Delhi to Manali by Car

Vashisht is 2 km from Manali, see it on Day 2. Day 3 will be a full plate anyway with Solang and Rohtang. Rest plan looks ok, although I do think Day 4 is also hectic (but you can skip Kullu, not much to tick off there).

Kasol to Kasauli - about 8 hours driving.
Kasauli to Ambala Cantt - about 3 hours driving.

Hey Dilliwala,

Thanx a lot for ur valuable suggestions. Can you tell me whether Rohtang will be open during Jan or Feb. Will I get snow in any one of (Shimla, Manali, Kasol, Kasauli)these places during Jan-Feb. How much time will take to travel from Shimla to Manali. Any good budget hotel in Shimla & Kasauli from where the view is good.

Thanx in advance.

Rohtang will most definitely not be open in winter. You may get snow at Shimla, you will definitely get it above Manali on the way to Rohtang.

Shimla-Manali is approx 8 hours driving.

Lots of hotel info on both places in HP sub-forum and Hotels forum, just do a search.

I cant stop myself from thanking all the senior members, especially Styler, Dilliwala, Wahbhai and others in helping me a lot in planning my route plan to Manali. I will be travelling to Manali from Gurgaon on 5th June, with a one-night halt at Hotel Hilltop. I would be travelling for the first time to Manali. I would definitely share my experience once I am back from Manali on 12th June. Once again thanks a lot to you all. Styler can you help me in planning my itinerary while in Manali i.e. which places to visit on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4.

Read post # 53 on page 4. That information should help you plan your days in Manali. Similarly you may find some more plans for specific days in the same thread.

Also read Manali trip

Hi Friends,
Manali Trip - 5th June, 2012 to 12th June, 2012
I am back from a week-long Manali visit. It was really an adventurous trip for me as for the first time I went on a long journey driving on my own. I along with my wife and two children left Gurgaon early in the morning at 5 am. I followed the same route that was mentioned by Styler, Dilliwala, and other senior members of India Mike. The road from Kiratpur to Bilaspur is really in very bad shape with pot holes big enough to put your pleasure journey on a sudden halt. I had a one-night halt in Hotel Hilltop (at Swaraghat), where I reached at 12.30 pm. In my opinion Swarghat is too early to take a halt, a one-hour cautious drive can take you to another HImachal Tourism hotel at Bilaspur i.e. Hotel Lake View. I would also suggest you to book these hotels in advance as they are very much in demand and get booked days before in advance. The rooms at Hotel Hilltop are very nice and spacious. Room tariffs are also not too steep. After taking a one-night halt at Swarghat, I resumed my journey to Manali next morning at 8 am and passing through Bilaspur, Sundernagar, Mandi, Aut, and Kullu reached Manali at around 4 pm. My hotel at Manali was Hotel Royal that was booked by my friend, it was an OK kind of hotel to come in the evening, have a hot water bath and spend the night. The food at hotel was good and priced reasonable. It is near Gurudwara on School Road just at a 5-minutes walking distance from Mall Road. The next day I booked a taxi for Rohtang Pass visit from Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union, which is located on Mall Road itself for Rs 2000 (inclusive of visit to Solang Valley). We started our journey to Rohtang at 9 am and reached there at around 12 pm. The moment we reached Rohtang, it started snowing. My son who was too excited on seeing snow started playing on snow and soon got exhausted. He complained of dizziness and cold (despite wearing fur coats that we got on rent at Rohtang itself). I have to soon take him back to the taxi and start descending back to Manali.

The other day, we did local sightseeing of Manali on foot. I would suggest to do the local sightseeing on foot as it is more economic and less time consuming. If you hire a taxi or auto, most of your time will be wasted in traffic jams. The Hidimba tample, Manu Temple, Club House, Tibetan Monestary, Van Vihar, etc. are all within reach. The maximum distance is of Manu Temple which is 2.5 kms from Mall Road. Rest all are 1.5 or 1 kms from Mall Road.

The third day we spent in shopping and sitting beside the river Beas. The fourth day too we spent by shopping and sitting on the banks of river Beas. In fact, my children enjoyed sitting and splashing in the waters of river Beas the most. I left Manali on the fifth day, and on the way back to Swarghat visited the Rabbit Farm house at Kullu. I reached Swarghat at 4 pm. Had a cup of tea, took bath, had dinner and slept. The next morning, I left Hotel Hilltop at 8 am and reached Gurgaon safely by 3 pm.

I wish to go once again to Manali next time. But before that I want to take my kids to some coastal region also.

Hello Styler,

I am planning to drive manali on Nov 8, will follow the same route you mentioned.

Since you the frequent traveler to manali, could you please tell me the current weather in manali? I have kid for about 1.6 years old. I checked in weather sites across google but could not predict the correct condition.

Thanks,
Kishore

The Night temperatures can be 6-10 and the day temperatures will be 15-20 degree centigrade. It is a good time to go as you will not find the maddening crowds at this time of the year. Hotels will also be cheaper.

All the best for your trip.

Styler

Minimum 4 C reported today.

Thanks for the updates... I am starting my trip in another 2-3 hours...

Done with the trip successfully as per plan, it is very pleasant weather right now and it is getting cold (2-3 degree) in night.

