Friday, May 1, 2020

Jot - Less explored travel destination of Chamba, Himachal Pradesh

Sitting at home during lockdown, I was just checking the pictures folder of my PC. There I saw pictures of our last tour, it was in summers of 2019 (April 2019 to be precise). Summers were approaching here in Chandigarh and we planned to visit Chamba. Anyone planning to visit Chamba has Dalhouse, Khajiyar and Chamba in the itinerary for sure. Very less people plan to visit Jot, while making the tour plans or research. Infact lot of people might not have heard the name of this place. Many get to know from locals, tour guides or taxi drivers when they reach. Two years back even I wasn't awars of this place when Mr. Pradeep, a contractor, rea estate developer by profession told me about Jot. I used to met him on a consturction site of my relative home and sitting in his car we were discussing general things about the building construction etc and after some time chat went off topic to traveling and I casually mentioned him that I am planning to visit Chamba in coming days. And his fist comment was do visit Jot, that place is awesome and also told about famous barfi and the fact the some scenes of the movie Gadar - Ek Prem Katha were filmed at Jot.

So that was time time when Jot as added to the list of places to visit in our Chamba tour.  Chamba is about 335 kilometes from Chandigarh. My previous visit to Chamba was seven yerar back in 2013 but it was a pilgrimage travel to Manimahesh Kailash Yatra and we were so tired during the trekking that never visited any other places during that time.

We started our journey around 10 in the morning and we reached Dalhousie in the evening. Till Pathankot it was hot weather but as we took turn from Dalhousie road the air was bit pleasant. Moment we reached Dalhousie we realized that we made a mistake by not booking hotel in advance. Dalhousie is just like Shimla. It gets flooded by tourists in the weekend and in summers. We inquired a few hotels and then called our office colleague Ajay Sharma who is native of Banikhet. He said give me 10 minutes or he will pick us. After some time we got the number of his friend who arranged our stay in hotel Snow Ark. It is a nice hotel in the Air Foce road. So our first tip for you it that try to book your hotel in advance if you are visiting in peak season. Dalhousie is a beautiful tourist location but there are less hotels here.  One thing is that like any hill station you feel very relaxed as you are in the lap of nature, fresh year, low temperatures. We stayer overnight in Dalhousie did local sightseeing and procees to Jot. But before that we have to travel back to Banikhet to fill petrol in the car as our hotel manager tols that there in no petrol pump in the way to Jot.  This is second tip for you make sure to refill your car tank in between.

On the to Jot from Dalhousie, our plan was a short halt at Khajiyaar then visit Jot and make a stay at Chamba. However in between there are places like Kalatop Wildlife Sanctuary, Dainkund Peak. You can plan to take short halts there or just keep enjoying the drive and halt at Khajiyar. Its a vey beautiful place and you can spend as much time there. This place has been featured in many movies.  Parking and traffic is a major issue here and one might get struck longer here.

From Khajiar to Jot is a pleasant drive as there is no traffic and you enjoy the ride. You drive uphills and the highest peak is Jot.  There is only one hotel know as Hotel Jot, but don't worry you will easily get a room there. Reason Job being a less explored destination and ver few tourist prefer to stay here. But I suggest you stay there and enjoy the early morning sunrise. You can enjoy all sorts of weather in Jot in just one day. When we reached it was raining, we checked in , enjoyed tea and it was sunny again. We visit some of the peaks in the time we get. Later in the night it was raining again with strong winds and in morning it was again sunny.

Though jot is famous for Gadar movie but some movies in 90s also shot there including some of movie Vishashak. Watch video below, the snoe covers peak and the mud hut in the song in the location Jot.




Enjoy the picture and do plan your visit to Jot if you are visiting Chamba.