This is the most beautiful test ground in the world. Queenstown is pretty, sure. Cape Town has Table Mountain, but also a brewery. HPCA has THE HIMALAYAS. We had tickets in the southern stand, and in between every ball you would just look up at this massive range of mountains, right on top of the ground. Our tickets were in the "Club Lounge", right on top of the Southern Pavilion. Loads of seats with good legroom. Behind the seats is a glass-fronted and -backed room, maybe 8 metres deep which runs the width of the seating. For £20, there was, in addition to your seat, tea, coffee and biscuits all day, a massive buffet lunch which ran for a couple of hours, which then became "High Tea". Both had a wide range of excellent Indian and Western food. Soft drinks, complimentary. There was a bar selling beers and spirits. There were signs on the wall saying when each form of sustenance would be available. Not sure why, because they weren't even vaguely adhered to. The queue at the start would be massive, but I found a separate table with fantastic dips which had very few people near it. Then I would fill up on lunch proper an hour later. No regular stewards in the Club Lounge: sophisticated young ladies in bright saris and a bloke straight out of Bollywood central casting. Unfortunately, they were all under instructions not to let a single morsel of food, or centilitre of beverage into the seating area. And they took their jobs very, very seriously. Bit silly really.

If you are that Cricket lover who likes to go to the stadium to watch the game live, this is a must visit stadium for you. I have been to this venue twice, first in 2013 and now in 2024. I bought Pavilion Terrace tickets for the 5th India vs England Test (March 2024) recently and the view I have had in over 50+ matches I have seen live from various stadiums. This is not a huge stadium like that of Ahmedabad or Kolkata so it never gets crowded, The stadium is good 7 odd KMs from Mcleod Ganj where there are many options as far as hotels and hostels are concerned. You can get the buses or cabs from Mcloed to HPCA Stadium. Cab typically charges 400 to 600 Rs. Buses don't have best of the frequencies but costs a lot less at about 25 Rs to drop you at Dharamshala Bus Stand which is about 3 KMs from the stadium from where you can walk or take another cab pr a bus. Staying in Dharamshala is the best option but hotel tariffs may be higher during match days. The best ticket to buy is surely of a Pavilion Terrace. It gives you a straight view and is just above the players dressing room. Since the stadium is small, you feel being very close to the action. My personal recommendation would be not to buy tickets of seating in North and East directions as you won't be facing the mountains. So Pavilion Terrace (in South) or West stands are the best. Also day matches are the best to watch as watching night games won't make sense as you can't see the beautiful backdrop it has to offer. Also late night going back to your accommodation can be challenging and expensive. You can go and eat some Maggi, Omelette outside the stadium to avoid paying huge amount for having substandard food in the stadium.

Views amazing! Fantastic ground. The staff need to be mindful of people needing sunscreen. Far too many people cutting in front of you wanting to sell, chai, crisps, ice cream,samosas and whatever else they could. It wasn’t just every half hour it was every 10 minutes.

Amazing location to watch cricket. The backdrop of the Himalayas is stunning. I went to watch England get thrashed in their final test match in India in March; the view made up for the disappointment of the cricket result. The vendors in the ground who come into the starting area to sell you drinks and snacks etc are too numerous, constantly in the way of the viewing experience. Other than that, it was fantastic.