Khajjiar- Himachal Pradesh

Khajjiar is a hill station, near the town of Chamba in Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh, India, located approximately 24 kilometres (15 mi) from Dalhousie.

Khajjiar lies on a small plateau with a small stream-fed lake in the middle. The hill station is surrounded by meadows and forests. It is about 2,000 metres (6,500 ft) above sea level in the foothills of the Dhauladhar ranges of the Western Himalayas. It is part of the Kalatop Khajiar Sanctuary.

Khajiar can be reached from Dalhousie, the nearest major town. It has a rare combination of three ecosystems: lake, pasture, and forest.

Mini Switzerland
On 7 July 1992, Swiss Envoy Willy P. Blazer, Vice-Counsellor and Head of the Chancery of Switzerland in India brought Khajjiar on the world tourism map by calling it “Mini Switzerland”. He also put a sign of a yellow Swiss hiking footpath showing Khajjiar’s distance from the Swiss capital Bern: “6,194 km” or 3,849 mi. Khajjiar is among the 160 locations in the world that bear a topographical resemblance with Switzerland. The counselor also took a stone from Khajjiar which will form part of a stone collage around the Swiss Parliament to remind the visitors of Khajjiar as a “Mini Switzerland of India”.

Accommodation

There is a hotel and some cottages run by HP Tourism in Khajjiar where the tourists can stay. Besides that, there are two rest houses, one each of P.W.D. and Forest Department. A couple of private hotels have also come up, which do not match the above places in terms of location and amenities.

Travel
Most tourists travel to Khajjiar by private or rented vehicles. Bus service to and from Khajjiar is limited and timing changes according to local demands.