Himachal Pradesh travel guide

Travel to Himachal Pradesh between Mar – Jun, Sep – Nov. Those are the months the weather, the crowds and the airfare line up — outside them you trade one of the three.

Currency

Indian Rupee (INR)

Language

Hindi and Pahari, with Tibetan widely spoken in McLeod Ganj and Bhoti in Spiti. Hindi works everywhere without exception; English is fine in Shimla, Manali and Dharamshala and thin in the villages.

Time zone

IST (UTC+5:30)

Plug type

Type C / D / M

Flight time from India

2.5 hrs

Flying from

Ahmedabad · Mumbai · Delhi · Chandigarh · Amritsar

• 

  The Tirthan valley

  An hour off the Kullu highway, at the gate of the Great Himalayan National Park, and it is roughly what Manali was thirty years ago. Trout in the river, homestays instead of hotels, and a genuine trek into a UNESCO World Heritage site starting at Gushaini.

• 

  Spiti, over the Kunzum

  Kaza, Key monastery, Kibber and Chandratal lake — a cold desert at 3,800–4,300 m. The Manali side opens roughly mid-June to early October; the Shimla–Kinnaur side stays open far longer, takes two more days, and is the gentler way to gain the altitude. Almost every case of mountain sickness in Spiti comes from doing it the fast way.

• 

  McLeod Ganj and the Dhauladhar

  The Dalai Lama's residence, Namgyal monastery and the Bhagsu waterfall sit within a walk of each other. Above them is Triund — 9 km up a ridge, doable in a day, and genuinely steep for the last two. Dharamshala's cricket stadium below is the prettiest in the world and worth the detour even if you do not follow the game.

• The Kalka–Shimla toy train

  A UNESCO narrow-gauge line: 96 km, 102 tunnels, around five hours of it. Do it one way and drive the other, because five hours is enough. Book the Himalayan Queen or the Shivalik Deluxe weeks ahead — the day-of tickets do not exist in season.

• Paragliding at Bir Billing

  One of the highest paragliding take-offs in the world, and a tandem flight is 15–30 minutes at ₹2,500–4,000. Fly only with a pilot licensed and registered with the Himachal tourism department, and only in the stable October–November window. Bir has had fatal accidents with unlicensed tandems.

• Manali, and lunch on the other side of the tunnel

  Old Manali, the Hidimba temple in its deodar grove and the hot springs at Vashisht are the town itself. Then drive the 9.02 km Atal Tunnel to Sissu, have lunch in Lahaul with a completely different landscape outside the window, and be back the same evening.

• DhamVegetarian

  The Kangra and Chamba festive meal, cooked by hereditary botis and served on a leaf plate — rajma madra, khatta, mash dal, sepu vadi and a sweet rice. It is entirely vegetarian by tradition, and it is the single best thing a vegetarian family will eat in Himachal.

• MadraJain friendly

  Chickpeas or kidney beans slow-cooked in yoghurt with ghee and whole spice, no tomato and often no onion. Ask for it without garlic and it works for most Jain travellers — one of the few hill dishes that does.

• SidduVegetarian

  A steamed wheat bun leavened overnight and stuffed with walnut, poppy seed or urad dal, eaten with ghee. The Kullu and Manali version is vegetarian; some Kinnauri households make a meat filling, so ask which one you are being given.

• Babru and bheyJain friendly

  Babru is the Himachali kachori — black gram stuffed, deep fried, eaten with tamarind chutney. Bhey is sliced lotus stem fried with gram flour; note for Jain travellers that lotus stem is a root and usually avoided.

• Trout, and the apple everythingVegetarian

  Trout from the Tirthan and Beas is the local non-vegetarian dish, farmed and grilled simply. Vegetarians should instead work through the apple economy: cider from Kotgarh, apple jam, dried apple rings and the pahadi rajma that Himachal grows better than anyone.

Set a meal preference — vegetarian, Jain or halal — when you book and we brief every hotel and restaurant on your itinerary.

• Kullu shawls and Kinnauri caps — buy at the Bhuttico co-operative showroom, not from a roadside stall
• Pahadi rajma and rajmash from Kinnaur, and Himachali red rice
• Apple cider, apple jam and dried apple from the Kotgarh and Thanedar orchards
• Chamba rumal — the double-satin-stitch embroidered handkerchief, a GI craft in real decline
• Tibetan handicrafts, singing bowls and thangkas at McLeod Ganj, with the money going to the settlement co-operatives
• Sea-buckthorn juice and Spiti green peas, if you get that far

Chandigarh (IXC) and Delhi are the practical road heads — Chandigarh to Shimla is 3.5 hours, to Manali 8. Bhuntar (KUU) and Gaggal (DHM) take small ATRs into the valleys and cancel readily in cloud, so never book a same-day connection out of them. HRTC Volvo buses run overnight from Delhi to Manali in 12–14 hours and are better than they sound. Within the state, hire a car with a driver who actually drives these hills — a plains driver on the Kinnaur road is a genuine hazard.

• Landslides from early July to mid-September are the state's defining risk, on NH-3 through Kullu–Manali, NH-5 through Kinnaur and the Chamba roads. Check the Himachal police road-status bulletin the morning you set off, not the night before.
• Rohtang Pass needs an online permit from the Kullu district administration, is capped at a fixed number of vehicles a day and is closed on Tuesdays for maintenance. The Atal Tunnel to Lahaul needs no permit at all — most people do not need Rohtang.
• Spiti sits at 3,800–4,300 m. Coming up Shimla–Kinnaur–Kaza gains that height over three days; coming over the Kunzum from Manali gains it in one, and that is where nearly all the altitude sickness happens.
• Drowning in the Beas and the Parvati kills more tourists in Himachal than any other cause. The water is glacier-fed, far faster than it looks, and dam releases raise the level without warning. Do not wade in for a photograph.
• Adventure operators are lightly regulated. For paragliding, rafting or skiing, ask to see the operator's Himachal tourism registration and the individual pilot or guide's licence before you pay.

Per person, per day, on the ground — meals, local transport and entry tickets. Flights and hotels sit in the package price, not here.