Trip To Manali

[allhyundaicars]

July is here and this time we spent the yearly holiday in Manali.
We were 5 on board so the Elantra seemed like the obvious choice for the trip.

Places not to be missed while in Manali.
1. Rohtang Pass
2. Solang Valley
3. Anjani Mahadev Temple
4. Dream Village Cafe
5. Gurudwara Shri Manikaran Sahib

We started on 10th July at 6:30 AM since it was a long drive ahead of us.

Stopped at Neelkanth Star Dhabha for breakfast. I won't recommend this place since it doesn't have much breakfast options.

Got a mileage of 13 kmpl on highway with Full load of 5 people + luggage.

Had lunch at Hotel Lakeview , Bilaspur. decent food with excellent location.

There is tunnel work going on after Mandi and 30-40kms of stretch is really bad. 6 hours of drive is not exhausting but this stretch exhausted us all. really really bad roads.

They are blasting mountains and creating 4 lane road. although 4 lane road from kullu to manali is excellent. you can easily drive 80-90 kmph. On mountain roads

Finally reached Manali after 14 hours and my father's friend recommended the hotel which was 6 kms from manali and it was truly exceptional.
We stayed in IDYLLIC MANALI. nice newly built cottages.
Apple , apricots and walnut tress everywhere

so there was this bridge we had to cross every time to get out to the main road from the hotel and i was really scared driving over it the first time especially at night. no lights plus the river's sound plus the metal sound of the bridge really scared me. after watching 4-5 cars going i was able to cross this bridge.

 

[allhyundaicars]

DAY 2.

The cottage provided home cooked food which was excellent. Don't have so much pics of the food.

This day we planned to go to the famous Hidimba devi temple which was nicely maintained. after this we went to the manali clubhouse. you can try this zipline type of thing where they will dip you in the cold water.

many guys were catching Trouts

Visited the Manali mall market which was nothing special and Vashist temple where you can enjoy hot springs. but facilities are not that great and you can have a better experience at Gurudwara Manikaran.

In the evening went for a walk and had some snacks at the Ride inn Cafe. Excellent Location plus ambiance but so-so food.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 3 To Rohtang Pass

You have to get an online permit which you can get at this link and it's compulsory to get the permit printed. process is easy and took 10 minutes. keep in handy the following documents
1. pollution certificate
2. registration certificate
3. driver's license
4 passenger driver's license or any other document.

The scenery changed as soon as we were 6-7 kms from our hotel. truly gorgeous.

there were 3-4 traffic jam points since only 1 car could pass from there.

it took us 9 hours to complete the travel when we started at 9:30 am.my recommendation is to start earlier if possible. any late and you will get more traffic.

Waterfall enroute Rohtang

there will be police personnel telling you not to go beyond the pass but just go ahead 2-3 kms to get spectacular view of the mountain ranges. the pass was nothing compared to this view.

it was tiring so we called it a day.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 4

We started with having breakfast at Drifter's Inn cafe which was brilliant. you should definitely come to this place.
tip : park your car near club house and get an autorickshaw to reach the cafe. road gets narrower and you can be stuck there for hours.

After this we went to Van Vihar , another beautifully maintained city park which is a must go.

Then we advanced to Solang Valley , another beautiful point not to be missed. we avoided the gandola ride since there was no snow.

instead we went to anjani mahadev temple which was another spectacular place to be. you can either walk for 45 minutes uphill or take a 20 minute ATV ride or a horse ride to reach there. just look at the amazing pictures.

You can also do zipline here.

In the evening we went to Dream Village cafe , another great spot to hang around. covered by mountains from every side , river flowing nearby. food is expensive though but worth the experience.

you can also do a little trekking across the river.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 5


we checked out of our cottage and left for Gurudwara Shri Manikaran Sahib.
We covered kasol which again has a beauty of it's own. you can see many Israeli people here for obvious reasons.
You can have a bath here in the natural hot springs which should not be missed.

We made a mistake of not keeping a day aside for this and after 12 hours of drive we had to take a break at Swarghat. since it was another 8 hours of drive to Delhi.

Day 6
Finally Reached Delhi

 

[350Z]

Note: Thread now live. Thanks for sharing a wonderful travelogue.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[mayankdixit]

Thanks for this nice travelogue. Very nice pics.
It makes me remember my journey from kanpur to Manali and Rohtang pass on my swift vxi in 2010.
How did the car perform on inclines? Did you encounter difficulty just before rohtang at the famous naala.? Were there water crossings in july?
Where is this bridge where only alto is able to cross?

 

[bbarve]

Wow, nice pictures and travelogue. Thanks for Sharing!
I remembered my trip to Ladakh in 2011, when we took Manali to Leh route. Hard to describe the beuty of this road in words.
Would definitely like to go there again some day.

 

[allhyundaicars]

@mayank- car was delight to drive on the highway plus the mountains. I should have made a vlog using the dash camera and then you could have known the state of the road after mandi.

There were many small water crossing. Just small streams nothing major.
I did get stuck at one place and i think it could have been the famous naala you are speaking off.

I asked my two passengers to get down since the middle portion of the road had a rock but it was a mistake too. I could cross it only at the fourth try since tyres were skidding and everyone could smell the burning rubber. That was a different experience
Tata Sumo didn't have any problem which was in front of me but ecosport too got stuck after i crossed.

The bridge is located on the route from manali to rohtang. Can't miss it.
Next year will plan for spiti valley. I wanted to go so bad but the conditions of the road from kaza to manali were really bad. People were saying took them 12 hours to cross this stretch.

 

[blackpearlvkd]

Wow Great Congratulations
nice pictures ..

Few queries
1. did you face any low GC issue?
I got Honda City, I am also planning for Manali trip
I have already visited once, but that was done in Himsutta Bus, and I hired a taxi for local visiting..

 

[allhyundaicars]

You have to be really cautious while driving on bad roads. The body did scraped 4-5 times, 90% scrapes were on the road to rohtang. Drive diagonally on big speed breakers and you are good to go.

 

[GrandRk]

Nice travelogue and lovely photos. Manali is still in my bucket list. This travelogue will be helpful while planning it.
Keep travelling and keep writing

 

[SilverEyez]

Wonderful Travelogue with Beautiful Pics @allhyundaicars
Have kept your TL as a reference as i will be planning a Trip in April'20

 

[drtrajkumar]

Excellent writeup and superb photos, thanks allhyundaicars. Would love to go there someday.

 

[AbhisekVerma]

Excellent information sir. Elantra looks beautiful in the valleys. Manali is a place in my wishlist. Can't see much snow, I would rather go during year end to see snow. The hotel in Manali where you stayed is so nice and extreme VFM.