7 Reasons Our Offseason Chail Trip Was Worth It

After months of lockdown and stalled travel plans, September brought some good news. Himachal Pradesh announced unlock and welcomed tourists without restrictions. Contemplating whether to travel off season immediately post unlock, we made it to Chail during the first long weekend of October. Here are 7 reasons our offseason Chail trip was worth it.

Minimal to no crowd

What’s the best thing that can happen to you on an offseason trip? Yeah, absence of crowd! Chail was literally vacant and for the first time we had so much of space to ourselves. There were no queues, no crazy traffic, no crowded spots for selfies, zero noise and abundance of calmness. We did a photoshoot in peace without the bothers of vacating the place for others.

Cheaper deals

Lockdown had negatively impacted a lot of businesses, especially the tourism industry. Post the unlock announcement, hotels offered heavy discounts in an attempt to lure tourists. (They still are). So Maple Resort by Aamod offered us a luxurious stay in executive suite at throwaway price and we grabbed it as soon as we could. In an attempt to keep the small businesses afloat, small-scale industry shops selling fruit concentrates or sweets had also reduced prices. Sounded like too much of saving! haha.

No pollution- the biggest positive

Shimla, the queen of hill stations bustles with people round the year. To avoid crowd, tourists naturally escape to offbeat places hence creating a vicious cycle. This post unlock phase proved to be a blessing. We witnessed clean skylines minus the haze, spick-and-span roads with no litter and no noise pollution! What else could we have asked for?

Nature was at its best

The only positive affect of lockdown was on the environment. Nature got enough time to heal itself. Flowers were in full bloom, the weather was pleasant, forests were untouched and there were happy vibes in the air. Without wanting to sound cliché, we admit that our offseason Chail trip was truly pure bliss.

Better services at hotels

The season rush puts many hotel guests dissatisfied. While the staff works hard in its fullest capacity, certain gaps or errors often go unattended. So traveling during off-season gets you more flexible and personalized services. The TV in our room wasn’t working. So Maple staff immediately offered to shift us in a different room. They also accommodated our request of early breakfast on the day of checkout- something that wouldn’t be possible during the rush reason.

Less stress

With no pollution or crowd you have no reason to stress out. Since hotels were not overbooked, we had no worries of early-booking. We took it easy and relaxed on this trip. No queues at tourist-spots was another reason to be chilled. Vacant hotels meant no chaos. To put this in easy words, this off-season trip of ours to Chail was totally worth it.