For the lakhs of holidaymakers heading into the hills to beat the heat, this season's trip to Himachal Pradesh has turned into more of a headache than a getaway. With the tourist rush at its peak, the state's roads are choking under the sheer volume of vehicles, triggering hours-long jams at one spot after another. After Sunday, Monday too saw several areas come to a near standstill, with people losing four to five hours stuck on the road.
A 10-km Crawl in Shimla
The capital, Shimla, saw some of the worst chaos. On Monday, a roughly 10-km-long jam built up from Sanjauli onwards through Dhalli and Chharabra towards Kufri. It wasn't just tourists trapped in the crawling queue — office-goers, schoolchildren and even an ambulance were caught in the gridlock. A similar scene had played out at several spots a day earlier on Sunday.
Why the Crowds Are Pouring In
Punishing heat across the plains is pushing people from all over the country towards the hills. So many tourists are now flocking to popular destinations like Shimla, Manali, Kullu, Kasol, Dalhousie, Khajjiar and Kasauli that the narrow roads simply cannot absorb the pressure. In Manali, the congestion grows even heavier during the morning and evening hours.
Four Hours of Standstill on the Dalhousie-Khajjiar Route
Traffic collapsed completely on Sunday along the Dalhousie-Lakkad Mandi road that leads to the famous tourist spot of Khajjiar. From early morning, crowds swelled in Dalhousie and Khajjiar, and the number of vehicles on the Dalhousie-Lakkadmandi-Khajjiar stretch grew so large that traffic ground to a halt. The jam dragged on for about four hours, draining the fun out of the trip for thousands of tourists and bringing movement across the entire area to a near standstill. People here were left stranded in one place for up to three hours.
Life Stuck at Every Bend in Kullu
Conditions in Kullu district were dire as well. Tourists are gathering in such large numbers at Manali, Manikaran, Kasol, Tirthan, Banjar and Jibhi that visitors are spending hours on end just sitting on the roads. Over the weekend, Manikaran, Kasol and the surrounding areas saw jams forming everywhere, and one-way restrictions on several routes only lengthened the queues. Meanwhile, on the highway in Mandi district, vehicles crawled from Pandoh up to Aut. More than 35,000 vehicles pass through this stretch every day, and reckless overtaking along with bottlenecks keep choking the flow.
Police Left Sweating
The situation beyond Pandoh in Mandi district grew so serious that SP Vinod Sharma reached the spot himself. Officers had to work hard to get the traffic moving again. According to officials, narrow roads and haphazard overtaking are the biggest reasons behind the jams.
The Jam, in Tourists' Own Words
Muskan Sheikh, visiting from Delhi, said large numbers of people are arriving in the hills from across the country, causing jams everywhere, and that police are not deployed at every point to manage the traffic — five to six hours are being lost in the gridlock alone. Mukesh Kumar, who came from Rajasthan, said he had been touring for the past two or three days, but the jams everywhere meant it was taking two-and-a-half to three hours just to reach the hotel. He had come for a three-to-four-day trip, he said, but most of the time was being wasted stuck in traffic. Taxi driver Habib said the jams across Kullu were causing major trouble, and that at some spots the four-hour-long jams running for two or three days were even making it hard for tourists to find food and water.
Queues in Kasauli and Solan Too
Kasauli, just 50 km from Chandigarh, also witnessed jams. On Sunday, a Radha Swami Satsang in Solan led to long lines of vehicles stretching onto the highway. Earlier, Sanwara in Solan had also seen a long jam on Sunday. For now, the weather in Himachal Pradesh remains pleasant, with rain expected until 21 June — which means the crowds are likely to keep coming in the days ahead.
