Visit to Jakhu Hill - the Tallest Summit of Simla in India

The rule of Britishers has resulted in many favorable ways for India. One of such aspects is development of many beautiful hill stations all around the country, even at various remote corners of India. Simla is one such beautiful hill station in the Northern part of the country in the State of Himachal Pradesh. I had an opportunity to visit this lovely hill station during last winter for around two weeks. I visited each and every site seeing spots in detail as I had an ample time with me. Jakhu Hill is one such famous spot at Simla that should not be missed at any cost. I am going to cover the highlights of my visit to this Jakhu Hill.

The hill station of Simla can be easily reached either by train from Delhi up to Kalka. There is a beautiful toy train that takes you to Simla from Kalka railway station. This toy train journey of around 4 hours is really enjoyable. That is why most of the tourists opt for this unique journey. Jakhu Hill is the highest summit of Simla, situated at the height of around 8000 feet. It is situated at distance of around 2 miles from the town of Simla. We had opted to climb this Jakhu Hill by walking in order to enjoy the beauty of the entire route and the surroundings snow filled mountains. However, if you do not want to walk such large distance, there is an asphalt road provided up to the top of this hill. The walk takes around two hours to reach to the top of this hill. The view of snow Cladded Mountains, shining in the rays of sun, is really breathtaking. There is a very famous and ancient Lord Hanuman temple here on this hill. This temple is believed to be 3000 years old. The story goes like Lord Hanuman had taken some rest here at this hill, when he was returning with the mountain containing the Sanjivani medicine for Laxmanji, who was injured during the Ramayana war. Perhaps that is the reason there are many monkeys at this temple even now. The monkeys move around freely and even snatch away the things from the hands of the tourists. It is suggested to carry the stick in your hands for protection during visit to this hill. One of the monkeys even grabbed the spectacle, worn by our son. It became very difficult to retrieve that spectacle back. There are few telescopes placed here at the top of the hill to have closer view of the snow filled Himalayan Mountains. The atmosphere at this famous Jakhu Hanuman temple is very spiritual and the statue of Lord Hanuman placed here is of full size and looks almost real. It is made from the black stone, obtained from the quarries of Rajasthan. We stayed at the top for around three hours to enjoy the scenic beauty all around Simla. The aerial view of the entire hill station of Simla is simply out of the world from the top of this hill.

One has to start early in the morning to visit this hill, in case you are going to climb it on your feet. We had started at around 7 am in the morning from our hotel and reached to the top of hill by around 10.30 am. We started our return journey at around 2 pm and reached the town of Simla by around 5 pm. We had carried our packed lunch and the mineral water bottles with us. It was really very helpful as there are no good restaurants available for food at the top of the hill. Taking lunch in the middle of lush and thick forest after walking of around 3 miles distance in the fresh forest air was really very pleasant and enjoyable. I would suggest all my readers to visit this Jakhu Hill on feet, rather than going there in a car. Though, it would be slightly strenuous for some of the tourists. However, the real fun to visit this hill is by walking only. If you are visiting Simla in winter, you must be careful to select a clear and sunny day to visit this hill as snowfall can spoil the entire fun of climb up the hill.

Simla is full of many such beautiful site seeing spots and you need to stay at least for around four to five days to enjoy all of them thoroughly. The stay of less than 2 or 3 days would not be enough to enjoy the real beauty of this lovely hill station, which is also known as the queen of hill stations.