May 07, 2009 06:42 PM
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Planning to visit Manali in Himachal Pradesh, India? Read what is following, as it is my first hand experience. It is just not about Hotel Manali Inn, it is about everything you would like to know about Manali.
*Location:
Manali is located in the state of Himachal Pradesh of India at an altitude of 2050 meters(6765 ft.). This is 570 Kms. from New Delhi, 265 Kms. from Shimla and 310 Kms. from Chandigarh.
Modes of Transport: You can travel by any of the following modes:
Air: There are couple of flights available till Kullu district which is somewhere around 35 minutes drive from Manali.
Train: Trains are also available, but they leave you in Simla and then you have to complete your journey by road.
Bus:This is how we went to Manali from Delhi. This is a 14-15 hour journey. Be ready. Read on.
We took help of a travel agency to plan our Manali trip. And this is what my first mistake was. First, I asked them to book a nice hotel and they suggested couple of options to us. I will tell you more about them later. Second, we asked them to get us Bus tickets as well. They got us bus tickets of a Private bus operator.
Here is an advice. Plan your journey well in advance. Book your bus tickets in advance with Himachal Tourism’s official Bus Service. They drive safe, stop only at planned locations and reach at destination on time. Private bus operators are a strict no-no. They do double-booking of seats, that is, you may find someone else holding the ticket with same seat number that you may have; their buses are sub-standard, even if it is a Volvo, it will be poorly maintained, they will play Punjabi songs whole night and will not pay heed to your requests to play it at lower volumes. After all, you would want to sleep at 3 AM! They can stop the bus anytime, anywhere at their wish and / or to pick passengers. By the way, the stopovers during the journey are mostly filthy dhabas where you may not even want to sit. Don’t go for outer beauty of the bus!
This overnight bus journey to Manali from Delhi is very, very exhaustive. By the time we reached to our hotel, I was about to collapse. These Volvo buses do not have bathrooms in them and if you suffer from motion sickness or vertigo, the journey becomes traumatic. Keep proper medicines with you.
Taxis and cabs can be hired from Kullu and that’s a better way if you are traveling by train.
Hotels:
Another word of advice…, read reviews like this before booking a hotel. Manali hotels are not very well maintained except a few ones like Holiday Inn. Maybe because they thrive only during peak summers when people from other states have no other choice then to stay in any hotel they find. Don’t book your hotel in advance if you are visiting Manali in off-season. During off-season, you get a chance of choosing your hotel. A better way is to look for some guest house. Your taxi driver will surely take you to many of them. These guest houses prove best deals because not only they are cheaper than a hotel, they provide good services. One can get a guest house room in a range of Rs. 200.00 to Rs. 400.00, which is much, much lesser than any hotel. During peak season, guest houses may cost you some Rs. 700.00 – 800.00 per night.
We stayed in Hotel Manali Inn, which, if not a mistake, was not a great idea either. You may not find it VFM. We could have gotten a better one after some research. Why did we book it in advance? We had to change our room and paid extra money for a better room with hill-view.
Food:
My experience with food in hilly areas has been a real good one. Food tastes undoubtedly delicious. Maybe because in hilly areas food remains fresher than it remains in plains, who knows! And then, hilly areas have fresh water and without any contamination of lead from rotten pipelines. Fresh water must be giving the food a better taste. You may be a great foodie like me, but be careful, you are on vacations, overeating may not suit you well in mountains. Haha! For drinking, keep bottled water or canned drinks. I did not see many pharmacy’s in Manali. You may not want to take a chance.
Sightseeing:
Hire a cab for sightseeing if with family. This is the most effective way of seeing the beauty of Manali. You can stop for pictures anywhere at your will. Cabs are not very expensive. Another good idea of roaming around the beautiful mountains ranges is hiring an Enfield Bullet Motorcycles. Most of these beautiful beasts are in 500 CC versions in Manali as it becomes easier for these thumpers to climb the greatness of mountains.
Otherwise, Himachal Tourism runs its bus service for sightseeing tours in and around Manali; which are very cheap in monetary terms.
Within Manali, the places you may want to visit are Hadimba Temple, The Tibetan Monastry, Manu Maharishi Temple, Vashishtha Temple. I bought a packet of Sandal Incense sticks at a shop in Tibetan Monastry. It actually smells like wood, if not sandal wood. Don’t buy!
Don’t forget to visit Rohtang Pass during your visit. Try to visit Manali at a time when it is not peak season or you may get stuck in traffic jams on the way up to Rohtang Pass. I am not kidding! Also avoid totally off-season because either you may not see snow at all, or may get stranded in snow on hills which can be dangerous.
My honest and personal opinion, do not waste your precious time in roaming around and looking at places that may make you tired or may not interest you. You are visiting Manali because you want to relax and have a break. So, take a deep breath and lie down under a tree in the mountains. Get some massage, sleep extra and walk on the side of Beas river.
