If you want to spend your day trekking and exploring a historic place then Banasar Fort should be at the top of your bucket list. This around 200-year-old fort is locally known as the ‘Gorkha fort.’
It is believed to have been built during the rule of Amar Singh Thapa, the Gorkha army commander, who had ruled the Himachal hills from 1805 till 1815, the year when he was defeated by the Britishers in the Anglo-Gorkha war.
In the absence of any authentic historic documents, nothing much is known about this fort. It is believed that Gorkhas had built this fort as a symbol of their power and rule. Perched on a hill and overlooking the hills and plains, the fort must have had acted like a watchtower and an outpost of the Gorkha army.
How to reach
The fort is situated near Banasar village in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh. There are two routes to reach Banasar: You can follow the link road from Kumarhatti or from Chakki Mod. Both Kumarhatti and Chakki Mod are on the Kalka-Shimla highway. Chakki Mod is nearer to Chandigarh. From Chakki Mod, you need to first reach Bhoj Naggar (14 kms) and from Bhoj Naggar, you need to take another link road to reach Banasar (12 km).
We took the Chakki Mod-Bhoj Naggar route to reach the fort. It’s one nice drive as you move along with pine forests on both sides and almost zero traffic on the road.
The roofless temple
On the way from Bhoj Naggar to Banasar, there is a temple at a place called Karalghat. A flight of stairs takes you to the top where stone idols of local deities have been kept under an umbrella-shaped cover. From the top, you can watch the surrounding hills in all their glory.
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