Solang and the Rohtang road

Solang is the day trip everybody staying in Manali makes, and the two things worth knowing before you go are what time to leave and whether you need a permit. Neither is complicated, and getting either wrong wastes most of a day.

Go early, genuinely early

The road up is twelve kilometres and takes half an hour when it is empty. In season it is not empty. By eleven in the morning the last few kilometres can be stationary, the parking is full, and the ropeway queue is an hour.

Leaving Manali at eight puts you there in a different place — activities running, nobody in front of you, and the meadow still quiet. Being back down for lunch is a perfectly good plan. The people who set out after breakfast are the ones who spend the afternoon in a traffic jam looking at other people’s cars.

The permit question, answered plainly

This causes more confusion than anything else in the valley, so:

Solang needs no permit. Drive up, park, do whatever you came to do.

The Atal Tunnel needs no permit. It is a public road tunnel to Lahaul, open all year, and you can drive through it to Sissu and Keylong freely.

Rohtang La — the pass itself, over the top — does need one. It is quota-limited, it is applied for online in advance, there are days when private vehicles are not admitted at all, and the number issued per day is capped. There is also a rest day each week when the road is closed for maintenance.

The distinction people miss is that since the tunnel opened, the pass is a destination rather than a route. If what you want is Lahaul, go through the tunnel and skip the permit entirely. If what you specifically want is to stand on Rohtang, that is a different and more administratively involved day out.

Rules and quotas change. We check the current position when we plan the day rather than telling you what was true last season.

What there actually is to do

In winter the answer is snow: sledging, snow scooters, and skiing of a modest sort when conditions allow. Equipment is hired at the roadside and the quality varies enormously — this is not a resort, and nobody should arrive expecting one.

In summer the meadow turns into an activity park. Zorbing, quad bikes, a mountain-biking setup, tandem paragliding, and the ropeway running all day. It is loud and commercial and children generally love it.

The honest note is that Solang is not a beauty spot with some activities in it; it is an activity site in a beautiful place. If what you want is quiet mountains, carry on up the road towards Dhundi, or go through the tunnel into Lahaul, where there is a great deal of space and very few people.

What to wear, which sounds obvious

It is four or five hundred metres above Manali and the weather is different. People drive up in what they were comfortable in at the hotel and are cold within ten minutes, which is why there is a hire stall for coats and boots at the bottom.

Hiring is fine. Bringing your own is better and costs nothing.