How to reach Manali by bus, car, flight or train

This is one part of our Manali guide.

TL;DR summary

• From Delhi: 12 to 14 h. Overnight Volvo, about 530 km. You roll in around 7 to 8 am.
• From Chandigarh: 7 to 10 h. About 310 km by road. Traffic decides whether it's closer to 7 or 10.
• Bus fare from Delhi: ₹900 to ₹1,800. AC Volvo seat or sleeper. Ordinary buses cost less.
• Flight baggage: 10 kg. Checked limit on Alliance Air's Kullu flights. Cabin bag is 5 kg plus a laptop.
• Airport to Manali: 50 km. 1.5 to 2 hours by taxi, about ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 a car.
• Railway in Manali: None. Chandigarh is the nearest practical railhead, then a long drive.

Ways to reach Manali by bus, car and flight: time and cost

Manali is a long way up, and how you get there decides how your first day goes. From Mandi the highway follows the Beas river through Kullu to Manali, so the last stretch of every journey has the river beside you.

Most people take the overnight Volvo from Delhi and step off between 7 and 8 am. Others break the trip at Chandigarh, fly into Kullu or drive the whole way. All of them work, but they suit different people.

Whichever way you come, don’t book a call for the morning you arrive.

Delhi to Manali bus: the overnight Volvo, fares and departures

This is the easy answer, as long as you accept that you’ll arrive tired. State buses from HRTC and HPTDC leave from ISBT Kashmiri Gate. Private Volvo and Scania coaches mostly board at Majnu ka Tilla. Departures run from about 5 pm to 10:30 pm. The ride takes 12 to 14 hours, with a dinner halt on the way and a tea stop around 5:30 am, and you reach Manali between 7 and 8 am.

AC fares run from about ₹900 to ₹1,800, depending on seat or sleeper. Ordinary buses cost about ₹700 to ₹900. HRTC sells tickets online at hrtchp.com, and redBus and AbhiBus list its seats too. Book early if your date is fixed, because weekend seats go first.

Driving from Delhi to Manali: about 530 km, 10 to 13 hours

It’s about 530 km, and 10 to 13 hours in good conditions. If you’d rather have a taxi for the whole trip, ask for a quote before you book.

Chandigarh to Manali: the daytime bus and the new tunnels

The Beas in the Kullu valley. The highway follows it from Mandi.

Chandigarh is the shorter way in: about 310 km, and roughly 7 to 10 hours depending on traffic. HRTC runs Volvo services from the Chandigarh bus stand in Sector 43, so check hrtchp.com for the timetable and fare on the day you travel.

The road is quicker in one place now. On 11 September 2026 two tunnels, Deod and Hanogi, opened between Pandoh and Takoli. Mandi to Kullu now takes nearly one hour instead of two, though a 3.5 km stretch of difficult road is still affected.

Delhi to Manali by train: the nearest railway station

No train reaches Manali. The nearest practical railhead is Chandigarh, and from there it’s a bus or taxi for another 7 to 10 hours. Trains run from New Delhi to Chandigarh. Check timings on IRCTC, then see which Chandigarh buses you can still catch when your train arrives.

The narrow gauge line to Joginder Nagar in the Kangra valley is slow, so we wouldn’t use it to get to Manali.

Kullu Manali airport (Bhuntar): flights, fares and the 10 kg limit

The terminal at Bhuntar, 50 km south of Manali. Photo: Pinakpani, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Flying saves the most time and costs the most, and if you’re bringing a work setup the baggage limit is the catch. Bhuntar airport is about 50 km from Manali, and a private taxi takes 1.5 to 2 hours. In May 2026 Alliance Air resumed Kullu to Delhi flights, five days a week until June, on ATR 42 aircraft. Fares were around ₹17,000 on Tuesdays and Sundays and ₹24,400 on other days. Fares move daily, so check the current timetable before you plan around a flight.

Alliance Air allows 10 kg of checked baggage on the Delhi to Kullu route, against 15 kg on its other domestic flights. The cabin allowance is one bag of up to 5 kg plus a laptop. Excess is charged at the airport at ₹550 a kg, and prepaid extra baggage isn’t sold on Kullu flights because of aircraft load limits. A monitor and a month of clothes won’t fit. Check the airline’s current baggage policy before you book.

Mountain weather affects flights here more than at a big-city airport, and cancellations happen, so leave a day of slack. A taxi from the airport costs about ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 a car, depending on the vehicle. There’s no airport shuttle, and a bus means a stop on the highway or at the local bus stand.

Best way to reach Manali if you work: arrive a day before calls

None of the night buses lets you work the next morning. You get off at 7 or 8 am after 12 to 14 hours on a coach, and few people want a 10 am client call after that. If you have calls booked, arrive the day before them.

A train or flight to Chandigarh and a daytime bus of 7 to 10 hours, arriving in the evening, is a calmer plan than the night bus. Check the timetable on hrtchp.com. The Kullu flight gets you to Manali the same day in daylight, but with 10 kg checked and the weather risk it suits people travelling light. Whatever you pick, we’d book the night in Manali and leave the next day empty. Download your maps, tickets and call links before you leave.