Driving from Delhi to Manali: -
We started from delhi early at 2:00 AM and followed the same path of Mr. Styler and Mr. Rush (NH1-Sonipat - Panipat - Karnal - Ambala - Banur - Kharrar - Roopnagar - Kiratpur - Bilaspur - Sundarnagar - Mandi - Kullu - Manali), and reached Manali at 3:30 PM with four stoppages. We did not take any food from passage hotels as we had already prepared from home.

There are some "take diversion" path from Panipat till Ambala since some bridge construction is going on but still it is affordable to drive smoothly with less traffic. Obviously there are lots of trucks following me and chasing was like playing car video game...

The route is very clear and road condition is really good from Delhi till Kiratpur. There are lots of ups/downs on the road from kiratpur till sundarnagar, some patch up work is going on to clear up those messy roads.

Just after the tunnel, it was like driving in heaven. Beautiful locations, scenaries, valley, river, cottages, panoramic views and we enjoyed the driving.

Stay at Tree House Cottage: -
We took two bedroom cottage and the location is very nice surrounded with full of Apple, japanifal, plum, peach trees, beautiful roses, flowers and closer to under hill area. The cottage owner and their family were really responsive for our needs and we felt very comfortable during our three days stay over there. The cottage is provided with all facilities as two bedroom with attached toilets, blankets, quilt, TV, kitchen with gas/other utensils, refridgerator, water heater, phone, room heater (addl charge), camp fire (addl charge).

They do have swiss tent, tree house, 3 bedroom cottage, 2 bed room cottages, parking lot and it is situated in Katrain village on the way towards manali before 20 KM. Naggar is 5 KM from this place and there are shops for easy accessories. We got some vegetables, chicken, masala powders, milk, egg, butter, bread from nearby shops and cooked ourself on our frist day of arrival.

There is one restaurant "shubam" nearby and we can order food from cottage itself. Also, this cottage owner family does provide food on demand basis. They do serve food but 2 hours prior intimation to them is required.

Rohtang Pass Status: -
The second day we started to Rohtang at 8:00 AM and reached at 11:45 AM by local car (Got it arranged by cottage owner). There are no snows available at the place where it use to be in June/July, instead we took a horse ride to touch snow area. It took behind the Rohtang mount where we could see enjoyable snows but no skiing possible as it is just 3 inch with some rocks mounted with it. Horrible air flow as we were not able to inhale properly and we decided to turn back to car, bad luck we were not able to see the snow fall.

By the time we were driving down towards solang, my cousin got suffered with Fever, hence we had to cancel the solang trip and headed straight towards cottage at 5:00 PM. Took dolo 650 along with one antibiotic and been to bed for 2 hours. by 7:30 PM everyone alright and we drove to manali where we found "Burger Girl" Haveli restaurant and had food. Returned back to cottage at 10:30 PM and started our Campfire. Photos, Videos, Songs, Dance... everything passed on till 12:45 AM and had a good sleep.

Naggar/Jana/Hadimba/Mall Road: -
The third day morning awake on our own time and prepared Maggi on our own, then started for other local sight seeing. We covered up Naggar Castle, Roerich house, Jana falls (Local Lunch Food), Hadimba Temple, Spent some time in Mall road for local purchase and landed on to the same hotel "Haveli" for dinner. All together the way towards Jana was really awesome, we all liked the locality and views... just incredible...

In the night 8:00 PM we reached back to the cottage, settled down all the bills, appreciated the cottage owners, got some apples as complementary and paid for around 15 KG and started doing the packup of our luggages and slept well with turning my alarm ON at 3:50 AM...

Driving from Manali to Delhi: -
We started driving from cottage at 5:15 AM and reached Delhi "India Gate" at 6:20 PM with five stoppages. We took the same path of what we took while towards Manali. Little bit traffic after sonipat till ISBT and apart it was 100-140 KMPH easily managable.

Nice trip with Good stay/food/peaceful/enjoyment....! I wish to go back in December end as well... lets see...

hey,
i just joined......i have read all of yours questions and answers....all are great and helpful....

but i have a question.......i have a swift vxi 2006 model, it is fitted with cng (fitted on dec 2010).
so as we all know cng cars dose not have pickup as compared petrol...
i wanted to know that will my car be able to climb to manali.....i have done till rishikesh by this car....help me..please..


Mod note : Please do not use so many dots. There will be none left for the next poster.

I have no expereince driving a CNG car in the hills but I can tell you that the gradient to Manali is not particularly steep, should be possible.
Drive to Rishikesh is not comparable because that's all plains driving.

thank you man, i had a talk with my service adviser at the maruti service center. he told me that your car can absolutely go till manali and told me not go any more higher then manali not even at rothang pass. but i am relived by his and your words that my car can make up till manali.
i would like to take some more advises from you like what to do and what not to do. i mean any thing you would like to tell me because it will be my first trip to manali.
ya don't worry about the driving i have drive to shimla 2 times in a weak for some business works. absolutely not by this car but my father's sx4 which is petrol so didn't had any problem. please do reply thank you.

If you already have so much hill driving experience, Manali will be a breeze. Not much I can tell you, except to enjoy the drive.