Himachal Tourist Guide

No visit to Manali can be considered complete without a trip to Rohtang la. This is situated at a height of 3970 m, at a distance of 51 km from manali. Rohtang Pass in the district of Kullu commands the striking views of glaciers, mountains and the landscape. Rohtang Pass offers a variety of Winter sports - skiing, sledging, snow skiing, paragliding, zorbing and trekking etc. Each year on 20^th Bhado (September) the villagers from the Manali area walk up to the Dashir Lake situated near the Rohtang Pass for bathing and festivities set in nature’s wonderland. It has become a summer tourist spot, all thanks to the rising popularity of Manali.

This wonderland does not end at Rohtang. It is infact, the gateway to the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys that offer some awe inspiring mountain - scapes and numerous Buddhist Monasteries. If you have time, take a trip to Keylong the district headquarters or at least to Sisu, 35 Km from Rohtang. Sisu is a tourist centre with a lake and a spectacular waterfall surrounded by towering peaks. Beyond this, one can travel on the Manali-Leh road, the second highest mountain road in the world which takes you enough Surajtal to Sarchu tourist camps and on to Leh, Ladakh. The Road remains open from early June to mid December. For those with leisure, a trip to Spiti via the Kunzum Pass would provide some breathtaking views on its moon-like landscape, including that of Barashigri, the Longest glacier in Asia. The Sonapati Glacier and the Twin Peaks of Gyephang are visible from here. A short distance from here is the lake of Dashair (Sarkund).

Almost every visitor to Manali yearns to visit Rohtang Pass as one can feel and touch snow even in the peak of summer on this pass. The pass is open from May to November, has a nasty reputation for being very dangerous because of unpredictable snowstorms and high winds. Rohtang literally means the "pile of corpses" in Persian.

The Pass presents a wide-spread panorama of mountain scenery. Here eye meets a range of precipitous cliffs, huge glaciers and piled moraine and deep ravines. To the opposite is the well defined 'Sonepani Glacier' slightly to the left are the twin peaks of the Geyphang, snow crowned. The Beas River rises near the crest of Rohtang from a block of Mica-Schist. To its left, 200 meters higher, is the little lake of 'Sarkund' (Dashahr) visited by a large number of people every year. The baths in the water of Sarkund lake effects cure of all bodily ailments or imaginary. 

The Beas Kund, the source of the Beas river, a holy site for Hindus, as the sage Vyas is said to have meditated at this spot, is also accessible from the Rohtang Pass.

How To Reach :
Rohtang pass has better connectivity by roads (Only way to reach Rohtang Pass is by road) from Manali - Kullu Valley (51 km), but it all depends on the nature. The route can get blocked anytime because of unexpected snowfalls, which is quite apparent here in this part of Himachal. Otherwise, Rohtang pass is considered as the world's highest jeepable road. Manali has its own airport as well as railway stations that regularly connects this city with the rest of the nations.