Monsoon in the himalayas - Where to go??? July/august

Hey beautiful people!

I am planning on heading to india mid july for 2-3 months with a friend. This is my third time to india in the past three years and ive not yet properly seen the north.

My concern is the monsoon. Can anyone, whose familiar with the himalayan monsoon, please give me some advice on where is best to go when? I have a friend from kashmir who has offered to show me around kashmir and ladakh but that wont be until early september... im thinking its best to go to those palces first, and the rest of the places second, cuz of the monsoon? But id love him as a guide and if i found places to go to before then then that would be fab!

what is the monsoon like in july/august, in uttaranchal and himachel pradesh, id love to go to manali, musoorie, the valley of flowers, parvati valley, etc, and sikkim... will they be greatly affected by the monsoon then??? And how much so?

Any help of ideas where to head in july/august will be fantastic, ive searched hard online and its hard to find where is good in monsoon, ie, what places arent hit hard.

Thanks so much for your help!!!!!11

Taliana

I heard recently that even Ladakh is seeing some monsoon these days. Another symptom of global warming!
it still seems to be the best bet in July August though for at least some dry days I would go there first!
Uttaranchal in the Almora area has reported fairly easy monsoons in the last couple of years. I'm not sure how this pans out to the rest of Uttaranchal though!

Himachal Pradesh seems to get pretty heavy rains and storms!

You should head for Ladakh in July then make your way over the high passes to Manali for early-mid Aug when the monsoon as almost receded. From here you could head for Dharamsala/ Mcleod at the end of Aug by which time the rains will hopefully have gone. KK

Hi!Last summer Spiti and Ladakh got a lot of unusual rains in July and august,but they are still the best bet to avoid the monsoon. All the rest of the indian Himalaya get more or less soaked,well into september.

Kullukid is right, head to Ladakh in first leg of the journey. Leave Ladakh in the first week of August itself since it is the time when rain/floods seem to be happening for the last couple of years.

Weird huh a mountainous desert suddenly getting rains. I was told it's a real problem for farmers, as the topsoil is being decimated!

Is the rain usually constant (in places like shimla, manali, and dharmsala) or are there some breaks in the rain? Is HP worth it in in July-Aug?

The timing of rains, like the snowfalls, has gone beserk in the last couple of years. But kullukid's plan looks good anyway.

Thanks so much for that advice guys, really appreciated!

Any other places that you guys think might be worth visiting that has an easy monsoon? How would shimla be in mid july? And the valley of flowers? Im also really keen for sikkim but maybe that can wait until early september. Ahhh, why is india so big! hehe

Im actually now considering volunteering in ladakh in august, so was hpoing to find other places for beforehand. Hmm...

There will be lots of rain in Shimla at this time & Sikkim area receives more rain than anywhere else in the Himalayas. You could try Spiti either directly from Ladakh or from Manali,It is a dry area like Ladakh. KK

Awesome thankyou, Spiti is on the list now