I have been thinking of Barot lately, its almost been a year to our trip to Barot Valley. One of the few undiscovered gems which I am glad still is the same. It was another long weekend and I had made it my mission to ensure I go for trips for each of the long weekends.
We took a bus from Delhi ISBT and thanks to traffic we were stuck in Delhi for 3 hours!! Somehow we did manage to reach Mandi by 7 am making up for the delay somehow (HRTC magic). From Mandi, you will find the local buses which can be rickety and will wait for the bus to fill up to leave or you can opt for a cab. There were two people who wanted to share a cab so we took a cab which cost us around 1600 after a lot of negotiation. Reached Barot by roughly 1.5 hours. We had made advance booking for Sachin's home stay which is at the end of Barot village, little away for the market with the perfect view of Uhl river.
We were there for 3 days/2 nights overall so the first day we just explored random trails in Barot which were beautiful, there is one near the Barot dam. Make sure to go for that. The climb is steep trust me you will love it. It was sunny but was breezy with a chill in the air. Since it was the month of April, did not require too many winter clothes, just a jacket was good enough.
I was a little disappointed in Badagram because the place was completely dry and it was hot. There were no shops except one maggi shop and we were stranded here for some time because the road was blocked and because the roads were narrow the buses could not come in. We ended up taking lift from a an open air tempo!!
The next day we explored Lohardi again which is a very small village with hardly 3-4 shops but abundant beauty which only can be experienced. I liked Lohardi way more than Badagram because of better views and of course the riverside.
I really would like to go back here in winters do see the place snow capped and in its full glory. So if you are not a travel enthusiast you can avoid Barot in summers and go during winter months.I would strictly avoid monsoons because the road from Mandi towards Barot is landslide prone.
Also, Barot is known for Trout fishing, but I was more interested in exploring the place than the activity. But if you are in Barot, do give trout fishing try.
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