Five nights in one Manali hotel, with the high ground at Solang and Lahaul, the old temples of Old Manali and the castle at Naggar spread over separate unhurried days.
Most Manali trips give the town a night and a half and spend the rest on the road. This one does the opposite: you stay in the same hotel for all five nights and use it as a base. That buys time for the things that usually get cut — the walk up through Old Manali to the Manu temple, an afternoon at Naggar Castle and the Roerich house above it, a proper stop in Lahaul rather than a photograph at the tunnel mouth.
You fly into Bhuntar, an hour and a half down the valley, and a private air-conditioned vehicle stays with you throughout. Day five is deliberately left open. If Rohtang Pass is open and the permit comes through, that is the day for it; if not, Manikaran and the Parvati valley make an equally good use of it.
The essentials
Trip information
Package code
EH06MN001
Pickup
Kullu–Manali Airport (Bhuntar)
Drop
Kullu–Manali Airport (Bhuntar)
Night count
05 Nights, 06 Days
Travellers
6 pax
Vehicle
Toyota Innova Crysta (AC)
At a glance
Itinerary highlights
Day 1Arrive at Bhuntar and up to Manali
Day 2Old Manali, Vashisht and the Mall
Day 3Solang Valley and through to Lahaul
Day 4Down the valley to Naggar
Day 5An open day — Rohtang if it is open, Manikaran if not
Day 6Check out and fly home from Bhuntar
Your route, day by day
Day-by-day itinerary
Manali
A town at about 2,000 metres at the head of the Kullu valley, sitting on the Beas with the Pir Panjal shutting off the view north.
Day 1
Arrive at Bhuntar and up to Manali
You are met at Bhuntar and driven up the valley beside the Beas, through Kullu and Patlikuhl. Check in and give the afternoon to the hotel and the orchard — the air is thinner here than you expect and the rest pays off on the high days. If you are up for it, Hadimba temple is a short walk down the road and is at its best in the last hour of light.
Starts from Kullu–Manali Airport (Bhuntar), ends at The Himalayan, Manali, covering around 50 km in an estimated 1h 30m.
Sightseeing
Hadimba Devi TempleOpen 8 AM – 6 PMAllow 60 min
A four-tiered wooden temple of 1553 built around a bare rock in a stand of very old deodar. It is dedicated to Hadimba from the Mahabharata, and the carved timber door frame is the piece worth stopping for.
See the carved doorway
Walk the deodar grove
Ghatotkacha tree shrine nearby
Old Manali & Vashisht
The original village above the modern town, and the hot-spring village on the far bank of the Beas.
Day 2
Old Manali, Vashisht and the Mall
An easy day mostly on foot. You walk up through Old Manali — slate roofs, apple stores and cafés — to the Manu temple at the top of the village, then cross the river to Vashisht for the springs. The Tibetan monastery in town and the Mall fill the late afternoon.
Based at The Himalayan, Manali, covering around 25 km in an estimated 7h 00m.
Sightseeing
Manu Temple, Old ManaliOpen 7 AM – 7 PMAllow 60 min
A stone and timber temple at the top of Old Manali dedicated to the sage Manu, and said to be the only one of its kind. The climb up through the village lanes is half the point of going.
Walk up through Old Manali
See the temple courtyard
Café stop on the lane down
Vashisht Hot SpringsOpen 6 AM – 9 PMAllow 75 min
A slate-roofed village on the east bank where natural sulphur springs feed stone bathing tanks beside a temple to the sage Vashisht. There are separate tanks for men and women and the water stays hot all year.
Soak in the hot tanks
See the carved stone temple
Walk the lanes above the village
Himalayan Nyingmapa MonasteryOpen 6 AM – 7 PMAllow 30 min
A small Tibetan gompa in the middle of Manali, built by refugees in the 1960s, with a large gilded Buddha inside and carpet weaving going on in the compound.
See the gilded Buddha
Watch carpet weaving
Spin the prayer wheels
Mall Road, ManaliOpen 10 AM – 10 PMAllow 90 min
The pedestrian stretch through the town centre, with woollen shops, Tibetan market stalls and the Himachal handicraft emporium along it.
