[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by ampere

Is this Manikaran that you are referring to? If not add that it to the list.

The drive is also amazing along the Parvati river. On this road, we had food at a Dhaba. The food was anyway amazing, but what was even better was the location of this dhaba. I dont remember the name though.

Nopes Ampere,Manikaran is a different place altogether.Vasisht temple is in Manali.The best part is apart from the temple,there are so many points along the River Beas which has high sulphur deposits resulting in hot water sprouts.

+1 to the list of places-Add Manu temple,Solang Valley,Pictures with the lovely,harmless,sweet Angora rabbits.

Manali is more about soakin in the atmsophere,fresh air,walkign around,endles cups of tea,maggi noodles on the wayside for lunch.

Beware of all shops trying to sell you "Chingu"you would learn it the hard way,but dont go anywhere near buying it lest you want to be duped.

[wanderernomad]

But IMHO Vashisht is too crowded these days to have any fun soaking in the sulphur pools. Its best avoided unless you just need to tick off the place as having visited.
@ranjit is right when he says Manali is all about soaking it all in. I think its as complete a hill station as any in the world, if you overlook the crowd that is.

[kingofmyworld]

Seriously guys, No matter how beautiful and amazing the place is, I hate it when its crowded. So I prefer skipping places which are crowded. The main reason I'm going there is for the sake of driving and also a bit of site seeing plus many pictures of the journey.

[wanderernomad]

Then go on to Udaipur and Darcha, cross Rohtang leave the crowds behind and have a full hard disk of pictures and yet miss out on some that are on offer.

[pradeep-ivon]

Hi Guys,
Just last week i traveled in my Aveo UVA to Manali and Rohtang Pass with my family (wife and 2 kids), thoroughly enjoyed the luxurious & assuring on-road feel of UVA on the hills & mountain, not to mention the smooth effortless cruise on the highway! Some of the pix are enclosed for readers, some more will follow. I was doubting if UVA can do it, but got inspired to know even the Spark has done the Leh route and now even Nano has done it. But i seriously detest and protest the way commercial touristm is taking away the fun out of adventure driving, it is best to drive in off season because scores of taxis, sumos and all kinds of diesel vehicles with rowdy drivers continue overtaking you even on steep and narrow Rohtang uphill drive, they could be responsible for number of accidents too. Traffic police must take action and control the no. of cars going up on a particular day/ time. Overtaking must not at all be permitted. At one point i tried in vain to stop overtaking by another taxi walla but still he overshot me; this can indeed lead to road rage even at these heights. All in all, UVA has given a smooth & confident feeling to me, one must be liberal in using the 2nd and 1st gear on the uphills & bends of to climb this pass.
Curiously i even got a fuel average of 10-12 kmpl in this mountain drive (and 15+ on the Chandigarh-Delhi highway). Now i am planning to drive till Leh as i had to postpone this due to the late opening of the higher reaches this june plus the family considerations and the no. of days of leave.

[pradeep-ivon]

Originally Posted by Devil on Wheels

Very rightly said. Its not all that difficult. Just follow the basics, don't try to show off your driving skills, always blow your horns before you take a blind turn, stick to your lane, avoid overtaking unless the driver in front of you is just killing it, and make sure you have a long straight strech ahead and no oncoming traffic before you overtake.

Thanks, these are good useful tips! LIVE - TO DRIVE!

[kingofmyworld]

I almost forgot to update this thread. My trip was super cool!. Thanks for the direction tips guys. I've covered mandi, kullu, manali, rohtang, kasol, manikaran and malana. Awesome trip. I'll post the pics soon.

[wanderernomad]

You went to Malana? Sure? Would love to see some pictures of Malana and the route details. Is the road fully operational now?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

You went to Malana? Sure? Would love to see some pictures of Malana and the route details. Is the road fully operational now?

Malana is connected by road now?

[kingofmyworld]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

You went to Malana? Sure? Would love to see some pictures of Malana and the route details. Is the road fully operational now?

YES! it is malana and its pretty dangerous, People out there are very strict, Touch something which belongs to them and ou'll be forced to pay 100rs fine. The roads to malana are bad and it is suggested to trek. there is some project which is goingon there, Till their gate you can drive and from there it is better to trek.

[pradeep-ivon]

plan to visit & see the winter look of Manali in september, hope it snows then? does it? actually this june it was too much crowded and i somehow avoided visiting the mall road.

[wanderernomad]

King: Did you just go to the gate of the project or the Village itself? Please clarify as it is an important piece4 of information for Malana. Do post some pictures if you really made it to the village.

[mobike008]

Wow, so is this Malana ever worse route than the route from Narkhada to Manali via. the Jalori pass?

[sesha]

Hi everyone

Need an advice from you all - planning a trip from to Delhi & Manali later this month. Based on what i heard earlier, i booked volvo bus from Delhi to Manali and back - as i understand, these are 14-15 hr trips and most of this is at night

One thought was to do the return trip (from Manali to Delhi) by car - meaning, rent a cab (we're 7 of us incl. kids) like Innova or Tavera and drive back. I've read many reports and travelogues on the drive/roads and seen pictures and i dont want to miss it by travelling at night...

So, the question is, should i cancel the bus and take a cab from Manali back to Delhi (or to Chandigarh & take a train to Delhi)? Is it worth the trouble? And if yes, what would your suggestion be for renting the cab - where and what would it cost?

Looking forward to your replies

Regards
Sesha

[ranjitp1]

Manali-Delhi one stretch is going to be a long tedious drive irrespective of whether its a bus or a cab.

The best way would be to take a cab to Chandigarh and then train back to Delhi.Manali-C'garh would take you around 6hours.Do it in the daytime.

Why dont you just hire a car from Delhi and get the car to drop you back to Delhi,thats the best way to do it from a comfort point of view.While going,break journey at shimla and while coming back from manali,break journey at chandigarh.