Kullu-Manali – 05 Nights 06 Days

Travel Routes:

Day 1: Delhi - Chandigarh  - Chandigarh Sightseeing

Day 2: Chandigarh - Manali

Day 3: Manali Sightseeing

Day 4: Manali -- Naggar -- Manikaran -- Manali [sightseeing around Manali]

Day 5: Manali -- Solang Valley -- Kothi -- Manali [sightseeing around Manali]

Day 6: Manali -- Chandigarh -- Delhi

ITINERARY :- Day 1:  DELHI – CHANDIGARH -     The train left Hazrat Nizamuddin station at 10 PM and reached Chandigarh next morning at 6.30. The train route is longer than the road route but the the journey quite comfortable. Had our booking at Hotel Sunbeam at Chandigarh so took a rickshaw and headed straight to this hotel. After a couple of hours of rest, we were ready for the sight seeing at 9.30.Let me tell you something about Chandigarh. It is India's first planned city... rich, prosperous, clean and the green city of our country. Roads are extremely wide with a lot of greenery around. The city is laid out in sectors. We took a hand richshaw to our first destination for the day - the Rock Garden. These rickshaws are available in plenty in many northern cities of our country. Travelled through the well-ordered streets of Chandigarh and got down about a kilometer ahead of the garden. The sun was bright in the December breeze... it felt really good walking in the sun. Rock Garden is also known as Nek Chand's Rock Garden. Fancy creatures have been created on the rocks from items that are neglected and thrown away - porcelain, concrete, stone, broken glass-bangles, bulb holders, etc. Walls are built of stone and concrete. Buildings within look simple and elegant depicting the architecture like that of a village. Small streams and waterfalls weave around the paths and the buildings in this garden. It unknowningly takes atleast about 2 hours of time to roam and see the garden. Sukhna Lake is the next place we visited. It is a beautiful man-made lake about 3 Kms long at the foothills of the Shivalik mountain range. It was created by damming the Sukhna Choe - a seasonal stream flowing down from the Shivalik hills. It's a great picnic spot and an ideal place for boating.From the Sukhna lake we went to the famous Rose Garden also known as Dr. Zakir Rose Garden. There are thousands of variety of roses in this garden and is believed to be Asia's largest rose garden spread over an area of 30 acres with about 50,000 rose bushes of 15,000 different species. You find all sorts of roses - the natural one's and the hybrid one's developed through tissue culture. This garden was created in 1967 under the guidance of Dr. M.S. Randhawa (Chandigarh's first Chief Commissioner) and is named after India's first President - Dr. Zakir Hussain. We then went to the market area of Chandigarh - I don't remember what sector but this place has stores of all the leading brands.  Had lunch at a restaurant there before heading to the hotel for a nap. In the evening we visited an exhibition of woollen items and purchased some beautiful shawls at discounted rates. Most of the stalls were from the Kullu and Manali region. The wool quality was fantastic. Did some more shopping at another sector in Chandigarh before heading to the hotel and calling it a day. Day 2: CHANDIGARH - MANALI Left for Manali at 5.30 in the morning. The Himalayan range is visible after crossing Chandigarh. The distance of 350 Kms cuts through these ranges. Beas river flows through the valley accompanying us till Manali. The route is quite scenic making one hop from one mountain to the other and crossing through the bridges over the river. Number of small and large villages pass by on the side along the river. Kullu Manali is rightly called the Switzerland of India. Kullu is a small town before Manali nestled in this Valley of Gods on the banks of the river Beas. It is a tourist destination and has brilliant view of the green carpeted hills, sparkling river flowing by its side, tall deodar forests and an uninterrupted view of the Himalayan snow-clad peaks. Kullu forms a base for a number of adventure sports activities like river rafting in summer which remain closed in winter. Manali on the other hand is more invaded by tourists and remains the most preferred destination to stay. Apple-growing is a big business in this region but during December is not the correct season to spot these apple orchards. Wild marijuana is grown alongside the road by locals though being banned in the the country. Numerous shawl factories are visible from Kullu onwards. Reached Manali by 6.30 in the evening, it looked like 8 PM as it was absolutely dark. Had a prior booking at Hotel Shringar Regency at about 2 Kms from the main street. Booked a suite room at a discounted rate of 25 %. It was amazing and worth very penny spent. Day 3:  MANALI SIGHTSEEING  This photograph was taken early in the morning from the room balcony. It offered a fantastic view of the Himalayan snow peaked ranges. The amount of snow would increase with every passing day. The day was spent for local sightseeing - so we started by visiting the Hadimba Temple. This temple is dedicated to Goddess Hadimba (wife of Bhima - 2nd of the Pandavas). The structure of this temple is quite different from what I have seen so