Buy Kullu shawls and caps
Tibetan market stalls
Dinner off the Mall
Solang Valley & Sissu
The high meadow above Manali, and the bare Lahaul side of the range beyond the Atal Tunnel.
Day 3
Solang Valley and through to Lahaul
The big day. You go up the valley to Solang first, which is where the ropeway, the paragliders and, in winter, the snow are. From there the road climbs to the south portal of the Atal Tunnel and comes out nine kilometres later in Lahaul — a dry, treeless landscape that feels a long way from the orchards you left. Sissu, just beyond the portal, is the turnaround point.
Based at The Himalayan, Manali, covering around 85 km in an estimated 8h 00m.
Sightseeing
Solang ValleyOpen all dayAllow 150 min
A wide grassy bowl at about 2,500 metres, thirteen kilometres north of Manali and ringed by peaks. Paragliding, zorbing and the ropeway run through the warm months; from roughly December it holds snow and becomes the local ski slope.
Ropeway to the upper station
Paragliding or zorbing in season
Snow play in winter
Atal TunnelOpen all day, weather permittingAllow 45 min
A nine-kilometre road tunnel under the Rohtang ridge, opened in 2020, which keeps Lahaul connected right through the winter when the pass above it is buried. The drop in temperature as you come out at the north end is immediate.
Drive the full length
Stop at the north portal viewpoint
Photograph the Chandra valley
SissuOpen all dayAllow 120 min
A Lahaul village a short drive past the tunnel, with a waterfall dropping off the cliff behind it, a small lake and the Chandra river running below. Bare, wide and completely unlike the Kullu side.
Sissu waterfall
Walk by the lake
Lunch at a Lahauli dhaba
Naggar
The old capital of the Kullu kingdom, on the east bank of the Beas about twenty kilometres below Manali.
Day 4
Down the valley to Naggar
South today, on the quieter left-bank road. Naggar Castle is the main stop — a fifteenth-century timber-and-stone building that served as the royal seat and now looks out over the whole valley. The Roerich gallery is a short climb above it. On the way back there is time for the Jana waterfall or the temples and shawl looms around Kullu, whichever appeals.
Based at The Himalayan, Manali, covering around 70 km in an estimated 7h 30m.
Sightseeing
Naggar CastleOpen 8 AM – 7 PMAllow 90 min
Built around the fifteenth century in the local kathkuni style, alternating courses of stone and cedar beams without mortar, which is what has kept it standing through earthquakes. It was the seat of the Kullu rajas for centuries and the courtyard shrine and gallery are open to walk through.
See the kathkuni timber walls
Courtyard shrine and stone slab
Valley views from the terrace
Nicholas Roerich Art GalleryOpen 9 AM – 1 PM and 2 PM – 6 PM, closed MondaysAllow 60 min
The house above Naggar where the Russian painter Nicholas Roerich lived from the late 1920s until his death, now holding his Himalayan canvases and family belongings, with a small museum in the garden.
Roerich's Himalayan paintings
Walk the garden and museum
View across to the Deo Tibba side
Jana WaterfallOpen all dayAllow 90 min
A waterfall above Naggar reached by a narrow road through apple orchards and a short walk at the end. The dhabas at the top serve Himachali food on a leaf plate and are the reason many people make the drive.
Walk to the falls
Himachali thali at a dhaba
Orchard drive up from Naggar
Kullu and its shawl loomsOpen 9 AM – 7 PMAllow 60 min
The valley's main town, known for the Dussehra festival held on the Dhalpur maidan and for the handloom units producing Kullu shawls and caps.
Watch handlooms working
Buy a Kullu shawl
Stop at the Dhalpur maidan
Manali
A day with nothing fixed, kept free for the one trip that depends entirely on the weather and a permit.
Day 5
An open day — Rohtang if it is open, Manikaran if not
Nothing is locked in today. If Rohtang Pass is open — usually somewhere between May and October — and a permit has come through, this is the day you cross it. If it is shut, or the quota is full, the Parvati valley run to Manikaran and Kasol is the alternative and takes about the same time. If you would rather do neither, the vehicle stays on call and the day can just be the hotel, the orchard and the Mall.
