” The Impulse to travel is one of the hopeful symptoms of Life “ – Agnes Repplier
Thinking of vacations, the very first words that come to fore are Hill stations & beaches. And it goes without saying that in the scorching heat of north India with mercury touching as high as 47 deg., Hills are default choice as a breather.
However, problem with Hill stations is that by the time we are 30 , most of us already have had enough trips of such terrains – some with family, other with friends. So a thought that almost always crosses the mind while planning a hill vacation now is that all hill stations are just the same, yes always beautiful beyond doubt but eventually the same everywhere – rivers ,peaks, greenery, nature ,wildlife etc. Even though you never feel bad once you reach there, but at the planning stage, the idea of visiting a domestic Hill station no more excites many including myself.
Hence, having seen the likes of some of the popular hill stations of North India – Shimla,Kufri,Mussorie,Mcleodganj,parwanoo etc, repetitively , I was little reluctant to visit another one however after series of discussions with Nishtha ,my lovely wife, we zeroed in to this one and left for another chilled break.
The Journey
After exploring , we got to know that a direct flight to our desired hill station will commence only after few months & only option to reach there is via Bus .Accordingly, we reached the City Beautiful – Chandigarh, at around 8:00 p.m. and left for our destination in the routine Volvo bus run by Himachal Pradesh Government. To my surprise, it was extremely neat & clean seats were comfortable with proper leg room & cooling was fine too. My Indian friends would easily understand why I am mentioning these basic things which are anyways supposed to be this way only.
Anyways, after a long overnight & tiresome journey of almost 10 hours, we reached our destination early morning but not before Yuvi ,my 5 year old son, had asked the same question at least 20-30 times – kb pahunchenge ?? (When will we reach?)
The Hill Station itself
By now, most of you must have guessed the subject place hence visited but for the balance few friends, let the mystery continue for few more seconds.
As we got off from the bus, the whole fatigue and uneasiness due to lack of proper sleep last night just got vanished. There was something in that cool morning breeze that all 3 of us felt so energetic within minutes of us reaching there. Yuvi in particular got super excited as he jumped like a kangaroo for good 1-2 minutes.
The moment you reach there, you realize that this one is truly a hill station in all sense and not just for the heck of it. The freezing temperature ,the pines , the steep slopes, the terrace farming , the attire of locals & the kids around – the whole of the ambiance was like a beautiful painting coming to life.
Ladies & Gentleman, unfolding the suspense , Manali in Himachal Pradesh is the protagonist here. Never ever had I thought that I will be writing this for Manali since it’s not an exotic or a dream destination at all & it was not even that far from the places I have resided at since childhood, but now that I have been there, I can very easily say that it’s one of the best Hill stations ,at least those of North India – fun, adventure, nature, serenity , scenic locations & good food-all available in abundance.
Photographs below will probably better reinforce my claim & sum up what we did during our stay there :
Getting the feel of the Manali on Day 1 at the famous Hidimba Temple :
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Enjoying River Crossing near Club House :
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Getting the feel of snow at beautiful Solang Valley :
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Adrenalin Rush with Alternative Terrain Biking :
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Getting ready for the Para Gliding at a height of 8000 ft :
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Some Causual Moments :
The obvious needs no evidence & hence I need not write any further how much we enjoyed there. A special mention of the resort we stayed at – The Anantmaya Resort .I chose this particular resort based on its great ranking & reviews online and we had a lovely time there with great food & even better hospitality .Actually it was one of those vacations where everything ranging from weather to various add on just seemed to fall in place all by themselves.
As a small travelling tip , just make sure your timing of visiting Manali is right. Avoid peak holiday seasons as it gets really crowded then. Have a look at weather forecast too and believe me , Manali won’t disappoint you .
Would love to hear your thoughts on my story in the comments below !
Find my other travel photographs at:
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Namaste & Good bye till my next post !!
Inside Out With Rahul Yuvi 
Thank you so very much Mr.Craig for the appreciation..Glad that you found my vacation experience worth reading..and yes, we truly had a great time there..thanks again ! 🙂
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thank you so much for the kind words 🙂
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Like the nice and free flowing style of narration 🙂
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very nice shot, looks very happy
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You resided at Manali ??
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I am so nostalgic after seeing these pics. The pines, deodaars, mountain river, snow, the wood carvings in the houses…. Aah i so want to re-live my childhood.
Thanks for the refreshing post .
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Thank you ! Glad that you liked the post..and Yes,Manali is kind of must at least for once !!
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Lovely photos! Seems you guys had great fun. 🙂 I am yet to visit Manali and wish to go there soon.
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Superb… 👍👍👍
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very true, have been been to few such places too..recently being Naddi,a beautiful village about 5 km from Mcleodganj !
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Looks like you’ve had lots of fun. I agree, Manali is one of the best places to be with family. Hope you try other offbeat destinations which obviously won’t provide you with all the luxuries which commercialised places like manali do but you’d be much closer to the nature 🙂
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thank you 😊
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Beautifully written and amazing pictures. Well done.
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MANALI has always been a dream destination…for mytravelnama
You post is SUPERB..Keep up doing the fabulous work…
Hope that you must have visited Castle Naagar, Roerick Villa, Jaana Falls too…and the famous Manu Temple in Old Manali..
Wish you Happy Travelling & Blogging…
Team Mytravelnama
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thank you so much! Manali indeed is a wonderful place ,do plan for it someday!! 😊..besides, you can checkout some of my other travel posts for other such places ..thanks again !
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Beautiful pictures! I had no idea this place existed, it looks lovely 🙂
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👍👍
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my pleasure 🙂
be amazing 🙂 🙂
stay connected ❤ ❤
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Thank you so much for the wonderful words !
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Relived Manali ❤
beautiful place beautiful family 🙂 ❤
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Welcome, Manasi is very beautiful hill stations.
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thank you so much ! Glad that you liked it !! 🙂
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Beautiful pics and very nice post
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Most welcome 😊
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😊such words keeps travel bloggers like myself going..thank you !!
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Omg that’s so lovely .. enjoyed the trip myself!! As if was traveling with you guys!! Awesome!! Images are the itself the witness how well you guys enjoy!! The adventures you enjoyed are my all time favourite!!
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Oh, Thanks. I intend to go next year only.
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Thank you so much sir ! unfortunately, Rohtang was closed when we visited Manali..it opens somewhere near 1st week of june so please plan accordingly !
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Very nice, Rahul. Beautiful photographs too. I have not yet been to Manali which I intend to visit in foreseeable future. Also plan to go to Rohtang pass.
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Thank you so much for the kind words !
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Manali is a beautiful place. Lovely pictures and Yuvi is very cute 🙂
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😊…glad that you liked it but I am not a celebrity , whos gonna read my autobiography?? 😳😳
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Best superb
Soon you may an autobiography.
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