Shimla is one of the most beautiful cities in India, and is the capital of the northern Indian State of Himachal Pradesh. It’s in the foothills of the Himalayas with steep forested hillsides, astonishing mountain views, beautiful narrow streets, art, culture, music, prayer flags and a sense of peace, quiet and spirituality.

Shimla remains the terminal for the narrow Kalka-Shimla Railway and there are always dozens of tourists here.  Shimla is a hill station or a hill resort and there is a steady flow of visitors, hikers, backpackers and gurus.  Many parts of the city have banned traffic so it is lovely wandering the streets, shopping, eating, photographing and exploring.  

The basis therefore of the Shimla economy is from travel and tourism and there is a huge hotel industry with many locals employed in the service industry.  Many of the small shops seen are travel agents or tour operators, photographers or guides, all connected to tourism.  Travel in the area is safe, beautiful and relatively inexpensive.

There are also many small scale industries including the leather and wood industries, food processing and until more recently, the IT industry.  Information Technology is reaching all corners of India, and even the prettiest of areas has IT.  It makes sense as IT is affecting everything people do and especially the way they travel.  Very often travellers arrive in Shimla and whereas in the past they would have pre-booked their hotel, now they arrive, use google or another similar hotel app, and book there are then.  There is always space for IT and if you are in the IT industry, have a look at Shimla.  There may be work for you here, especially if you have special knowledge or have done a Web design course , Website Designing Course or Web Development Course.

Shimla has an excellent infrastructure and care for their city and their inhabitants.  They understand the importance of tourist, how Shimla is a gateway city to the many temples and to the Himalayas, and they therefore look after the city from all aspects.  There are some very good hospitals such as the Indira Gandhi Hospital and the Snowden Hospital, there are beautiful parks and education here is very good.

There may not yet be IT parks although there is IT, but there are certainly state natural parks!  You can visit the Manjathal Sanctuary or the Himalayan Aviary which are both rather magnificent and all the forts, temples, giant Buddhas and fort gates are definitely worth of visits.  There is also the University Institute of Himachal Pradesh here and IT is a good thing to get into.  If you don’t have the time to go to University, or the funds, you can just as well do an IT course online.  AcePro School offer a huge host of IT courses that you can do in your own time, online, and your certificates or diplomas are just as good as any university.

If you visit Shimla you will find an amazing array of restaurants and cafes, excellent shopping in both markets and bazaars, temples and museums and that feel of vacation, from when Shimla was the capital of British India.  It is still part British colonial and part Indian, is delightful and magnificent and also technologically advanced, with digital being a big part of the tourism industry.