far. It has a 4-tiered pagoda-shaped roof with the doorway carved with legendary figures and symbols. The temple is situated amidst a dense forest of deodar trees at about 2.5 Kms from the busy Mall Road of Manali. The temple was just at half a kilometer distance from our hotel. Number of vendors sit outside along the path leading to the temple selling wooden nameplates, beaded necklaces, earrings, etc. Yak rides and photo sessions on the yak are common feature. Some of them dress you up in a Himachali attire and click your photograph too. There's a local Kumaon Museum just about another half a kilometer from the temple. It's worth a visit but photography is prohibited here. This museum displays utensils, clothing, houses, and other life-style related items of the Himachali people. It's quite interesting to see such a diverse culture. We then walked towards the Mall Road... it is a decend from the Hadimba temple so was pretty relaxing. The weather was amazing too with blue sky, bright sun and cool breeze. From the Mall Road we walked towards the old town of Manali peeping into the houses of the locals. The Himachali women in their traditional attire working, children playing and the old relaxing in the sun. The children have rosy pink cheeks and look very cute. It is a steep climb of 3 Kms from the Mall Road but a much needed exercise during the trip... so we continued walking. Reached the Mana Temple. The view of the Himalayan range from here is amazing. Mana Temple is dedicated to Manu Rishi - the creator of Human Race on Earth. This is supposedly the only temple dedicated to Manu Rishi in India. Time ran fast at it was almost 2 PM now. With no stamina left to walk back to the Mall Road, we jumped into an auto. Was quite famished so I gorged on delicious Aloo Chaat and Tikkis for lunch. Then followed some shopping as usual on the Mall Road - bought some more woollens for family members, souvenirs for friends and relatives. Don't forget to BARGAIN when on Mall Road. Start from half the price quoted by the shopkeepers. We went to a Tibetian Monastery near the Mall Road. This photograph was taken outside the monastery. By 7 PM we returned to the hotel and called it a day! Day 4: MANALI - NAGGAR - MANIKARAN It was my birthday and this wonderful trip infact a birthday present from my husband! We planned for sighseeing around Manali so hired a taxi from the hotel reception. For the day we were to cover - Vaishno Devi temple (near Manali), Jagatsukh Temple, Roerich Art Gallery, Naggar Castle and Manikarn. Photograph of Vaishno Devi temple from below. It is at a distance of 10 Kms from Manali on banks of Beas river on the way to Naggar.                 Roerich Art Gallery was the next place we visited. It was originally the house of a famous painter - Nicholas Roerich. This beautiful house in the mountains is now converted into an art museum showcasing the paintings of Nicholas Roerich. It has a beautiful garden at the entrance and offers a fantastic view of the Himalayan range. One can sit outside the house for hours together and keep looking at the lovely snow-capped mountains. It is indeed an amazing location to have a house. This is a photograph of one of the paintings by Roerich in this museum. Nicholas Roerich himself.Amazing view of the Himalayan range from the Roerich gallery.                        We then visited the castle at Naggar. It is a small town situated at a height of 1851 meters from the sea level. Naggar was actually the discovery of Raja Visudhpal. The castle at Naggar is now converted to a Heritage Hotel. The castle balconies offer an extensive view of the terraced fields, apple orchards and the Himalayan range. This castle features in a song in the recent Bollywood movie - Jab We Met. This is the entrance to the Castle. Inside the castle premise is a temple which supposedly has Silver doors. Again a photograph taken inside the castle. From Naggar we left for Manikaran. We stopped by a woollen factory at Kullu on our way; I bought a Himachali cap from there. Manikaran is about 90 Kms from Manali. The road leading to Manikaran is narrow, broken in between but surely adventurous and worth a visit. The Beas continues to accompany all along the path. Neither do the dense deodar forest leave you alone. Stopped in betwee for lunch at around 2 PM at a restaurant built at a scenic location - surrounded by the mountains all around. It was a beautiful location. The name Manikaran means Jewel of Ear. It is believed that Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati discovered this beautiful place while roaming and decided to spend a few years here. Goddess Parvati lost her 'Mani' in the waters of the stream that flows by. She asked Lord Shiva to retrieve it who then further delegated this task to his attendants. When the attendants failed to find the Mani, Lord Shiva got extremely angry and opened his third eye, a tremendously inauspicious event which led to disturbances in the Universe. An appeal was made to Lord Sheshnag (the Serpent God) to pacify Lord Shiva. Sheshnag hissed thereby giving rise to a flow of boiling water which spread over the entire area resulting in the emergence of precious stones like the one the Goddess had lost. With this, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati were very happy. The name Manikaran is derived from this legend. The water is still hot (in the form of hot water springs) and is considered to be extremely auspicious. The waters of spring supposedly have curative powers. There is a famous temple of Lord Shiva besides the hot water spring. That's me standing on a bridge over the hot water spring. Manikaran is also considered to be a pious pilgrimage for the Sikhs. There is a Gurudwara besides the temple. This place is considered highly sacred as Gura Nanak Dev paid a visit here. The entrance to the Gurudwara is built on top of a hot water spring... the floor feels hot as you walk over it.  