Manali Travel Guide — History & Tourist Information

Manali's name is said to derive from "Manu-Alaya" — the abode of Manu, the sage of Hindu tradition believed to have stepped ashore here after a great flood and re-founded human civilisation. A small, weathered temple to Manu still stands above the old village, quietly predating the resort town that grew up around it.

For most of its history Manali was a modest trading halt in the Kullu Valley, its economy built on apple orchards, sheep-rearing and caravans moving along the route toward Ladakh and Central Asia over the Rohtang Pass. It stayed largely off the map for outsiders until British officers and planters began exploring Kullu in the 1850s-60s, drawn by the cool climate, and planted the valley's first commercial apple orchards.

After 1947, and especially once the traditional trade route north closed in the 1960s, Manali reinvented itself as a hill resort — first for domestic honeymooners and families, then, through the 1970s, as a stop on the overland "hippie trail" that made Old Manali and nearby Vashisht known worldwide. Today it holds both identities at once: a mainstream Himalayan getaway and a slow-paced mountain-café town, while still serving as the last major halt before the high passes toward Leh and Spiti.