Palampur

Palampur, in the Kangra Valley, is Himachal Pradesh's tea capital, its rolling green tea estates set against the dramatic backdrop of the Dhauladhar range creating one of the more distinctive agricultural landscapes in North India. Walking or driving through the working tea gardens, with snow peaks visible above the neat rows of tea bushes, gives Palampur a scenic quality quite different from the state's more rugged mountain destinations.

The town also serves as a base for exploring the wider Kangra Valley, including nearby waterfalls and the historic Baijnath Temple, and its more relaxed, agricultural pace offers a gentler alternative to the busier tourist hubs of Dharamshala and Manali.

Tea cultivation was introduced to the Kangra Valley by the British in the mid-19th century, and Palampur's tea gardens, though smaller in scale than Assam or Darjeeling's, have remained a defining feature of the local economy and landscape ever since.

About 35km from Dharamshala, roughly 1 hour by road.