Manali Road Trip Guide: Solang & Old Manali
530 km from Delhi up the Beas valley. Where to break the drive, why the Atal Tunnel has made Rohtang optional, and which months actually work.
Manali is 530 km from Delhi, and no amount of expressway makes that a comfortable single push. The route runs Chandigarh, Bilaspur, Mandi and up the Beas valley, and takes twelve to fourteen hours depending on the Mandi stretch, which is the one that reliably slows down. Most people either drive through the night or, better, break the journey at Chandigarh or Mandi and arrive in daylight with the valley actually visible.
Solang, Rohtang and the tunnel that changed things
Solang Valley, 13 km from town, is the easy half-day — paragliding, the ropeway, and snow at the top end of the valley for much of the year. Rohtang Pass is the harder one: it needs a permit issued online, the daily vehicle quota is capped, and the pass is closed on Tuesdays for maintenance and through the winter, opening around May. Since the Atal Tunnel opened in 2020, you no longer need Rohtang at all to reach Lahaul — the 9 km tunnel puts you at Sissu in under an hour, stays open most of the year, and needs no permit. If your goal is snow and a view, Sissu is now the simpler trip.
Old Manali and the temples
Old Manali, a couple of kilometres uphill from the Mall, is the part of town worth the time — cafés along a single lane, orchards behind them, and the Manu Temple at the top. Hadimba Devi Temple, built in 1553 in cedar with a four-tiered pagoda roof, sits in a deodar grove ten minutes from the centre and is best seen early. Across the river, Vashisht has hot sulphur springs and a quieter set of guesthouses; Jogini Falls is a ninety-minute walk from there.
Choosing your months
March to June is the main season, when the valley is green and the passes are opening. October and November are the quiet reward — clear skies, sharp mountain views, thin crowds, and cold nights. December to February brings snow to Solang and the town itself, which is popular, but road closures beyond Manali are common and any Rohtang plan is off the table. July and August are best avoided; the Mandi–Kullu stretch is landslide-prone and the Beas runs high.
This is an SUV route, not a sedan one. Ground clearance matters on the Solang and Sissu roads, and the climb past Mandi is long enough that engine capacity is a comfort issue rather than a luxury. Book the Delhi–Manali run with YantraCabs as a multi-day round trip and keep the same driver for the local sightseeing — local taxi rates for Solang and the tunnel are charged per trip and add up quickly.
