Apple orchards, deodar cedars and the roar of the Beas river surround Manāli, the hill town at the head of the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh, and this spot lies just outside it, at the point where the road to Ladakh starts its long climb into the high Himalaya. Manāli sits at about two thousand metres, and from here the snow peaks of the Pir Panjal range rise straight up behind the town, with the Rohtang Pass hidden above.
Manāli has a long history as a trading and pilgrimage centre, and the old wooden Hadimba Devi temple, set in a cedar forest above the town, dates from the sixteenth century and is dedicated to a local goddess from the Mahabharata. In nearby Vashisht, hot springs feed public baths beside an old temple, and across the river, Old Manāli is a backpacker's village of guesthouses and cafes. The town is busy with Indian tourists all year, especially honeymooners and families escaping the summer heat of the plains, and in winter people come for snow.
For riders, Manāli is the starting point of one of the great motorcycle journeys of the world: the Leh–Manāli Highway, which climbs over a series of high passes to Leh in Ladakh. The first barrier, Rohtang Pass at nearly four thousand metres, used to block the road for much of the year, but the Atal Tunnel, opened in 2020, now runs beneath the Pir Panjal, nearly nine kilometres long, and gives year-round access to the Lahaul valley beyond. The road beyond is long, high and wild, with rough sections, water crossings and altitudes above five thousand metres on passes such as Taglang La.
The riding around Manāli itself is chaotic and steep, with heavy traffic, tour buses, taxis, potholes and landslides in the monsoon. Permits are required to drive up to Rohtang Pass itself, and there are restrictions on the number of vehicles. The road to Leh is generally open from about June to October, depending on snow.
Manāli has fuel, bike rentals, mechanics, food of every kind, and hundreds of hotels. Take time here to acclimatise before going higher, eat well, and check the bike thoroughly: help on the road ahead can be far away.