The town is located in the Kangra Valley, in the shadow of the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas at an altitude of 1,457 metres (4,780 ft).

References to Dharamshala and its surrounding areas are found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as Rig Veda and Mahabharata.

[10] Due to a lack of uniform observance of conventions for Hindi transcription and transliteration of the script used to write it, Devanagari, the name of the town has been variously romanised in English and other languages as Dharamshala, Dharamsala, Dharmshala and Dharmsala.

In the modern spoken Hindi of the region, there is a common metathesis in which the vowel and consonant sounds in the second syllable of certain words (including धर्म) are transposed, which changes 'dharma' to 'dharam' pronounced somewhere between [ˈdʱərəm] and [ˈdʱərm].

[11] References to Dharamshala and its surrounding areas are found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as Rig Veda and Mahabharata.

[13] The indigenous people of the Dharamshala area (and the surrounding region) are the Gaddis, a predominantly Hindu group who traditionally lived a nomadic or semi-nomadic transhumant lifestyle.

[14] The region was subject to attacks from Mughal rulers Mahmud of Ghazni in 1009 and Firuz Shah Tughlaq in 1360.

As the Mughal rule disintegrated, Sikh chieftain Jai Singh brought the region to his control and gave it to Sansar Chand of the Katoch dynasty, legitimate Rajput prince in 1785.

The Katoch dynasty was reduced to the status of jagirdars under the treaty of Jawalamukhi signed between Chand and Singh in 1810.

On 29 April 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso established the Tibetan administration-in-exile in Mussoorie when he had to flee Tibet.

[20] In 1970, the Dalai Lama opened the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives which is one of the most important institutions for Tibetology.

The town is divided into two distinct sections "Lower Dharamshala" and McLeod Ganj with a narrow road surrounded by pine, Himalayan oak, and rhododendron connecting the regions.

From June to mid-September is the monsoon season, when up to 3,000 mm (120 in) of rainfall can be experienced, making Dharamshala one of the wettest places in the state.

Snow and sleet are common during the winter in upper Dharamshala (including McLeodganj, Bhagsu Nag, and Naddi).

[36] The town is part of the Dharamshala Assembly constituency that elects its member to the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly and Kangra Lok Sabha constituency that elects its member to the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Indian Parliament.

[41][42] For more information about Dharamshala and its attractions: National Highway NH 503 starts from Dharmashala and connects the town to Hoshiarpur in Punjab via Kangra.

Malls and multiplex cinemas are found on the National Highway Road in the Chilgari area, near Kotwali Bazaar and the main bus stand.

DIFF was established in 2012 to promote contemporary art, cinema and independent media practices in the Himalayan region.