The exit from the Gurudwara leads to a narrow lane with a mini market of shops selling puja items. By the time we left Manikaran, it was 4.30 PM. It took a good 2 hours to reach the hotel. After some tea, we left for the Mall Road which was today packed with tourists - senior citizens, newly weds on a honeymoon, families from all across the country. Booked a taxi at a travel agents office new delhi. Day 5: MANALI - SOLANG VALLY - KOTHI - MANALI  It was time to visit the famous Solang Valley and Kothi today to see snow. This was going to be my first experience of actually seeing and touching snow. I was really excited. The weather surprisingly was cloudy and extremely chilly. A little before Solang we took fur coats and gum boots on rent. The valley is entirely covered in thick layers of snow during the winters. It is essential that you have gum boots since the one's we use regularly will get wet. The fur coat is actually quite heavy but warm. I somehow couldn't carry the weight of the fur coat for more than 20 minutes. So, I eventually had to take it off. Glares is the most essential to carry. Solang Valley is a splendid valley between the Solang village and the Beas Kund (on the way to Rohtang). It is covered in snow during winters especially in the months of December through February. It is about 13 to 15 Kms from Manali and offers a brilliant view of the glaciers and snow covered mountains. It is an ideal place for skiing due to the fine ski slopes. In winters when Rohtang is closed for travel due to being covered in snow, Solang Valley serves as an ideal spot for tourists to enjoy snow sports or activities. We had a great time playing in the snow. I was a little scared of trying the adventure activities going on here...so didn't participate in any of those. When we reached Solang, the entire valley was covered in thick snow. I was amazed and equally excited, could say I went absolutely crazy on seeing snow. Spent a good amount of time walking, runnng up and down, throwing snow balls at each other and clicking photograph. Had great fun! I must say without the fur coat it felt very cold... but it was extremely difficult to walk around with the fur coat on. After spending some time in the snow I started feeling very cold. The wind felt chilly and I was shivering. After a light lunch and tea at the stalls at Solang we went to Kothi at 2.30 PM. Kothi is just 20 minutes ahead from Solang Valley, on the way to Rohtang Pass and Beas Kund. It is a picturesque spot where a number of Bollywood movies have been filmed - the most recent one being Krish - but when the valley was green so it would be April / May. There is a wonderful PWD guesthouse on the ridge overlooking  a narrow valley offering an amazing view of the mountains and valley. We had to climb the mountain to reach the guest house. The mud was wet with small springs emerging out. But the sight was extremely beautiful and worth taking the pain of climbing. We left this place around 4.30 PM, it was getting late and we had to reach hotel in time. We stopped on our way at the banks of the Beas river. This was somewhere between Kullu and Manali. The water level was reduced since it was winter. During summer and monsoon the river flows full with the water that melts from the snow and glaciers. When we reached Manali it was almost 6.30 PM. We were dead tired after a hectic day but still tempted to visit the Mall Road one last time before we leave the next day. Chaat at a local joint, some more rounds of shopping and then were back to the hotel. Time to pack bags for Chandigarh the next morning. Day 6:  MANALI - CHANDIGARH - DELHI  Left by 10 in the morning in a taxi booked the other day. It costed us Rs. 2500/- till Chandigarh since the taxi was returning. It was a cloudy morning at Manali and I overheard the receptionist at the hotel saying that it would snow in the next 2 or 3 days in Manali.  I was surely missing this... but with a return ticket from Chandigarh I had no option but to leave. Next visit, I promised to self, will be in January when it is entirely covered in snow. The sky started getting clear after we cros sed Kullu. The water level in Beas rose and we were now moving to greener area. The most amazing thing of this route is that the Beas river follows right until a few kilometers before Chandigarh. Reached by 8 PM and had a train to catch for Delhi at 11.30 PM. Next morning from Delhi . With this ended our wonderful vacation to the Switzerland of India - Kullu Manali.