Our Manali Trip in July/August

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We were a party of 13 went to Manali via Kullu and Delhi from Hyderabad for 5 days (4 days/nights in Manali and 1 day at Naggar/Manikaran and 1 night at Kullu) We flew from Hyd to Delhi, with an overnight halt at Delhi and then flew to Kullu by MDLR.

If you are from USA/Europe, Manali does not awe you, because these countries have comparatively similar mountains with much better infrastructure and roads. But for someone from India it is still worth going.

General impressions: Manali was surprisingly warm (25 to 27 C in day and dipped only to about 12 to 15 C in night). As a result we needed fans even in the Ambassador resort, which is one of the best hotels in Manali. Plus Manali and Kullu were surpringly completely dry, not a drop of rain until the last day at Kullu.


The roads to every place are in bad condition, the worst road we ever experienced is the one to Rohtang pass. After observing the roads in Manali I would never criticize the condition of roads in Hyderabad. While the trip to Rohtang is worth it, but I wish they would hurry up and build a decent 2 lane highway (it is supposed to be a National Highway and the main military supply road) to Leh. With HP being relatively prosperous and with the number of tourists I am surprised at the condition of the roads as compared to destinations such as Ooty, Kodaikanal in South India.

Paragliding in Solang Valley is worth it and all of us enjoyed it thoroughly. We enjoyed the river crossing in the club house area, and the temples are a worth a look.

The horse back ride at Rohtang is worth it, but the peak itself disappointed us, as it was covered in clouds and nothing much to see.

The Buddhist monastery near Naggar is worth seeing. We saw this on the way to Manikaran. And Manikaran is a marginal destination, the only thing worth going there was for the ferocious flow of River Parvathi. The roads to Manikaran and from Manikaran to Kullu were again one of the worst.

The plus points are that Manali area is quite clean and the mountains are picturesque and provides for a good photo opportunity with River Beas flowing through the city.

And finally, the plane ride from Kullu to Delhi is highly weather dependent (our plane was delayed for 2 hours and the previous days flight was cancelled), it was a tight connection to our onward flight to Hyderabad. Allow a minimum of 4 hours to schedule any connecting flights or trains at Delhi.