15 Things to Do in Bir Billing (Not Just Paragliding)

paragliding, monasteries, waterfalls and cafés — plus how many days you actually need, what it costs, and how to find what's on while you're there.

The best things to do in Bir are the ones that happen after you land. the flight from Billing takes fifteen minutes. the monasteries, the waterfall walks, the café where nobody minds you sitting for three hours — those are the two days people remember, and they're the ones nobody tells you about before you book.

so this is the honest version. fifteen things, with what each one costs, how long it takes, and whether it's worth your morning. we've put the paragliding first because you came for it, then spent the rest on everything the guides skip.

we build Gigavent, an app for finding what's on in small Himachal towns — so we ask this question in Bir a lot.

see what's happening in Bir this week →

What's in this guide¶

• Paragliding from Billing: cost, season, safety
• The monasteries in Bir
• Cafes and food in Bir
• Treks and waterfalls around Bir
• Bir after dark
• Cycling, camping and getting around
• Places to visit near Bir
• How many days do you need in Bir
• Best time to visit Bir
• How to reach Bir
• What no guide can tell you
• FAQ

The 15, at a glance¶

1. Fly tandem from Billing — 15–20 min in the air, ₹1,500–4,500
2. Watch the landing field at 4pm — free, and the best hour of the day
3. Chokling Gompa — 30 min, go before ten
4. Sherabling Monastery — half a day with the drive
5. A talk at Deer Park Institute — free, weekday mornings
6. Dharmalaya Institute tour — 2 hours, donation
7. Café-hop the Tibetan colony — one slow afternoon
8. Gunehar village and waterfall — 3 km walk, half a day
9. Bangoru waterfall — 90 min each way, take a local
10. Trek Bir to Billing — 14 km up, 4–5 hours
11. Baijnath temple — 16 km, 30 minutes there
12. Wah tea estate, Palampur — 30 km, a long lunch
13. Barot Valley — 50 km, a full day
14. Stargaze from the landing field — free, after the last flight
15. Turn up to whatever's on — the one that changes the trip

numbers 1 to 14 will be there whenever you arrive. number 15 is the one you have to find out about, and it's the one this guide can't give you — more on that at the end.

Paragliding from Billing¶

Billing sits at 2,400 metres, about 14 km up the hill from Bir. you drive up, you run off the edge, and twenty minutes later you land in a field at 1,525 m with your legs shaking. it's the thing Bir is known for, and it deserves one morning of your trip — not all three days.

How much does paragliding in Bir cost?¶

A standard tandem flight runs roughly ₹1,500–2,500, and a longer cross-country flight ₹3,500–4,500. video is usually extra. prices move with the season and with how many people are waiting at the top, so the number you're quoted in May is not the number you'll be quoted in February.

When is paragliding open in Bir?¶

The main window is September to November, with October the most reliable month. there's a spring season too, roughly March to June. July and August are monsoon — flying mostly stops. if your trip is in those months, the rest of this list is your trip, and it's a good one.

a note worth having: Billing hosts international competitions, which means the pilots flying you are flying a site that serious people take seriously. ask to see your pilot's licence. a good operator will show you without being asked.

find out who's flying this week →

The monasteries in Bir¶

Bir has a Tibetan colony settled in the early 1960s, after the exile. that's not background detail — it's the reason the town feels the way it does.

Chokling Gompa sits in the middle of the colony with a gold stupa you can see from the road. go early, before ten, when the monks are in the main hall and the place isn't a photo stop yet.

Sherabling Monastery is about half an hour out, past Baijnath. it's quieter, bigger, and the drive there is half the point.

Deer Park Institute runs talks and courses on classical Indian philosophy, open to anyone who walks in. Dharmalaya Institute is an eco-campus teaching mud-building and contemplative practice, with short tours on weekday mornings. both take visitors. neither is a tourist attraction, which is exactly why they're on this list.

Cafes and food in Bir¶

Bir's café scene is small enough to finish in a day and good enough that you won't want to.

the colony side has the old guard — Cafe Buransh, Silver Linings, Nyingma Restaurant for Tibetan food, June 16 for the view. the Bir side has dhabas that feed the pilots: Rameshwar and Thakur do the kind of rajma-chawal you remember longer than the flight.

the real move is the landing field at about four — locals call it Sunset Point and the name is earned. buy a chai from the stall, sit on the grass, and watch twenty gliders come down one after another. it costs twenty rupees and it's the best hour of the day.

Treks and waterfalls around Bir¶

Bangoru waterfall is the one people search for and half of them don't find. it's a rough walk from the Bir–Billing road through forest, roughly ninety minutes each way. take a local with you; the turning is not obvious.

Gunehar village and waterfall is the easier one — about 3 km from Bir, a walk through terraced fields, a pool at the end you can actually swim in.

the Bir to Billing trek is the serious one: 14 km uphill, four to five hours, and the view at the top is the one the pilots get for free. most people go up by taxi and walk down. walking up is better.

for anything longer, Rajgundha and Palachak valley take two days and a guide.

see which treks have groups going →

Bir after dark¶

There isn't a nightlife and that's the appeal. what there is: the landing field after the last flight, when the valley goes quiet and the sky over the Dhauladhar opens up properly — Bir has some of the cleanest night skies you'll find this close to a road.

cafés in the colony stay open to about ten. a few hostels run open mics and jam nights, usually announced the same afternoon on a chalkboard outside. if there's live music on, it'll be in a room with thirty people in it — which, if you came alone, is the easiest room in India to end up talking to someone in.

