Old Manali is a small tourist area located 3 km up from Manali Town in the Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh.
Unlike many other villages in this region, Old Manali is very well developed for tourism and serves as a small oasis for many long-term travellers to distance themselves from the “real India” for a few days. It is above all the combination of a lot of nature with the surrounding mountains and orchards, the small charming traditional village centre of Old Manali and the tourist infrastructure. There are countless inns in all price categories, which are idyllically located in the apple orchards, very good restaurants, which offer not only Indian food but also Western food, such as Italian and Israeli, as well as small “German Bakeries”, which lure with fresh cakes and delicious sandwiches.
In addition, there are Nepalese clothing shops, jewellers from Rajasthan, as well as clever shopkeepers from Kashmir selling the beautiful silk bowl and natural many adventure and trekking agencies like us.
In the months from April to October, Old Manali is a bustling tourist destination.
If Old Manali is “too western” for you after some time, you can quickly take a small 3 km long walk through the forest and you get to New Manali and thus back into the Indian hustle and bustle with small dhabas, vegetable stalls and many Indians.
From Old Manali itself, numerous one-day hikes and mountain bike tours start. Our climbing areas are only a few kilometres away and the Beas River invites you to fish and raft. If you want longer trekking tours, expeditions or mountain bike trips, you only need a short transport to the starting points of the tours, such as the Pin Parvati Trek, the Bara Banghal Trek or the Expedition to the Friendship Peak.
Private jeeps and buses run daily to Leh in Ladakh or take a jeep safari to the Kinnaur, the Spiti and Lahaul valleys.
And at the end of these long tours outside of civilization, you are happy to arrive back in Old Manali to sleep in a clean bed, taste a delicious pizza and take a hot shower.
