Skip to main content

Manali, Shimla, Manikaran & Solang Valley Family Trip | Things to See & Explore!

My fellow-blogger Deepa nominated me for this, Tripscam Trip Experts Awards 2017, in October. Thanks Deepa for nominating!

I nominate Radhika, Vandana and Dipika to take up this challenge. Checkout complete rules here

Here’s my trip plan for Trip Expert 2017 Awards.


Trip Expert Award Badge 2017


In summers of 2017, we have planned a weekend trip to Manali, Shimla, Manikaran and Solang Valley. It was a 7 member family trip. The plan was to drive at night and reach Manali in the Morning. Since I was coming directly from my office on Friday night.


Day 1: On day 1 we have started our journey from Delhi at 2230 hours after having our dinner. We have booked Chevrolet’s Enjoy car a week in advance and our stays are booked at my father’s friend defense guest house Sailor’s Home near Kullu - Manali road. We know that it would be long ride around 570 Kms which takes around 12 hours as per Google maps but after including breaks and halts we reached Manali next morning at around 11 AM.











Somewhere near Mandi, HP







Read also: 5 Basic Things You Need To Know About Everest Base Camp Trek


After Check in, we had taken our lunch and rest for few hours after the long exhaustive journey. Around 4 PM, we have started our trip from Solang Valley. Way to solang valley is very risky, roads are bit narrowed.  Solang Nala (Valley) derives its name from combination of words Solang (Nearby village) and Nullah (water stream). It is a side valley at the top of the Manali. It is 8,400 feet above sea level.

View from Solang Valley

Anjani Mahadev Temple in Solang



 Natural Shivling at Solang Valley, Manali


Solang valley, which is located at a distance of around 12 kms from Manali, Solang Valley lies between Solang village and river Beas. It offers a delightful view of glaciers and himalaya’s mountain range capped in snow. In winter, the valley becomes a skiing paradise for children of all ages slipping and sliding over the fresh white snow. When snow melts in the summer, skiing is replaced by parachuting, & paragliding. The best time to visit Solang Valley is between the months of December to January for snow lovers. At around 8 PM,  we are back in our hotel for dinner and then a good 8 hours of sleep after all the tiredness.




On the way to Solang Valley




On the way to Solang Valley
Day 2: Woke up at 6 AM, started second day with a visit to Manikaran Sahib. It is situated in the Parvati Valley along the banks of river in the Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh. This region is well-known for its natural hot-water springs and its beautiful landscape.





Manikaran Sahib Gurudwara
Hot Water Spring in Manikaran Sahib



 Lord Shiva Temple in Manikaran
 Lord Shiva Statue

According to Wikipedia.

There is a spiritual story behind this place, when Lord Shiva and his better half Parvati were walking in the valley, Parvati dropped one of her earrings. The jewel was seized by Shesha-Nag, the serpent deity, who then disappeared into the earth with it. Shesha-Nag only surrendered the jewel when Shiva performed the cosmic dance, the “Tandava” and shot the jewel up through the water. Apparently, it is said that jewels continued to be thrown up in the waters at Manikaran until the earthquake of 1905. The name Manikaran is derived from this legend. The water is still hot and is considered extremely auspicious. A pilgrimage to this place is thought of as complete. It is also believed that there is no need to pay a visit to “Kashi” after visiting this place. The water of the spring is also supposed to have curative powers. The water is so hot that rice for the “langar” is cooked by putting it into a linen-bag and dipping it into the boiling water.


My Dad and cousins near Manali-Shimla Highway


Shimla view from "The Ridge"
Selfie with The National Flag


After visiting Manikaran Sahib, we head back to Shimla. It was bit unplanned but our plan changed and we move towards Shimla (one of the best hill station in India). Manali to Shimla is around 240 Kms, which took us around 7-8 hours, considering the hilly area and roads. Around 9 PM, we reached to shimla and booked our stay in guest house. 




Selfie with Yak


Day 3. Started last day of our long weekend and final day of our journey from exploring Shimla. We started shimla journey from the very famous Mall road, and then had our breakfast. At the center of the town is “The Shimla Ridge”, which offers superb view of the mountain range. The Ridge is a spacious open space that runs from east to west along the Shimla mall road, which is yet another famous tourist destination. If you love the view of mountains, this would be your dream destination. 


Jakhoo Temple



Jakhoo Hill, which is situated around 2 km from Shimla, is the highest peak in the entire hill station offers scenic view of the city. The 8K ft Jakhoo Hill is a famous tourist attraction that is visited by nature lovers and pilgrims as well. It is home to the ancient Jakhoo Temple, which has a large statue of Hanuman.



Thanks for reading!

Is there anything that you would like to recommend? Do leave in the comments below.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 Digital Marketing Techniques to Increase Business Revenue

A business is alive until it can generate leads that bring in revenue, and digital marketing plays a critical role in generating leads. In today's technology-ruled world, a business cannot just create a website or a digital marketing strategy and then forget about it. It needs constant updates, improvements, and growth based on the developments of the industry. Many brands improve their website design, logo design, or brochure design periodically using an online logo maker tool in an attempt to instill new life into the marketing strategy. Specific techniques or hacks can help you move the scales and boost your revenue. Here are the top 10 digital marketing techniques that will help you increase business revenue: 1. Tap into Influencer Marketing Influencers help you gain the trust of your audience using someone who has followers. When a prospective user hears/reads an influencer's recommendation, it creates a much more significant impact and encourages the user to

How To Increase Traffic To Your Blog Post?

If you just click the “Publish” button on your blog post and move on to the post next article, your blog won’t grow as quickly as it should. Creating great content is an extremely important part of any successful content marketing strategy. But it’s just one part. Blogging is really hard work. You have to brainstorm for ideas, look for the perfect images, formatting your final draft and proofreading multiple times. But in the end ….. does blogging pay off? As per Demand Metric , content marketing costs 62% less and generates roughly three times as many leads as traditional marketing. According to Jayson DeMers, “The real value of content marketing is in the distribution” You can’t just publish your blog post and pray for your target audience to visit your blog. You need to attract people who will like your content. Here is what I’ve found personally, after spending around four months on a blog which was started from scratch. Below are different promotional t

Courier Pickup From Home Made Extra Easy & Fast by Dunzo App

The delicacy of life is food. Be it our busy days or stressful day, we always admire a warm meal which gives us a feeling of being at home, among our loved ones. We love those tasty 'Dabbas' filled with honesty, hard work, and love. Apart from that, however, when talking about lunch desi-style packages, how can we not speak about the " Dunzo App ". About Dunzo App It is an app which helps you deliver stuffs like food, grocery, etc. It is a boon to many kitchen entrepreneurs, as it also offers courier pickup from home service. Its services are available in Bangalore, Noida, Delhi , Gurgaon, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad . Though the app is trying to reach to other cities as well and providing them with their courier pickup from home services, the service is available 24*7. They also offer friendly customer support to sort all your issues. Moreover, the courier picks up from home service by Dunzo app almost helps you pick up everything from a lost phone charger