premises. Vehicles are stopped about 700mtrs before the point where the ascent starts and none of the electronic items (phones, smart watches, tablets etc) are allowed beyond here. They have a locker of sorts and they charge INR 10 for every electronic item you leave with them. Its absolutely safe.
This part is a relatively plain walk with some view points along the way, leading upto a series of steps that in turn lead to a Hanuman temple. It is a steep walk up and may be a challenge for young children (3yrs and younger) and elderly. The view from top is amazing and makes the whole climb totally worth it.
Legend has it, that Lord Hanuman set his foot on this peak while returning from Himalayas with Sanjeevani herb
(carrying a hill that was full of herbs). The top of hill is in a foot shape and the temple is engraved with footmarks of the lord.
Entry fee: There is no entry fee for visiting this place.
Timings: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Christ Church – This is the oldest church in Himachal Pradesh and an Indianized one. In no other church globally, have I seen people taking out their footwear before entering the church (not sure if there are others in India where this happens). The church has gothic architecture with some stain glass windows.
Do notice the clock tower which is part of the church with the clock which is still in working condition and mended by someone called Ashwini Kumar the old way instead of fitting it with an electronic clock machinery. The clock dates back to 1870s and after restoration is probably one of the oldest clocks of that era to be still running on the old analog way.
It is the clock and the history behind it that makes this church one of the best places to visit in Kasauli.
Entry fee: There is no entry fee for visiting this church.
Timings: 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM

Sunrise Point and Sunset Point –
Just like most of the other hill stations in India, Kasauli also has a sunrise and sunset point. From the sunset point you can catch the breathtaking views of Kalka, Pinjore etc on a clear night. With kids in tow, we decided to skip sunrise point and we saw the sunset at the end of Gilbert Trail which to my mind was just as beautiful as any.

There are a lot of nature walks and trails in the area. The most famous one of them being the Gilbert Trail.

Gilbert Trail – Make sure to wear comfortable shoes when you start on this trail. I would not recommend it with small children or elderly who have a difficulty in walking. While its visible on Google maps, the start of the trail is difficult to make out when driving past it. There is a barricade set up to stop vehicles passing through that road such that only pedestrians can go through. But while driving you may get a feeling its closed and there is no way to reach the trail. From this point, its about a 5min walk to beginning of the trail. The trail is a super easy one, with just some stones etc on the way (its not a high incline or decline either ways) and pretty short too. It took us about 45minutes to reach the suicide point and come back. Suicide point is almost an end point to the trail. We started it in the evening around 5:30 pm so we didn’t plan to explore it beyond this point to ensure we make our way back till there is still some day light.

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Mall Road –
The Mall road in Kasauli has 2 separate sections. One part is the tibetan market where you will find many shops selling Tibetan wares and stalls offering Tibetan food and the other market which is called the Heritage market where you will find a few popular Indian food stalls (Narinder dhaba being one of them) and shops selling the usual touristy stuff. Some of the souvenirs you could buy from here include metal and wooden objects.
Timings: 8:00 AM to 8:30 PM

Timber Trail – A lot of people recommend doing the cable car ride to the Timber Trail which is a resort. We have been in cable cars in a lot of places and some probably more scenic and picturesque too so we did not do this. Also, since it was finally ending at a resort which we were not so keen on going to, we decided to skip it.
Timings: 9 AM to 5 PM
Ticket: INR 1200 for Adults and INR 1000 for Children (For Cable Car Ride)

Food to try

A weekend trip to Kasauli is not complete without lip smacking specialties from Kasauli dhabas.
You can try the bun samosa or bun-gulabjamun at Narinder Sweets. Its basically a samosa in a burger bun and then shallow fried on a griddle from both sides. Its of course a yumm dish and what makes it really special is the chutneys they put inside this bun samosa. Its a wada-pav kind of dish but shallow fried. Made famous by Khushwant Singh, one can see a queue of people eating and taking away these savoury delicacies. The other bit to try here would be momos at one of the many Tibetan food stalls on the Tibetan market street. They serve a range of dumplings, thukpa and noodles.

Fruit Wines

Kasauli is also famous for its large assortment of locally produced and reasonably priced fruit wines. You can find them in many shops on the streets offering popular flavours like apple wine, plum wine, sherry wine, peach wine, and black grape wine. One place you could go is Kasauli Brewery which both serves and sells these.