[Satyam]

Hi, need advice, from members, who have knowledge about Manali regarding our stay at Manali. Planning to reach Manali on 24th Dec, 08 and stay for 3 nights. Will travel by Volvo bus services from Delhi. Travelling with kids and as usual they always need to be near different eating joints and shops to fool around, specially after coming back from sight seeing tours.

Can you suggest, whether to book Hadimba Huts (HPTDC), 1.5 to 2 Kms from the Mall Road or Hotel Kanjum(HPTDC) / Hotel Piccadily, near the Mall Road? Would prefer Hadimba Huts if access to Mall Road in late evening during December winter month will not be an issue. But all my info is from the net and cant just go by the simple point to point distances as mentioned.

[extreme_torque]

Just make sure you stay in Old Manali. Old world charm you know :-)

[tsk1979]

HPTDC are the best and most VFM. Decide your location, and then choose where exactly you want to stay

[dadu]

If your kids want more visit of the market, your second option is more suitable also because if it snows, the climb back to the huts will be quite tedious on the foot, as it is city kids are not used to walking

Originally Posted by Satyam

Can you suggest, whether to book Hadimba Huts (HPTDC), 1.5 to 2 Kms from the Mall Road or Hotel Kanjum(HPTDC) / Hotel Piccadily, near the Mall Road? Would prefer Hadimba Huts if access to Mall Road in late evening during December winter month will not be an issue. But all my info is from the net and cant just go by the simple point to point distances as mentioned.

[vnabhi]

I'd suggest you stay close to the Mall, for the reasons already stated above. Why don't you try for Hotel Beas, run by HPTDC? It is 5 mins walk from the Mall, and right beside the river Beas, close to the bridge across the rivulet.
I stayed there with family in Jan 2002, and the off season rate was only Rs 750 per day. Of course, it must have doubled now, but it was very decent accomodation.
We got a room on the extreme left corner, and could hear the soothing sound of the river flowing all day long. The only issue was that vehicles used to make some sounds while crossing the bridge.

[rex_varghese]

Anytime, preferred place to stay in Manali would be an HPTDC hotel. If I remember correctly, the HPTDC hotel you've mentioned and Hadimba Huts are on the same lane leading to Hadimba temple. And it's a climb up from the Mall Road.

We stayed in an HPTDC hotel during our visit in Jan and there was only one other guest in the whole hotel.

Regards
Rex

[sj_koova]

I have stayed in Apple Country, old Manali and it was really good . They serve good food too.
I went during the off peak season, so got the room at 1500/night.
Dec may not be too crowded as it one of the coldest month. As far as I know April-May and Oct-Nov are really crowded season, so you will have plenty of choices in Dec.
HPTDC huts are damn beautiful, but I am not sure if you can get the booking easily. All the best.

[pjbiju]

We stayed at Log Huts (HPTDC) last December. They also generally have a Winter discount. Although the location and huts were good, the heating was totally indadequate. We had just one hot water bottle and a small electric heater. That did not suffice at all to heat up the room. In fact the HPTDC hotel (Peterhof) we stayed at in Shimla had much better room heating. We did not have food from this hotel. We always went to the mall road to have our food (we had a vehicle at our disposal). So no idea about the quality of food.

But it will not be easy to walk to the mall road especially with kids etc. I would suggest Kunzam (HPTDC) on the mall road. You have easy access to everything from there.

[hvkumar]

Hadimba Cottages are a lovely place to stay at, but the distance to the market can be a deterrent. The local taxis will also fleece you for the 5-minute drop. Walking on the narrow road from the mall-Market to Hadimba is an unpleasant experience because of the vehicle traffic. Cottages themselves are at a higher altitude and nights can be very cold. having said this, I would still stay at Hadimba.

Hi,

Book your hotel immedaitely. We (me & wife) been there dot on 25th Dec'01. Since my cousin had been there & had contact details of the hotel Bias View we could get room. Though I do not have the tel. nos. etc, it is in New Manali - beside the State Bank guest house, on the banks of the Bias river.

Few tips:

1) The last week of December - Temperature: around 2 Degrees Centi. Pack your bag accordingly!!
2) Being X-mas & New Year holidays, even in the "off-season" all the hotels are full. Better book the hotels - today & now!!
3) Don't forget to ask for the "room heater" - cost included in the room rent only.
4) The sun-sets at around 5 pm (may be early to this). So don't get confussed about the time (take this in positive spirit friend!!) Since you will be with kids, plan your local trips so as to reach the main market by max 5 pm & after roaming around & having meals - return to your hotel rooms latest by 7.30 pm. By this time you can get local transport. After that the traffic gets thin.
5) The food at the restaurant in the main market (opp. the garden) serves good punjabi food. (regrets for not able to provide you the name)
6) A stay of 3-4 days is sufficient.
8) If possible, as your bus operator for the return tickets well in time. Option no. 2 - return to delhi via - Simla. For this too get the arrangements done well in time.

Enjoy, Manikaran, Hidimba temple, Solan, and others.

Have a nice trip!!

While going towards the New Manali, the Hotel Bias View is hardly 1.5 km - cross the bridge near to the HPTDC. I think, this distance i ok with you.

Alternate no. 2: don't book any hotel at all!! Go to Manali & find room. As you will be out for the entire day, sleeping is the only concern. You MAY get good hotel - unoccupied in Old Manali.

[gd1418]

+1 to HVK's suggestion. I stayed at the Hadimba Huts in 1986 while honeymooning.. in November. We used to trek down to the market through the woods and it was lovely. Never been there after that so don't know what all changes have happened. But my vote still goes to Hadimba Huts.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Hadimba Cottages are a lovely place to stay at, but the distance to the market can be a deterrent. The local taxis will also fleece you for the 5-minute drop. Walking on the narrow road from the mall-Market to Hadimba is an unpleasant experience because of the vehicle traffic. Cottages themselves are at a higher altitude and nights can be very cold. having said this, I would still stay at Hadimba.

[rkbharat]

+2.

Hadimba cottage is my first and only preference. Had been there twice. but both the time by car, so traveling from hut to mall road was not a problem.

But as Kumar saab said, walking might not interest you, specially with all family.

Originally Posted by gd1418

+1 to HVK's suggestion. I stayed at the Hadimba Huts in 1986 while honeymooning.. in November. We used to trek down to the market through the woods and it was lovely. Never been there after that so don't know what all changes have happened. But my vote still goes to Hadimba Huts.

[lancer_rit]

Stay at HPTDC Hadimba cottages or HPTDC log huts (near the top of the hill). In my view, driving upto the HPTDC log huts itself is a nice steep climb (sort of warm up :-) )

IMHO, if you have your car, you should stay in a place far from the mall of any hill station, where you can enjoy the hills and the scenery and escape the noise and air pollution of the main road of the hill station, or ?
Else, why not go to the nice markets in your city ?

Cheers,

[rkbharat]

Originally Posted by lancer_rit

IMHO, if you have your car, you should stay in a place far from the mall of any hill station, where you can enjoy the hills and the scenery and escape the noise and air pollution of the main road of the hill station, or ?
Else, why not go to the nice markets in your city ?

Cheers,

lancer_rit, IMHO, if you are with kid, its difficult to convince them the scenery is good and eat whatever in in hotel. They want to see markets, crowds, lights, shops and lots of different kind of foods.

My daughter feels very happy when she is in market and see lot so different colorful things.

Also Mall roads in different hill stations like Shimla, Manali, Nainital etc have its own charm. When was the last time you had gol gappas in the december in Manali or Shimla .

So my rule is, stay away from markets but visit the mall roads and markets near by to enjoy the food, shops, people etc