Cycling, camping and getting around¶

Bir is small — you can walk the colony end to end in twenty minutes — but everything on this list except the cafés needs wheels.

scooty rental runs about ₹600–900 a day and is the right call for two days. petrol pumps are in Baijnath, so fill up before you go up to Billing. shared taxis run Bir–Billing all morning in season for a few hundred rupees a seat.

Cycling around Bir¶

There are two completely different things in Bir with "cycling" in the name, and people book the wrong one all the time.

road cycling is the real one. the Palampur to Bir road is about 30 km of gradual climbing through tea gardens and pine — four hours at a sensible pace, and downhill most of the way back. the hard version is Bir up to Billing: 14 km and 875 metres of climb, a serious morning on a geared bike. geared mountain bikes rent for somewhere around ₹1,000 a day in the colony, less if you ask twice; check the brakes before you take one uphill — hire bikes in a hill town live a hard life. October–November and March–April are the months — the monsoon road gets loose gravel and the odd landslide.

sky cycling is not cycling at all. it's a bicycle fixed to a steel cable strung across the Gunehar valley, which you pedal out over the drop and back, harnessed in. prices sit somewhere around ₹1,200 to ₹2,400 depending on whether you walk up and pay at the site or book through an agency — worth checking two before you pay. it's over in about ten minutes. good fun, one good photo, not a morning's activity — book it alongside something else.

Camping and getting around¶

Camping at Billing costs roughly ₹1,500–3,000 a night with food, and it's worth one night if the sky is clear — you wake up above the valley and the first gliders go off the edge beside your tent. in the colony, hostels run ₹500–800 a bed and are where you'll hear about everything else going on.

Places to visit near Bir¶

Bir sits in Kangra district, which means a lot more is within reach than people realise — including whatever's on in Kangra that weekend.

How many days do you need in Bir¶

Two full days is the honest answer. one day is enough for the flight and a café, and you'll leave feeling like you skimmed it. three is comfortable if you want a day trip. a week is for people who come to learn to fly, and plenty do.

A 2-day Bir itinerary that works¶

Day one — up to Billing early for the flight, back down by noon, lunch in the colony, Chokling Gompa in the afternoon, landing field at four, dinner at a dhaba.

day two — Gunehar walk in the morning, Deer Park or Dharmalaya after lunch, Baijnath on the way out if you're driving on. if the weather grounded you yesterday, day two is your second attempt — build that buffer in.

fill the gaps in your two days →

Best time to visit Bir¶

if you only care about flying, come in October. if you care about the town, come in late February — nothing is crowded and the light is extraordinary.

check what's on the month you're going →

How to reach Bir¶

Nearest airport: Kangra (Gaggal), about 67 km — roughly two hours by taxi. nearest broad-gauge railway: Pathankot, about 112 km. there's also Ahju, a narrow-gauge station 3 km away on the Kangra Valley line, which is slow and lovely. by road: Delhi is an overnight bus, roughly 12 hours. Chandigarh is about 7. Dharamshala is 2.

buses drop you at Bir bazaar or on the highway at Baijnath; from Baijnath it's a twenty-minute shared taxi.

What no guide can tell you¶

Every list of things to do in Bir — including this one — tells you what exists. none of them can tell you what's on.

the open mic at the hostel is tonight. the run group meets at six on Sunday. there's a two-hour pottery session in Gunehar this week and eleven seats. a guide written in March doesn't know any of that, and by the time it does, you've gone home.

that's the whole reason Gigavent exists. it's where the small stuff gets listed — workshops, runs, open mics, dance sessions, the things that happen for twelve people in a room above a café. the big ticketing apps don't carry them, because the person running a weekly session out of a studio room was never going to be on a ticketing platform. anyone can put something on Gigavent, including you, which is why there's something most days rather than a few things a month.

open it when you get to Bir, see what's on that evening, and go. it's the difference between visiting a place and spending time in it.

open Gigavent and see tonight →

The short version¶

Bir is a fifteen-minute flight attached to a town worth two days. fly on the first clear morning, then give the rest of your time to the monasteries, the Gunehar walk and the landing field at four in the afternoon — that's where the trip actually happens. budget ₹1,500–4,500 for the flight, come in October if you want the sky and February if you want the town, and don't plan the second day too tightly.

one last thing: the best afternoon you have in Bir will be something you didn't plan. check what's on near you before you fill the calendar.

read next: Fit Kangra 2026 — everything happening in the district · Nati, the folk dance you join by standing at the back · The Kangra marathon, and why walking it counts

FAQ¶

Is Bir Billing worth visiting?¶

Yes, for two days. if paragliding is the only thing on your list, one day does it — but the monasteries, the Gunehar walk and the café scene are what people come back for.

What is Bir Billing famous for?¶

Paragliding. Billing's launch site at 2,400 m is one of the best-known flying sites in Asia and hosts international competitions. Bir is also known for its Tibetan colony, settled in the early 1960s, and its monasteries.

Is paragliding in Bir safe?¶

It's a well-regulated site with licensed tandem pilots and a long competition history. ask to see your pilot's licence, fly in season, and don't fly if the operator is pushing you up in bad weather. flights are cancelled for wind — that's the system working.

What can you do in Bir other than paragliding?¶

Visit Chokling Gompa and Sherabling monastery, walk to Gunehar or Bangoru waterfall, trek the 14 km from Bir up to Billing, sit in on a talk at Deer Park Institute, café-hop the Tibetan colony, and day-trip to Baijnath, Palampur or Barot Valley.

How many days are enough for Bir Billing?¶

Two full days. add a third if you want Barot Valley or Palampur, and build in a buffer day during flying season in case weather grounds you.

How far is Bir from Dharamshala?¶

About 70 km, or two hours by road. it's an easy day trip in either direction, and plenty of people do Bir as a stop on a Dharamshala trip.