JIBHI….

A paradise

Have you at any point wanted to make a trip to a spot which is far away from all the hustle and bustle
of the city. A spot which has its very own appeal and doesn't have such huge numbers of sightseers
breathing right on your neck. Have you ever imagined yourself sitting on a rock sitting above a cool
untamed stream encompassed by green rich pine and cedar trees?
Awesome isn’t it! Let me take you to a place wherein you can experience it all- Jibhi.
You may be pondering where precisely is this spot, how to reach, what all things can we do and the
list go on. Worry not people, lets touch these topics one by one.

Ummm….wait before we begin our tour, let me advice you one thing. If you are planning to visit this
place, do ensure that you don’t litter with your waste (bottles and stuff) in and around the place.
Please do remember, this is a small village with limited resources, even the dump truck shows up once
in a month (envision you living at a place like this and random people just coming and throwing their
useless stuff around and leaving….not at all appealing right). Despite this fact, this place is one of the
cleanest hill station. Let’s pledge to keep the place as beautiful as it is now.
What are we waiting for, lets begin the tour…
A. Where exactly is this dreamy place?
Jibhi is located in Tirthan Valley, Himachal which is approximately 490 kms from Delhi. As
soon as you will arrive at this place, your first reaction will be woowwwwww….this place is
ammaaazzziinngggg. All you need to do is to click snap and snap (better make sure you have
an extra memory card for your DSLR or your phone’s battery is full).
This place is situated right beside the Tirthan valley hence, you can always hear the river
spouting through the stones joyfully, and that is the sound rather feeling which one cannot
discover in the city, even after asking your Alexa to play the sound of the river! (kidding, I
know nobody does that)
The other thing I like about Jibhi a lot is that you can see sooooo many Apple, Plum and Pear
trees. I mean I always wanted to climb up the tree and pick a fruit (I generally envisioned
myself doing likewise while tuning in to my father's bachppan ki yaadein).
I think at this point, you might got an idea regarding the magnificent magnificence of this
place which brings me to my next point.

B. How to reach such a marvellous mind-boggling place?

There is no immediate method to arrive at this spot (I know a bit sad but gladly this could be
one of the reasons why it is still considered as an offbeat destination). So, we can reach Jibhi
either by taking a perfect road trip or if you don’t like being on road for a long time and
would like to save your time a bit then you may travel via air.

 By Air
The closest air terminal is Bhuntar which is present right in the centre of tall
pinnacles. This is quite a small airport and more often than not climate conditions will
decide whether you would really have the option to fly.
 By Train
I would rather not recommend anybody opting for this in light of the fact that the
closest station "Shimla" is 160 kms away (phew! Exhausting!!)
  By Road
This is my favourite mode of transportation while I am venturing out to mountains.
Here, you have two options either drive directly to Jibhi (which is somewhere going
to be an overnight one) or be like me and take a bus from Vidhansabha or Majnu ka
Tila (Delhi) till Auth.
You need to get down before the Manali tunnel (be very sure about this point because
we did not and we had to travel back through the tunnel in another bus).
Once you arrive in Auth, take either a cab directly to Jibhi or take a local bus (for me
this was the fun and cheaper way as we were travelling on budget) to Banjar. From
Banjar again we can take the bus or a cab (we preferred the latter as it was getting
late).

C. Where to stay in Jibhi?

To answer this, let me tell you there are multiple homestays and hostels in Jibhi wherein you
can stay, unwind and chill with a hookah at the same time. Quite a few are situated right
beside the mighty Tirthan River.
We decided to stay in a newly opened hostel called “hostalgic”. The view was stunning from
our dorm room.
Want to know the plus point, here they are:
1. They had two dogs who would rather be suppeeerrrr happy to welcome you and can make
your holiday wayyy better, atleast for a dog person like me)
2. There is a Kiwi tree (I was amazzeeed to see one. Never in my life I saw)
3. There were multiple yummilicious plum trees (I know that’s not a word!! But, yeah it is
correctly expressing my feeling)
4. Apart from plum trees, there were apple and pear trees (though I had to climb a tad bit to
reach those…Kidding my friend Bhavinee did that for us)
5. The host makes aammmmaazzzing hookah and food (so you know you are in a treat for
sure!)
Apart from Hostalgic, the most sought-after hostel is Mudhouse. You can also arrive in Jibhi
and book the hostels or homestays on the go.

D. Where to eat? Are there any good cafes that we can hog on?
Indeed, more often than not we ate in our lodging (they had amazing cook). There is one café
right opposite to SBI ATM (they had just one, so it will be easy to figure out). Trust me folks,
this café have amazing interiors.
Apart from this, I had also compiled a list of café’s which we could have tried (probably next
time for sure!). Here you go:
a. Great Himalayn Café
b. Café Jungle Valley
c. Conifers Feasts
d. Rock Top Inn
Since, we are already talking about eating, make sure you try Siddu. It is supper yumm, trust
me on this. Siddu is a local cuisine which is infact a stuffed bread (or rather I would say a big
stuffed yummy momo) served with green chutney. You can also make a special request for
the local alcohol (it has a very weird orangy pungent sort of taste)

E. What exactly are we planning to do once we arrive in Jibhi? I mean yeah, we had
incredible food and a marvellous cuddly place to stay but are we just going to sleep and
eat Duh!
 I would like to say this place is for someone who loves to walk. There are multiple small trails
which one can take and explore this paradise. However, for someone who had planned to visit
this place in just two days can go to the following:
a. Jibhi mainly have two treks, one that goes towards Jalhori Pass and Serolsar lake. Barely
any kms from Jalhori Pass lies Shringa Rishi Temple.
b. The other trek goes towards the Raghupur Fort (this trek is a bit difficult) but, the trek
offers ammaazzinngg view (trust me, it will be worth the effort). The fort mostly is in
ruins (so don’t expect much from architecture point of view)
c. Apart from these treks, one can also trek to the waterfall. The trek towards the waterfall is
quite scenic and one can’t stop themselves from clicking after each couple of steps.
d. The last but not the least place is mini Thailand (excitiinnnnggg isn’t it). We had to take a
short walk from our hostel (hardly 5 min) and we arrived at this astounding place.
So, guys this was Jibhi for you. Oh wait, I have soo much more to talk about this place so, here are a
few more interesting points for you”
1. If you are a dog lover, then this place is heaven for you. When we were on our way to
waterfall, a dog literally guided us half way. (I mean what else can you wish for…pahad, nadi
and a dog)
2. The road to Jalhori pass is one among the most dangerous roads in India (so make sure your
friend knows how to drive 😉)
3. Right before we went to the trip, there was bus accident (the driver couldn’t control the bus
on the turn) just few kms away from Jibhi. Now, locals believe that turn to be a bit haunted
(spoookkyyyy!!!!)
4. The locals there are super friendly and you might be able to hitchhike your way to Jalhori
pass (like we did). I would recommend this because, waiting for local bus is never-ending (we
waited for an hour for the bus). This is because it is a small town and you may never expect
the local transport to arrive on time.
5. The best part I liked about this place is that the hostel owners will make create awareness
about not tossing your trash in and around the town or you might end up bumping into a sign
like this….

I wish every place was as cool as this (smiey in eyes)