Marvellous Manali !!!!

Situated in Beas River valley, Manali is a magnificent tourist destination. Surrounded by stunning snow- capped mountains, it is famous for its picturesque beauty and tranquility. The best time to visit this place is from April to late June and mid September to early November, however one should avoid winters as weather is harsh during this period.

Apart from its beauty and serenity, Manali is also famous for its Adventure Tourism and it offers a wide range of adventurous activities like Trekking, paragliding, Rafting, Mountaineering etc and the opportunities are endless for adventurous lovers. I visited this splendid place in May last year with my friends and it was a trip that we will remember for years to come. We reached Manali by road and truly speaking the journey was really exhausting, however after reaching the place, the tiredness vanished and we were all fresh to explore this place.

Places we explored in/near Manali:

1) Van Vihar:   Situated in the middle of Manali, Van Vihar is an amazing place to hang out with friends and tall Deodar trees makes it more astonishing. We took pictures of each other and had lot of fun and moved ahead to discover more. To our surprise we were at the bank of River Beas. The view was spectacular; we had never seen such a mighty river before and standing beside it was a wonderful feeling. But this was not enough, we wanted something more and before leaving this place we made it memorable. We did river crossing on Beas River and OMG we never thought that we could. For the first time we were over a gigantic river and at one point I felt as if this world comprises of only two things- River Beas and Me, I couldn’t see anything else around. WOW what an experience it was.

2) Rohtang Pass: Rohtang Pass is 51Kms from Manali on highway to Leh and one can have a panoramic view of snow-capped mountains from here. We hired a cab from Manali and reached Rohtang in around 2 hours and the journey was beautiful with greenery, waterfalls, and mountains all round. When we reached Rohtang we couldn’t believe our eyes…Snow…Snow…Snow all round. We couldn’t stop ourselves and started walking, we had never seen snow before and walking over it was unbelievable. We enjoyed the moment to the fullest, clicked pictures, slided on the snow, became little nostalgic (We all were talking about our childhood days), made snow man, had Maggie. We actually had unforgettable time there.

3) River Rafting near Kullu: River Rafting near Kullu was simply superb. Nothing was near its comparison. I was already in love with this river and now was floating on it and the experience was exhilarating. Water was splashing on us and we were totally wet. We were screaming, shouting and this experience was purely thrilling.

Other places of interest in Manali are Tibetan Monastery, Hadimba Temple, The Club House, Mountaineering Institute (if you are interested in joining Mountaineering courses). Manali was an enjoyable trip with friends and I would surely come back to explore more adventure here.