Janjehli and Jibhi – A Road Trip to Offbeat Himachal

As we wanted to visit a place less traveled/crowded place somewhere in the hills, Bhaderwah was in mind for a long time. But visiting Kashmir valley is never so smooth for me and couldn’t take any chance with family. So we dropped it and decided to go somewhere in Himachal. That is how Janjehli was picked for a quick road trip.

Janjehli is the place we closely crossed in 2017 and found it very beautiful to spend some time there. We chatted with a few friends who were also planning their trip to the hills at the same time. We asked them to tag along but it didn’t work out.

After having a family dinner in Desi Vibes (CP) on my wife’s birthday, we started the next morning for Janjehli.

Day 1 – Faridabad to Janjehli

We started early morning at 5 am from Faridabad. It started raining from Karnal onwards which continued till Bilaspur. The weather became pleasant due to rains and we loved the drive through some beautiful terrain.

Since Janjehli is not so much of a tourist place, we found scenic views after Sundernagar. The road was dug up at two places just 2 km before Thunag which killed our 2 hours. We came out of it with the help of a local guy named (Prakash Chand Sharma) who gave us some insights into the place. He told us that CM of Himachal belongs to that place called Tandi (another Tandi near Thunag).

Also Read: How to Plan A Trip to Jibhi

We reached Janjehli at 7 pm and directly went to the beautifully located HPPWD rest house. It was available at the cost of 480/- per night but we decided not to stay there. We checked a couple of more places and found Hotel The Spot Valley the best place to stay.

Route Taken: Faridabad – Delhi – Ambala – Roopnagar – Kiratpur – Swarghat – Bilaspur – Sundernagar – Chail Chowk – Bagsaid – Thunag – Janjehli

550 km in 15 hours.

 

Day 2 – Janjehli to Jibhi

I got up early morning at 6 after a sound sleep and left for a quick walk around the place. Spent some time at Pandav Shila which has some historical relevance linked with Pandavas and then some time at the bank of the river. Had some tea snacks and maggie and returned to the hotel to start for Shikari Devi temple, 16 km away from Janjehli.

Also Read: How to Plan a Trip to Tirthan Valley

Shikari Devi Temple

Vinay, our hotel guy suggested taking a local taxi or local driver in our car for Shikari Devi due to bad road conditions. But I denied it and decided to drive on my own. The first 10 km till Raigarh was like a cakewalk but 6 km after that was almost an off-road with rocks kissing the underbelly of my car.

The road was full of slush, was steep, and very narrow to cross two vehicles at the same time. We did this 16 km in 1.5 hours. After that, we had to take 483 steep steps to reach the temple. It took approx another 1.5 hours as it was a task for my wife due to a rod placed in her leg.

Shikari Devi is a roofless temple located at a height of 3359 meters (higher than Leh). 360° views of the Himalayas from the temple are breathtakingly beautiful. After spending approx an hour we started coming back towards Janjehli in order to check-out and leave for Jibhi.

Vinay was a wonderful host, he was ready to serve us complimentary lunch before we leave the place with beautiful memories and a promise to visit him again. We started from Janjehli towards my favorite places Chachgalu and Gadagusaini which fall on the way to Jibhi. This route is extremely scenic and not present on Gmaps. It is a no road territory that means we go at the speed of 10-15 kmph until Jibhi.

We stayed in Latoda Eco Huts owned by a friend J D Thakur, this property is beautifully located away from the crowd.

Route taken: Janjehli – Shikari Devi – Janjehli – Chattri – Chachgalu – Gadagusaini – Jibhi.

Also Read: How to Plan a Trip to Sainj Valley

Day 3 – Janjehli to Jibhi to Tirthan Valley

We wanted to reach Tirthan last day but due to bad roads, we could only make it till Jibhi. After checking out from Latoda, we spent some time at Jibhi waterfall then left for Tirthan Valley.

Another friend Aman owns a lovely riverside property there named ‘Trishla Resorts’. We checked in there at 12 pm after spending some time at the riverside in Gushaini.

An evening walk around the river and suspension bridge was completely relaxing. The night temperature did not drop much in Tirthan as compared with Jibhi and Janjehli.

28 km in 1 hour.

Day 3 – Tirthan Valley to Faridabad

The return journey from Tirthan started at 8:30 am following the route as mentioned below.

Tirthan – Bali Chowki – Aut – Mandi – Sundernagar – Bilaspur – Swarghat – Kiratpur – Roopnagar – Ambala – Delhi – Faridabad

546 km in 13 hours

Total 1233 km in 4 days.

Breaks were taken at my all-time preferred restaurants due to good food and clean washrooms.

• Heritage Haveli at Roopnagar
• Neelkanth Star at Karnal
• Shangri La at Sundernagar

Janjehli and Jibhi – Conclusion

If you want to visit an offbeat and less crowded place for your next trip, I will highly recommend Janjehli, Jibhi, and Tirthan Valley. If you have any questions about planning your trip, please feel free to ask in the comments section below or at our Community Forum, and I will be glad to answer.

Thanks for reading – Happy Motoring