Delhi - Manali - Delhi in 7 days

cute_lilhunk

Hi,
Looking for expert advise to devise a week's itinerary from Delhi. I am looking at starting from Delhi on Sun (27 Sept) and planning to be back by 4 Oct to Delhi. I have read the other threads on the IM and a bit confused on what all should I cover. Some of the places/themes that are high on my mind are:
- Kullu Dusshera
- Manikaran
- Chandartal (probably, not yet made up my mind)
- Manali local sight seeing

Questions:
- Can someone pls suggest if the above do-able or any other recommendations? I want this to be rightly paced as I don't want to rush.
- I will be driving myself on my FORD Ikon with my parents, sister and aunt.
- Any other places I can add to the list
- Good route (better roads) from Delhi to Manali.
- Is a stopover required between Delhi and Manali?
- Is this a good idea to take the car upto Chandratal or better to hire a vehicle from Manali?
- Recommended hotels - Apple country or Johnson's lodge in Manali?

Thanks,
Amit.

mridula

Driving to Chadratal would require some planning as I am not sure if it can be covered in one day and back from Manali. Have a look at the threads listed at the end of this page, some of them are asking very similar questions.

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Mridula

Travel Tales from India

sriprakash74

- Defenitely doable. Note that Kulu Dusshera is a festival and not a place. Include Nagar also.
- Road to Manali is good. Any vehicle is perfect.
- Delhi-Ambala-Zirakpur-Roopnagar-Bilaspur-Mandi-Aut-Kullu-Manali
- Stopover depends on your driving comfort. Manali is around 550 Kms from Delhi
- Go to Chandratal by hired jeep. As cars have low ground clearance, its not recomended. Also do not drive to Chandratal if you are not very much experienced in hill driving. The road is narrow, have bad patches and scary. Start very early if you want to finish it in a day and to avoid famous rohtang jam, as the distance is around 130 Kms (5 Hours) one way.

Subal Das

land slides, during rainy season are common thing in Himachal, if it was raining for 2-3 days, better wait for few days and then go.

Also traveling at night from Sunday to Monday from Delhi to Manali is better option, because most tracks out of the road.

NEVER eat anything in those restaurants, when bus stops, a lot of people passing those places, so chances to get diarrhea very real.

sriprakash74

Yes there might be land slides in rain. But most of them gets cleared immediately. JCBs are always placed at strategic locations and they are equipped with dinamites also. So the blocks are actually rare. In case a large land slide occurs, police is always there to guide you. Police and maintenance workers at Hills are prompt.

I will not recomend own driving during night as we are not used to it. If plaiing for night driving then hire a professional driver.

There are good restaurants available at strategic locations where you can have your meals. However, neither one knows nor cares about how the big & famous food joints cook.

cute_lilhunk

Thank you Mridula, Sriprakash and Subal for you valuable suggestions.
I am driving myself and do not really prefer to drive at night.
I have not really heard from you guys on the hotel recommendation. Can you pls suggest which one will be good?

- Amit.

Barkha

Both are good..However Apple county is a pure veg place so if you are a Non- Vegetarian it might not suit you.. If booking the hotel through an agent ask for good discount

Morphis

We are a couple planning to drive down to manali the same week, if you would like to go together ... let me know

Subal Das

very heavy rains in last 4 days in Kullu Valley, a lot of road cleaning going on. Beas river up to the bank too. Be careful and try to get fresh info right before you go. Best place to ask will be Himachal Tourism Government office on Janpath. I cant recollect the name of this building, but it is just opposite the petrol pump.

Not sure why you want to visit Himachal when weather is really bad. Hope it will improve, but I think ... second part of October would be much better time for such trip.

cute_lilhunk

Thank you Morphis for the offering the company. I will be driving myself and have 4 others with me. How are you going?

@Subal: Thank you for the information. It seems like it is raining in the entire North. Delhi is also raining cats and dogs.

Morphis

we are three people ... driving down, plan to take a scorpio or jeep from Manali to go to Lahaul & Spiti

vistet

Perhaps a little bit too much optimism here about the roads and repairs here .. esp. with the Manali-Kaza road , that has been out for more than a week now , and maybe will be open on Saturday.

Manali-Leh is a military concern as well , and gets a lot of resources. The road to Spiti on the other hand works on a lot smaller scale.

Updates below.

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high road to ..

sriprakash74

BRO is always prompt, clearing up the road to Leh as soon as possible. But sadly Kunzam pass is not under BRO. So opening is always delayed.

cute_lilhunk

Hi,
I am back again after a long hiatus - just neck deep with the work. Thanks all for keeping me updated on weather.
@Morphis: I am not sure how we can share the details to get in touch. If you know pls let me know.

I just realized that Kullu Dushera starts 29 Sept and goes on for a week. Need help from the experienced IM'ers.
- Is the whole week completely busy with the festivities?
- Should I book the hotel in advance from Delhi?
- Will it be worth going at that time? I do not want to spend hours and hours on road b'coz the road is blocked with the dushera festivities?

- Amit.

sriprakash74

Better to prebook, not only because of festival in Kullu, but also because of the holiday/festival season all around the country. I do not think there will be road blocks on the Highway.