Daafi - a place to relax and enjoy the mountains

 Travel Blog 1 - Daafi - A heavenly abode in mountains ! 

Sunrise from Daafi 

Covid brought out the wanderlust in my family. Every day we heard stories of colleagues spending months in beautiful houses in the hills or by the seaside. After spending almost a year locked in our house in Gurgaon we decided to head out. I researched multiple options in the hills and landed on Daafi,  a small boutique hotel in Theog Shimla. It was the right combination of a reasonable price while being clean and rustic for a mountain holiday.  Daafi has a simple and effective website that listed the contact options. I rang up Suni, the resort manager, and asked him to share videos of the rooms to be sure that the pictures posted were accurate. The videos convinced us that the place was suitable for spending a week and we decided to take the plunge

Being in Gurgaon, it was the longest drive we had ever done. done till yet. It was a 10-hour drive and as this was in October and while it was quite hot in Gurgaon it was perfect weather for a holiday in the hills. We left Gurgaon early around 5 AM and reached Theog at 4 pm. The final stretch to Theog after Shimla moves you lower down the hills and we initially thought that we are descending to a lower altitude. To reach Daafi you turn right from the road towards Taj Theog road and travel on a steep road up till a turning from where you ascend the final 300 m on a steep single road hoping like hell that no vehicle comes from the top. And then suddenly you are at Daafi. You park your car on the steep mountainside and take the first breath of fresh air and all the exhaustion of the long drive vanishes in an instant. 

For our stay, we were at Deori Cottage, which houses two rooms -  Deori 1 and Deori 2. The Daafi homestay comprises three main cottages - Sarion, Deori, and Bishnog. We spend our time at Daafi soaking in the lovely views of the mountains, watching the sunrise every morning, and having bonfires at night. The charm of Daafi is to sit and do nothing ( we did attend office calls as we were working from home). the beauty of the place is that you can take a short break walk in the lovely surroundings and gaze at the mesmerizing scenic mountain views. 

The place has a small kitchen where you to order in advance so that they can get ingredients directly from the market and serve you fresh food.  I loved the food and it helped us stay healthy and not as overeat. The staff is hospitable and friendly and goes out of their way to accommodate your requests and make you comfortable. The best part of this boutique property is its main dining hall which has a high ceiling with a section of the roof being transparent, allowing the lighting to come in from all sides. I spent most of my day working here and enjoying the lovely breeze flowing across the windows.

 

 We were fortunate to meet Chetan, the owner of Daafi who is warm and soft-spoken. He shared the story of how Daafi was built and showed us some great drone shots of snow-covered Daafi in the winter months. During our stay, we made friends with Ram, an Indian settled in Germany who joined us for our bonfire parties at night. We loved the weather and place so much that we ended up staying for two full weeks and only left as the hotel was booked out in advance and there was no vacancy. We made the trip back to Gurgaon with lovely memories and promise to return again next year.