MikeOnVacations

When the best time to visit Manali? For our family trip, we chose what is considered the warmest and relatively dry period — early summer. But in reality, we only got about a week of sunny days. The rest of the time, gloomy clouds hovered over the valley, pouring endless rain. At night, the temperature dropped to 0°C, and there was no heating in the houses. Here’s what we learned, so you can plan your trip with fewer surprises.. Read more

I’ve already written about our trip to Manali on the blog in A Month in the Himalayas for €500, where I shared a full breakdown of our travel budget, including food expenses. This post, however, is a more detailed guide to all the places where we ate during our month-long stay in the Himalayas. Read more

Manali isn’t the kind of place packed with theme parks or “kid attractions.” And honestly… that’s exactly why it works so well. Here, the best moments happen naturally. A simple walk turns into an adventure. A quiet café becomes a memory. And the mountains do most of the entertaining for you. Read more

We spent a full month in Manali, and instead of hopping between hotels, we chose to rent an apartment. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of our entire trip, but getting there wasn’t entirely straightforward. Manali, tucked away in the Kullu Valley in the Indian Himalayas, is one of those places that feels almost unreal when you first arrive. But if you’re traveling with a child, one thing becomes very clear very quickly: where you stay can completely shape your experience. Read more

There are no direct flights to Manali from Delhi, Goa, or anywhere else in India. Getting there is part of the adventure, and it does feel like one. Your options are fairly limited: you’ll either travel by road or combine a flight with a shorter drive. I’ll walk you through the three main ways how to get to Manali, that travelers use, including what worked for us as a family. Read more

Alright, time for some honest numbers. After spending a full month in the Indian Himalayas (based in Manali), I finally sat down to calculate what this trip actually cost us — me and my child. Total? Around €500 for two people for the entire month. Is that cheap or expensive? It depends on what you compare it to. But in this article, I’ll break down exactly where that money went so you can estimate your own travel budget, and maybe even spend less than we did 😉 Because yes, it is possible to live in the Himalayas with a child without burning through your savings. Read more

When I first started planning our trip to the mountains with kids, I’ll admit that I had a mini panic spiral. My head was full of worries, and honestly, some of them were completely valid. While others are not so much. Himalayas and kids? I think it’s not the most obvious combo, is it? It wasn’t fear of the unknown, it was the very real things I’d read, heard, or imagined. Read more