Manali road closures: monsoon landslides and winter snow

The monsoon is when the road gets difficult, and the Mandi to Kullu stretch is where it closes. A landslide shut the Kiratpur to Manali highway for four days in late August 2025, and it was blocked again at Khotinala the morning after it reopened, with only light vehicles allowed through by evening. On 12 August 2026 the Mandi administration suspended traffic on the Mandi to Kullu section of NH 21 because of landslide and falling stone risk.

The diversion is a narrow road from Mandi through Kataula to Bajaura. Of that, 23 km was still single lane in 2020, and it is not suited to Volvo buses. From July to September we wouldn’t travel on a fixed deadline. If the road shuts while you’re on the way, wait where there’s a bed instead of joining the queue.

Snow is a different problem. In January 2026, after the first snow in three months, Manali and Kullu had an 8 km traffic jam, with hotels nearly full and officials telling people to avoid unnecessary trips.

Manali bus stand to Old Manali, Vashisht or Aleo: taxi and fares

Take a taxi, and agree the price before you get in. Old Manali is uphill from the main bus stand, about 3 km, and Vashisht is about 4 km. An AC sedan can be quoted from ₹130 to Old Manali and ₹150 to Vashisht. Treat that as a floor, not a promise, especially with luggage at dawn.

For Aleo and Prini, ask your host to arrange a pickup. Check the drop point on your bus ticket as well. If you fly in, ask the driver to take you to the door and confirm the total fare before you get in the car.

Manali to Solang Valley, Sissu, Naggar and Kasol: distances and fares

The Lahaul valley, beyond the Atal Tunnel.

Each place people stay around Manali sits on its own road out of town, so the last leg starts at the bus stand or the Mall. Taxis are priced per car and quotes differ by operator, so ask two and agree the fare before you get in. The fares below are for a plain one-way ride, not a sightseeing package.

• Old Manali: 3.4 km from the Mall, 15 to 17 minutes by car. An auto is ₹100 to ₹150, and a taxi from the bus stand starts around ₹130. Cars stop at the bridge and the edge of the village, the inner lanes are on foot, and summer weekends jam the road from the Mall.
• Vashisht: 3.6 km from the Mall, 13 to 15 minutes by car, on the far bank of the Beas. An auto is ₹100 to ₹150 and a taxi ₹150 to ₹300. The road is paved to the village entrance and the lanes beyond it are narrow.
• Solang: 13 to 14 km, 30 to 40 minutes. A taxi is ₹360 to ₹500 for a plain drop and ₹1,999 and up for a sightseeing trip with waiting. Summer jams are common, the road can ice from December to February, and in heavy snow police have stopped traffic beyond Solang.
• Sethan: 12 to 15 km via Prini, 40 to 60 minutes, and 1 to 2 hours after snow. A taxi is ₹1,200 to ₹2,000 one way. The entry charge is quoted anywhere from ₹100 a person to ₹500 a vehicle, so carry ₹500 and ask at the Prini check post. After fresh snow the road stays shut until cleared.
• Sissu, through the Atal Tunnel: about 40 km (anywhere from 38 to 45), 1 to 1.5 hours. A taxi for the tunnel and Sissu is ₹2,999 to ₹5,999 a car, and a shared taxi about ₹800. Heavy snow can close the road, and there is no stopping, parking or photography inside the tunnel.
• Naggar, from Manali: 21 to 22 km down the left bank, 45 minutes to an hour. A taxi is ₹450 to ₹1,200 one way, and HRTC and HPTDC buses run through the day, roughly every hour to hour and a half. Ask at the stand for the last bus back.

Not through Manali. Kasol, Tosh, Kalga and Pulga are reached from Bhuntar, which every Delhi bus to Manali passes about 50 km before the town, so get off there and ask the operator when you book. Kasol is 30 km on, usually 1 to 1.5 hours, by local bus at ₹50 to ₹80 or a shared cab at ₹100 to ₹250. Barshaini, where the Tosh, Kalga and Pulga walks start, is about 50 km from Bhuntar and takes 2 to 2.5 hours. Riding on to Manali first means coming back down the same 50 km. Naggar works the same way: from Delhi or Chandigarh, get off at Patlikuhal, about 15 km before Manali, and take a taxi or local bus across the Beas for the last 5 km.

Reaching Manali from Mumbai, Bangalore or Kolkata: fly, then bus

Fly to Chandigarh or Delhi, then take the bus. From Mumbai and Bangalore, a flight to Chandigarh and a bus from Sector 43 the next morning is the sensible combination, and the airlines will show current direct flights. From Kolkata, fly to Delhi and take the evening Volvo, or rest a night in Delhi first.

Booking Manali buses as a foreigner: phone numbers and cards

Many Indian bus sites ask for an Indian mobile number at booking. You can often add an email for ticket delivery or use your host’s number, and most platforms accept international cards. Ticket counters at the bus terminals and travel agents are the fallback. Check whether foreign cards or numbers work on hrtchp.com before you rely on it for an HRTC seat.

Frequently asked questions about getting to Manali