Mountain Biking From Shimla To Manali

Smackdog

I have looked at a map of Himachal and I have noticed that there are no direct roads from Shimla to Manali and consequently I have heard that a bus ride is ten hours long. However they show some trails that go directly to Manali from Shimla. Out of curiousity does anyone know if those roads that I am assuming are no good for buses would be any good for a mountain bike? If you know about this do you know how many kilos it is through those mountain trails?


Thanks in Advance.

shubho

i've biked it 2-3 yrs back, manali-shimla. very bad to decent roads but ok for cycles. mindblowingly beautiful. what's yr plan and specific questions? cheers.

Smackdog

I had a feeling that it would be very beautiful from seeing different parts of the area---The question i had was what is the best and fastest route and is there alot of traffic on that route and are there guest houses on the way cause i don't want to carry a tent on my bike. and how many days do you think it might take.? Thanks in advance.

dhananjay

Hi,

Shubho ... ur still there ???? ... have not ever been able to catch up with u ... lookin forward to it ...

smackdog - I dont know how many days u have but there is a great way of doin this ... after all thats what we hve been reeling our heads down finding the best alternate backcountry route to Manali from Shimla .. here is a brief itinerary ...

Shimla - Mashobra - Baikhalty - Narkanda.
Narkanda - Baghi - Khadrala - Sungri - Bahli
Bahli - Taklech - Daran Pass - Mashnu - Sarahan.
Sarahan - Jeori - Nirmund - Baghipul (make a trip to Kullu Sarahan 13kms steep uphill)
baghipul - Nither - keolidhar - Dalash - Chowai - Shamshar - Ani
Ani - Jalori Pass - shoja - Jibbi
Jibbi - Bahu - Gadah Gushaini
Gadah Gushaini - Khauli - Chach Galu - Chattri - Magru Gala - Jhanjehli
Jhanjehli - Bagsad - Kanda - Pandoh

You meet the highway at pandoh, take a bus to manali. For more insights you may check the www.mtbhimachal.com website. Thats an annual MTB vent in Himachal pradesh, taking more or less the same route. You will find all relevant information. The route I have mnentioned does allow for rest house and guest house stay except for maybe the chattri to magru gala route where u might want to take a local home stay. Hope this helps ....

Cheers,
Dhananjay

Smackdog

Thank you for the reply and research--also that is a cool website--

about the route - I was with you up to Narkanda but after that the map I have doesn't show anything with those names---perhaps you could hook me up with a map of the said route?

Thanks Again.


also from Pandoh how far is it to Manali?

dhananjay

baba, no map shows all this ... nest and wings and Himachal tourism maps are ok ... they do show places like baghi, Sungri, taklech, Daran and baghipul n them ... I've been lokin for a good map for lng but alas! ... check out survey f India's Shimla trekking map .. it has a lil info ... so its like that ... however when ur in Shimla I have made a few outlies to the route .. yu can get it .... cheers

Dilliwala

I haven't figured out whether u want to stay away from motor roads as far as possible - if not, the shortest route is Mashobra/Naldehra/Suni/Tattapani/Alsindi/Charkufri/Pangna/Rohanda/Chail Chauk (good road - State Highway), from here to Ganai, then Gohar/Pandoh (not good, but still a road). At Pandoh u join the National Highway to Manali. This is about the 'straightest' and shortest route - the route given by dhananjay is very round-about and probably 'designed' specifically for mountain-biking. I can give u the distance of my run if u like. Great drive becos it's low on traffic between Mashobra and Pandoh. Also plenty scenic.

Smackdog

Thanks for the input--actually I don't mind going on the motorable roads---I really want to do the ride as fast as possible--I would really like to know the distance of your run plus if you know of a good town to stop on the way for the night at a guest house--hey maybe even the "cheapest and best" guest house at that.

The other route I was considering is the Jalori Jot route. Do you know much about that route? I think it is longer than your route but not by much--and maybe more scenic?

Thanks for the help.

Dilliwala

Hi there,

1. 287 km
2. If u can give me an idea of how many km u wud like to cover in a day, I can attempt suggesting places to stay. In any case, plenty of IMers are able to help on that score also.
3. Jalori route I believe is more scenic (even though the above is not bad at all - I enjoyed it) and wud not be a bad idea at all. Haven't done it yet , but most of it is good roads - National Hwy (NH 22) to Sainj, some SH from Sainj to Aut, then back on same NH 21 coming from Mandi/Pandoh. This thread has some great info and pics about the Jalori route.
Distances (confirmed): Shimla-Sainj 98 km, Aut-Manali 69 km. Sainj-Aut as per Nest & Wings map of HP is 100 km, which wud make this route 20 km shorter, but I have serious doubts about the veracity of the map distance - a bare look at the map wud suggest the opposite if the road alignments are correct (not always the case!)

Smackdog

The map I am going by doesn't show sainj. I got it at masterlyinactivity.com under the lahaul spiti and kinnaur link---

They say on that website that it took 3 days of cycling to get to Manali going on the jalori jot route--but they went from khanag to manali in one trip--which is 107 km which might be out of my reach so i am thinking i might take four days. I am pretty sure i can do the other routes though because they are shorter. So i am thinking of going shimla to Narkanda --then to Khanag and after Khanag to a nice guest house in between Khanag and Manali. SO that is the plan unless the other route--the one that you took is alot shorter then maybe i will take that route but you said that it is only 20 km shorter right?

If you know of any comfortable and cheap guest houses on the route i described I sure wouldn't mind a recomendation. Thanks

Smackdog

Oh I had another question ---when you take a bus from shimla to Manali which route does it take? And are there alot of buses on those 2 routes?

Dilliwala

Hi again,

It's not the best available map, but here goes:
Luhri is marked with a pin marker, right? And it shows 3 km to the pin marker below Luhri. That is Sainj, where u leave NH 22. Nice little hotel here called the Atul Residency, very comfortable and good food. That's the only one I know of before Aut on this route. But the a.m. hotel's manager, Govardhan Sharma is from Ani, and cud be able to help u with recos for Khanag.
Hey, I've just seen something interesting on HP Tourism's website, nicely hidden away (found it thanks to u ) - seems they have arrangements with private GHs that they don't own, but can be booked thru them. I'm sure the owners can be contacted directly too, but will need some spade-work. Go to this link and click the drop-down menu against the line "Enter Destination". The first few in Banjar are on the Jalori Route, but not necessarily on the main road.

Narkanda has an HP Tourism hotel. Nice location and comfortable, altho a bit pricy in my view. Other IMers cud help with other options at Narkanda and on the Jalori stretch - please jump in, folks.
Oh, just seen that HPT has already kicked in with their yearly Monsoon Discounts and it's 30% at Narkanda. So a double room wud cost Rs. 560 + 10% tax. I'm not sure, but it's poss there's a reduction for single occupancy in case u're travelling alone - I know this is the case in Uttaranchal. But I wudn't want to wager that HPT is the cheapest or best option at Narkanda.

At Aut: Kamdhenu Guest House, just short of the junction with the Mandi-Kullu-Manali Highway (NH 21), on your right when coming from Banjar. Took a room there in Oct 05 for one night on way to Manali. Nice and quiet, even that close to the highway - the Beas was flowing just below our room window. 200 bucks in the off-season, with running hot water and TV. They don't do meals though, but the dhaba-walas deliver food to your room for 5-10 bucks extra. Or u can go to them - they're 100 metres away.
However the bed-linen and towels in the rooms leave something (a lot) to be desired. In any case as a general principle u shud carry a thin sheet and thin towel (the desi kind) with u - available everywhere for a few rupees and very handy.
There are plenty of small hotels and GHs after Aut at Bhuntar/Shamshi/Kullu. If u get no recommendations here, I'd suggest just spend a little time visiting some of them and see what u like.
U cud also buy Nest & Wings's guide-book called "Holiday Resorts of Himachal Pradesh" for Rs. 200 which lists LOTS of hotels/gh's and includes a map - not great but adequate, especially since it gives point to point distances (sometimes way off the mark but on the whole useful for planning purposes).

Err, no - what I said was that this route (via Mashobra/Tattapani/Charkufri/Pangna/Chail Chauk/Gohar/Pandoh) is supposedly longer by about 20 km than the Jalori route, which I find hard to believe looking at the map.
My run was 287 km confirmed reading to Manali - 218 Shimla-Aut and 69 Aut-Manali.
I have a confirmed reading of 98 km Shimla-Sainj from last year. Sainj-Jalori-Aut is shown as 100 km on N & W's map. Plus the above 69 Aut-Manali adds upto 267 km, 20 less than my run if N & W is correct. But I have experienced their maps to be wrong on occasion distance-wise, sometimes wildly off. So if u go via Jalori as it seems u're inclined to do, pls get a reading for Sainj-Aut if poss, so we can compare.

The buses and most traffic go on the NH via Darlaghat, Brahmpukhar and Ghagas, where they join the NH 21 coming from Chandigarh to Mandi/Pandoh/Aut and Manali. Best and fastest route - great roads all the way. Yes, plenty of buses and trucks and cars, if your question is re how thick the traffic is. The other routes don't see much bus traffic.

Smackdog

Wow . That is cool that the Jalori route is shown to be shorter than the other way. But you are right that the map does not indicate that by the way it looks. My bicycle doesn't have a mileage indicator so I won't be able to tell how many kilos it is that is a shame but i sure will get an idea of how hard it is to do this run. I am an experienced biker so I am not intimidated by long distances--- Thanks for the links to the pictures they look like a fun route to go on.

When you mentioned about the buses I believed that you mean that the buses don't go on the two routes we are talking about? They go west from shimla and then go up on a road not shown on the map that I was mentioning?


Does that mean not many buses go on the jalori route?


The Atul Residency sounds crazy expensive . Is it?

Thanks for the help.

bunnypunia

ok, i know im late here.
First of all, the map:

Click on the thumbnail to see a bigger pic.


ROUTES
There are 3 basic routes from Shimla to Manali

1
Shimla-TuTu-Jutogh-16Mile-Dhamog-Darla More-Beri (Manali highway)-Mandi-Manali
Shimla-Darla More : 51kms
Darla More-Beri (Manali Highway): 37kms
Beri-Mandi: 46kms
Mandi-Kullu: 69kms
Kullu-Manali: 40kms
Total: 243kms

2
Shimla-Dhalli-Naldehra-Tattapani-Rohanda-Chail Chownk-Pandoh(Manali highway)-Kullu-Manali
Shimla-Naldehra: 26kms
Naldehra-Tattapani: 23kms
Tattapani-Chail chownk: 113kms
Chail chownk-Pandoh (manali highway): 31kms
Pandoh-Kullu:53kms
Kullu-Manali: 40kms
Total: 286kms

3
Shimla-Fagu-Narkanda-Kingel-Luhri-Jalori pass- Banjar- Aut (manali highway)-Kullu-Manali
Shimla-Fagu: 21kms
Fagu-Narkanda: 41kms
Narkanda-Kingel: 25kms
Kingel-Khanag: 49kms
Khanag-Jalori-Banjar: 26kms
Banjar-Aut(manali highway):26kms
Aut-Kullu: 29kms
Kullu-Manali: 40kms
Total: 257kms

Buses usually take route no 1 and sometimes route no 2.
If you are doing route no3, follow this
Day1: Delhi-Narkanda: 64kms
Stay at Himachal Tourism's Hotel Hattu. Discount is 30% and lowest room rent is 800 bucks. 800-240 = 560 plus 12% taxes = around 620. They charge 75% tariff for single occupancy. Check out http://www.hotelhatu.tripod.com for more

[b]Day2: Narkanda-Banjar: 100kms
See HPTDC - Online Hotels Reservation System for accomodation options in Banjar

Day3: Banjar-Manali: 95kms

Anything else, lemme know pal

Smackdog

Thanks alot for that map--It sure will be useful on my trip --alot better than the other one i was using. It is cool to know that the buses don't use route no. 3--I don't want to share the road with the buses or much other traffic at that--bicycles go slower than everything else so you always have to stop for big traffic. I know that once i hit the main highway that the number of guest houses is almost infinite but on that route 3 do you know of any other towns that have guest houses? I am asking just in case I get tired or have extra energy and want to go past one of the towns you mentioned. Thanks for the help.