Manali by Car — Three Nights in the Kullu Valley

North from Chandigarh into the hills, following the Beas up through Mandi and the Kullu valley — a long drive, and the last three hours of it are the good part, with the river on one side and apple orchards climbing the slopes on the other. Manali sits at about 2,050 m at the head of the valley. Nothing is scheduled on arrival; Old Manali up the hill, with its stone-and-timber houses and orchards, is the better half of the town and is a walk rather than a drive.

Hadimba Devi first, in a stand of old deodar above the town — built in 1553 with a four-tiered pagoda roof over a rock shrine, and dedicated to the demoness Hadimba of the Mahabharata, which is an unusual dedication anywhere. Then Vashisht, a short way across the river, where sulphur springs feed stone baths beside a temple. The afternoon runs up toward Solang, a broad meadow under the Rohtang road where the paragliding and, in winter, the skiing happen. Rohtang itself needs a permit and a permitted vehicle and is arranged separately when the pass is open.

South and then east into the Parvati valley to Manikaran, where boiling springs come out of the ground beside a river cold with snowmelt — the gurdwara there cooks its langar in the spring water and the same site is sacred to Hindus and Sikhs alike. Back down the valley in the afternoon by way of Naggar, the old seat of the Kullu rajas, whose castle is built in the alternating stone-and-timber style the region uses against earthquakes, with the Nicholas Roerich estate and gallery on the slope below it.

The long descent back down the Beas, out of the orchards and through Mandi to the plains. It is a full day's driving and the itinerary asks nothing else of it. If you are flying rather than taking the road all the way, Bhuntar airport is an hour below Manali and takes a small number of flights daily, which are weather-dependent in this valley and often cancelled — the road is the reliable option and this route is built on it.