Mandi, Rewalsar and Prashar lake
The town everyone drives past on the way to Manali, the lake three faiths share, and a thirteenth-century pagoda beside a small deep water at 2,730m. Three days, and a dawn start for the one that matters.
- Mandi
- Rewalsar
- Prashar Lake
- Panchvaktra
Good for — Temples, stone carving, and anyone who has done Manali and wants the district it sits in
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Mandi was a state capital for six hundred years before it was a district headquarters, and the great majority of people now see it through a car window on the way to Manali. This trip stops.
What is actually in the old town
Something like eighty-one temples, most of them stone shikhara work from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, packed into a bazaar that grew up around them. It is dense in a way photographs do not convey — you walk fifty metres and pass three shrines from the 1600s wedged between a hardware shop and a tailor.
That density is the reason this needs an afternoon on foot rather than a stop. A car gets you to Bhootnath and to Panchvaktra, and everything interesting is in between them.
Rewalsar, and why it takes a whole day
One small lake. On one side a Tibetan monastery, because Padmasambhava is said to have set out for Tibet from here; on another a Hindu temple; on a third a gurudwara, because Guru Gobind Singh stayed. All three in continuous use, all within a few hundred metres of each other.
There is no single sight to tick off, which is exactly why people give it forty minutes and come away thinking it was small. The thing to do is sit somewhere for an hour and watch three different sets of people use the same water. The reed beds really do drift around.
The dawn start for Prashar, explained
We are not doing this for a sunrise photograph. Two practical reasons:
The road. Fifty kilometres from Mandi, of which the last twenty are single track above a drop. Meeting a bus on it costs twenty minutes of reversing, and there are far fewer things to meet at six in the morning.
The meadow. Prashar’s bowl is the thing people remember, and in season by late morning there are cars parked on it. An early arrival is the difference between a grass amphitheatre with a lake in it and a car park with a view.
About the lake itself
It is small, it is deep, and nobody has established how deep — soundings have been attempted and have not settled it. There is a floating island of matted vegetation that genuinely moves about the surface from year to year.
The temple beside it is a three-tiered pagoda in wood and slate, dated to the thirteenth century, dedicated to the sage Prashar. The carving on the eaves and the door frame is the best surviving example of that style in the district and it is worth ten minutes at close range rather than a photograph from the path.
Where this fits
Best as the front two nights of a Kullu or Manali trip, because Mandi is on that road anyway and the alternative is driving past all of it. It also works as a standalone long weekend from Chandigarh, which is three hours away.
Day by day
How the 3 days run
- Day 14–4.5 hrs from Dharamshala, 3 hrs from Chandigarh
Into Mandi
We arrive with the afternoon left, because the old town is a walking job and not a stop. Bhootnath in the middle of the bazaar, then Panchvaktra where the Suketi meets the Beas — it sits low by the water and has been through several floods, which is part of why the stonework repays a close look. The bazaar itself in the evening.
- Day 21 hr each way
Rewalsar
Twenty-four kilometres up the hill to a small lake with a monastery on one side, a temple on another and a gurudwara on a third, all in use, all within a few hundred metres. Worth staying for the afternoon rather than photographing and leaving. Back down to Mandi for the night so the car is not doing the Prashar road in the dark.
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- Day 32–2.5 hrs up, then onward
Prashar at first light, then out
A dawn start, and it is not for the sunrise — it is because the last twenty kilometres are narrow enough that meeting traffic on them costs real time, and because by eleven in season there are cars parked on the meadow. The lake, the floating island and the pagoda take a couple of hours. Then down, and on to Manali, Kullu or back to Dharamshala.
The price
What is in it, and what is not
Included
- Private car and driver for all three days, fuel, tolls and parking
- Two nights' accommodation in Mandi, twin sharing
- Pickup from Dharamshala, Chandigarh or a Manali-side start
- Onward drop at Manali, Kullu or Dharamshala at the end of day three
Not included
- Donations and camera charges at the temples
- Food and drink
We do not publish a rate card. The number depends on the season, how many of you there are and the sort of hotels you want, so we price each trip on its own — and whatever we quote is what you pay.
Questions
What people ask about this one
Why sleep in Mandi rather than at Prashar?
There is very little at Prashar and what there is sits at 2,730m and gets genuinely cold once the sun is off it, even in May. Mandi is warm, has real hotels and puts you two hours from the lake, which is what the early start is for.
Is the Prashar road drivable in an ordinary car?
The last twenty kilometres are narrow, rough in patches and slow, and they are within a hill car's range in dry weather — we do them regularly. In rain or after snow they are not, and we will say so rather than try. The lake is usually reachable from about April to November.
Can we add this to a Manali trip?
It is the obvious use of it. Mandi is on the Manali highway and everybody drives through it, so this fits on the front of a Kullu or Manali week and adds two nights rather than three days. Say so when you enquire and we will build it that way round.
How much walking is involved?
Not much, and none of it hard. Mandi's temples are a flat wander round a bazaar, Rewalsar is a circuit of a small lake, and Prashar is a short walk on meadow from where the car stops. The altitude at Prashar is the only thing to be aware of.
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