Kullu - Road To The Unexplored

This being my first Solo trip ever made me a little nervous since Parvati Valley in Kullu is quite famous among Hippies for its magical 'Prasad'.

However, not being very familiar about the same and super excited about the beauty of Parvati Valley I decided to runaway!

My short itinerary for a 3D2N trip :

You can get overnight buses from Delhi to Kasol, which you can book from RedBus (even local HRTC buses can be booked) . But I chose to go via Bhuntar.

Delhi to Bhuntar AC Semi-Sleeper cost me around ₹900. From Bhuntar there are frequent buses to Kasol , I boarded the first one which leaves at 8am. They charge around ₹120 and take 2 hours to reach Kasol.

There are many options to stay in Kasol. I would suggest not to pre-book your stay unless you are going in peak season since booking online might cost you a bit more than the offline booking. For Groups - single room can cost from ₹200-500/night, whereas for Family - a decent room can cost from ₹1000-2000/night.

Kasol

Kasol being a small cute hamlet located on the Parvati Valley in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh , is accompanied by gushing sound of Parvati river which makes it one of a kind trip.

After finding a decent stay for myself in Kasol and enjoying beautiful sights of Parvati river, I decided to visit Manikaran Gurudwara.

Manikaran

Manikaran Gurudwara is around 3-4kms from Kasol. There are to-and-fro local buses between Kasol and Manikaran which will cost around ₹30-40 maximum one way.

Manikaran Gurudwara is famous for its Hot Water Springs. The water of these springs is so much hot that pulses(dal), rice , vegetables can be cooked in it. Langar food in this Gurudwara is cooked using this hot water and it's tasty too!!

Photo of Manikaran, Himachal Pradesh, India by Somya Rakshit

One important thing, there is only one ATM in Kasol, if you are lucky enough you might get it working. But there is a cyber cafe, in which you can swipe your card for cash paying some extra bucks.

Tosh

I wanted to visit Tosh on Day 1 itself, but buses from Kasol to Barshaini are not very frequent and run limited. So you have to plan accordingly, if you want to visit Manikaran and Tosh together and relying on local buses then I suggest to leave between 8-9am.

Kasol to Barshaini is about 13kms which takes around 40mins. Buses can be boarded both from Manikaran and Kasol. From Barshaini , one can take shared taxi to Tosh or trek. I preferred to trek to experience every bit of it(And, You can take lift like me! As I was tired on the last stretch of my trek). Also you can carry some eatables from Barshaini as there are no cafe or restaurants between Barshaini and Tosh. Believe me, those small cafes in Barshaini are worth spending some time.

Photo of Tosh, Himachal Pradesh, India by Somya Rakshit

Trek to Tosh is doable and not very steep. Also if you have your own vehicle, you can easily reach there without much hustle.

Tosh has become quite famous among hippies, however Beauty of Tosh is best experienced in the month of Jan till early March. After this period of time, snow starts melting and one wanting to experience snow might return disappointed.

Pink Floyd Cafe is famous in Tosh for its view and also food. People going to Kheerganga can hault here for a night or two. They cost ₹800/night for a room (excluding the food).

For a 'chilling' night in Tosh, you can expect your experience to be quite 'warm' with bornfire on cafe terrace with some Bob Marley music and smokes.

Overall, my experience in Tosh was good. But won't recommend it (for more than one night stay), to someone who is on a solo trip. As it is more of a Hippie place and is best visited with group of friends.

After spending a night in Tosh, I trekked back to Barshaini. Tosh has been really beautiful throughout. And hence every step away from Tosh was making my heart heavy.

From Barshaini, I boarded a bus to Kasol. Since I had to return on the same day to Delhi so didn't had much time in Kasol. I spent few hours which included shopping, spending some time in cafe and finally travelling back to Bhuntar.

So that was it, I returned to Delhi via Bhuntar. This trip(Delhi-Kasol-Delhi) costed me around 4-5k, worth every penny!

You can also check my blog somyarakshit.com for more.