Based at The Himalayan, Manali.
Sightseeing
Rohtang Pass (optional, permit required)Roughly May to October, closed TuesdaysAllow Half day
The old crossing into Lahaul at 3,978 metres, snowbound and closed for most of the year. When open, access is capped by a daily vehicle quota and a permit issued in advance through the state portal. Marhi on the climb is the usual halt, and the snow at the top holds well into summer.
Snow at the top of the pass
Views over the Chandra valley
Stop at Marhi on the way up
Manikaran and Kasol (alternative)Open all dayAllow Full day
Up the Parvati valley from Bhuntar, about seventy kilometres each way. Manikaran has boiling sulphur springs running under a gurudwara and a Shiva temple, with food cooked in the spring water in the langar. Kasol, a few kilometres short of it, is a riverside village good for a walk and lunch.
Springs and langar at the gurudwara
Walk the Parvati riverbank at Kasol
Hot bath at the temple tanks
Day 6
Check out and fly home from Bhuntar
Breakfast, then check out by 11 AM and the drive back down the valley to Bhuntar. If your flight is late in the day there is usually room for a stop at Kullu on the way, and we can often hold the room a little longer — just ask the evening before.
Starts from The Himalayan, Manali, ends at Kullu–Manali Airport (Bhuntar), covering around 50 km in an estimated 1h 30m.
Airport pick-up and drop
× 2
Manali local sightseeing day
Solang Valley and Atal Tunnel day
Naggar and Kullu valley day
Vehicle on standby for the open day
The fine print, clearly
What’s included
Inclusions
Five nights of accommodation in the selected hotel category.
Daily breakfast and dinner at the hotel.
All transfers and sightseeing by private air-conditioned vehicle.
Three full sightseeing days plus the vehicle on call for the open day.
Driver allowance, fuel, toll, parking and hill permits for the vehicle.
Assistance with the Rohtang Pass permit when the pass is open.
24×7 destination support for the whole trip.
Exclusions
Airfare or train fare to and from Bhuntar.
Entry tickets, the Solang ropeway and museum charges at Naggar.
The Rohtang Pass permit charge and any vehicle change needed for it.
Skiing, paragliding, snow scooters, rafting and hired snow clothing.
Lunch and anything ordered outside the fixed menu.
Personal expenses such as laundry, tips and shopping.
GST, charged extra on the final bill as applicable.
Good to know
Policies
Payment policy
50% of the package cost is needed at the time of booking to confirm it.
The remaining 50% must be cleared at least 15 days before the trip starts.
Peak season (May, June and the Christmas–New Year week) needs full payment at booking.
The booking is confirmed only once the advance payment reaches us.
Payment by bank transfer or UPI.
Cancellation policy
0–10 days before check-in: 100% of the booking amount is charged.
11–20 days before check-in: 70% of the booking amount is charged.
21–30 days before check-in: 30% of the booking amount is charged.
A minimum cancellation charge of 10% applies in all cases.
No refund for unused nights or an early check-out.
Peak season (20 December – 5 January): no refund on cancellation.
Important information
Carry a valid photo ID — Aadhaar, passport, voter ID or driving licence.
Rohtang Pass is closed by snow through the winter and normally reopens around May. Even then it is not a drive-up: a permit must be obtained in advance through the Himachal government portal, the daily vehicle quota is capped, and the pass is closed on Tuesdays for maintenance. We apply on your behalf where possible, but the permit cannot be guaranteed and the open day has a full alternative plan.
The Atal Tunnel is open through most of the year and is the dependable way into Lahaul for Sissu when Rohtang is shut, though it too closes during heavy snowfall.
Flights into Bhuntar are small and weather-sensitive and can be cancelled at short notice; keep the return day free of onward connections if you can.
Solang and Rohtang are cold and bright — carry gloves, a windproof layer, sunscreen and shoes with grip, even in summer.
Snow and landslides can close valley roads without notice and the day order may be rearranged; we tell you in advance if so.
Easy Holiday
