THE BETTER MANALI - OLD MANALI

On my last vacation before this shit storm hit again, I went to the most clichéd hill station there is to go, Manali.

Imagining the typical crowded Mall Road and Hadimba Temple and those on steroids rabbits that people for some reason click a zillion pictures with (no offence), it has been very low on the list of places I wanted to visit.

I'm sure a lot of you have paced around the Mall road and eaten at the popular places that Manali has to offer. We stayed for a couple of days in the heart of Manali and it was too much to handle for the wallflower in me. So we decided to move up in the mountains, I found this cute little hostel in Old Manali which is barely a couple of miles from the Mall road. It took us 200 bucks and 15 mins of a car ride to get to the better part of our vacation.



The hostel we stayed in offered private rooms at pretty decent prices, The Culture Nation Hostel. It is run by a family from Delhi who were great hosts.

The food at this hostel was probably better than all of those expensive places we were eating at since we landed in Manali. 



Old Manali has a hippie distant charm to it's panaromic view of the gushing Beas river and massive hills. It's one of the prettiest valleys I've seen in all of my travels.  As we were on sort of a workation we cafe hopped almost every day looking for a new breathtaking view to be able to indulge in our laptop screens for a few hours (which was very difficult tbh).

Out of all the cafes and restaurants I've been to, The Lazy Dog had my heart. It is a beautifully nested bistro on the edge of a cliff with the most amazing views Old Manali has to offer. The food and alcohol is a bit on the expensive side, but totally worth it! We spent hours every day lazying around and pretending to work.By the evening the place is lit with live musicians. 

I realised after 3 days of repeatedly visiting that my favourite spot in Goa is actually managed by the same people, The Lazy Dog, Goa.

Well they did it right twice.

Places to visit if you find yourself stuck in Mall Road, New Manali

Dana's Coffee House- their Cheesecake is the Bomb! 

Chopsticks-Great Oriental Menu

Mayur Restaurant- Do not miss out on their Seekh Kebabs, I repeat Do not.

Johnson's- It's got a great vibe and contemporary food options.

If you plan to come to Old Manali please don't miss these places:

The Culture Nation Hostel - For Amazing food and affordable stay. 

Lazy Dog- You know about this one by now.

Sunshine Cafe- A bit over priced but serves great chicken momos and sandwiches.

Drifters Inn- One of the most popular places in the hood.

Cafe 1947- Newly opened but worth the 30 mins of drive as it's 8 kms ahead of Old Manali.

Hope we all can travel sooner ! Stay safe and Stay Home !

If you have any questions about the place or anything you can leave me a comment: