Planning to visit Manali and looking for options about Travel and local sightseeing? Keep reading, in this post I have shared my personal experience how I traveled in budget.
Table of Contents
- Manali by train
- Where is Manali located?
- How to reach Manali?
- Budget stay at Manali
- Manali One day tour bus
- Conclusion:
Manali by train
If you are wondering “How to reach Manali by Train?” then let me clear your doubt: There is no direct train that will take you to Manali. You can reach the nearest station i.e Kalka or Pathankot and from there you will have to go by road till Manali.
Most of the people travel till Delhi and take bus till Manali. There is good frequency on Himachal Tourism as well as private operators from Delhi.
Read details on Kalka To Shimla Toy train
Where is Manali located?
Manali is located in the beautiful state of Himachal Pradesh in India. It is on top of a hill and weather is cold throughout the year.
How to reach Manali?
You can reach Manali by Air, train or by road. Do remember that Manali is located on top of a hill, so last mile needs to be covered by road only as is the case of all the hill stations.
Manali by Air
You can check flights for Bhuntar airport, its located near Kull. If flights are not as per your likeing, you can reach Delhi and reach Manali by road.
Manali by train
You can reach Chandigarh or Pathankot by train and from there you need to travel by road.
Both Chandigarh and Pathankot are well connected to major cities of India.
If you want to enjoy the toy train ride, you will have reach Kalka from Chandigarh. Make sure to do the advance booking of the toy train.
Manali by road
Once you reach the nearest railway station, you can either take a Himachal State bus or hire a car till Manali.
You can cover Dalhousie as well as Khajjiar on the way to Manali if you start from Pathankot side.
In case you travel from Chandigarh side, you can plan for Manikaran and Kasol.
Budget stay at Manali
In case you are planning to visit Manali at off season i.e before May, you will get your stay at bargin price. There are decent hotels near Manali bus stop where you can bargain a 2bed stay for around Rs.1000/-
Dharmshala at Manali
There is a Dharmshala near bus stop (its just opposit to bus stop in one of the lanes), you can get a room for Rs.150 but its very dirty.
The rooms are stinky, the toilets are the worst,so I will not advice you to stay there. I being a solo traveler could not adjust to the stink and belive me,I have stayed at some not very clean places.
Hopefully the trust managing the dharmshala attached to the temple inspects it to ensure its in livable condition.
Stay options at Old Manali is cheaper
You can take an auto or just walk 1.5km and cross to Old Manali. There stay are much cheaper. You can find traveler hostel as well at Old Manali.
During offseason, you can get double room for Rs.500 as well if you bargain hard!
Manali One day tour bus
You can book one day bus tour from the tourism office on the mall road. Its adjecent to the bus stop. This service is provided by the Himachal Tourism.
There is only 1 mini bus and it will cost you Rs.500. The bus will take you beyond Atal Tunnel where I found snow during April as well.
Apart from that, it will take you to adventure spots where you can enjoy zip lining, Paragliding or just play in snow.
Conclusion:
In all the hill stations, you will have to reach the destination by road only unless its connected by toy train like Shimla and Ooty.