Dates in Shimla – May 9 to 13

Hotel – HPTDC’s flagship property Hotel Peterhof. This is a HUGE hotel and very historic. Nathuram Godse was tried and sentenced at this location because it was the high court then. Several viceroys have stayed here, it was the Governor’s residence after Himachal was carved out as a separate state and it does have a colonial look and feel. The entire place had burnt down in 1981 and rebuilt as a luxury hotel in 1991. The rooms are huge and the bathroom is truly HUGE. We were able to put the clothes drying stand inside the bathroom and still not feel cramped for space. The service is good … But it took some complaining before it got to the levels we were used to in other HPTDC properties. Cleanliness – can be better. The bathroom was smelly, required some deep cleaning and the room has beautiful wall to wall carpeting, that needs shampooing and vacuum cleaning. It’s not dirty but it can be cleaner.

Wi-fi – not available. Just use Airtel or Vodafone 3G. Both work really well. We didn’t try the Reliance datacard.

Food – there are several options outside in Shimla, so we didn’t really try much of the hotel food. We had Lassi on day 1 …. But don’t, because it’s neither thick nor cold.

Shimla is very crowded but still is beautiful and charming. The mall road is as wonderful as ever… And inspite of the Lakkad bazaar road being filled with “Madrasi” tourists, it’s still Himachali in its ethos. At one time we had Tamilians ahead of us, behind us and a few more families walking around on Mall road :):).

The huge lawn of Hotel Peterhof … dont miss the Buddha serenely meditating. weddings take placeon this lawn and there were two weddings in the three days that we stayed there !!

Viceroy Lord Mountbatten gifted this building because he loved the tea at Verma’s tea shop. its a steep walk down from the rear entrance of Hotel Peterhof. The tea was great as was the bun and butter.

A panoramic shot from near Hotel Cecil Oberoi.

The campaign is taking effect !!

The Hotel Peterhof is next to a bird zoo and there are several langurs and monkeys that frequent the area outside the Kitchen . This fellow was sitting outside our window 🙂

This is a must eat place in Lakkad bazaar. … just around the corner from the church on the mall road. the choley bhature here are just the right size and portion sizes are just right !! loved it.

Right across from Sita Ram is this eggless bakery. great eats here too.