The best time to visit Manali, month by month
Four different Manalis
Manali is not one destination but four, sorted by season, and the most common disappointment is arriving for the wrong one. Snow in December means Sissu, not the town. Rohtang in April is shut. June is the fullest month of the year and the most expensive. Here is the year as it actually runs, with the India Meteorological Department's normals for the town.
Photos: Bleezebub (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Madhumita Das (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Timothy Gonsalves (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Vyacheslav Argenberg (CC BY 4.0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
March and April — spring, quiet
Days warm to around 17 °C in March and 21 °C in April; nights are cold but above freezing. The orchards below the town blossom, the high meadows are still under snow, Rohtang is shut and the tunnel is open, so Sissu is still white. The town is quiet, the guesthouses are cheap, and the walks to Jogini are dry. It is the best-kept month.
May and June — peak
Days reach 25 °C in May and about 26 °C in June, the warmest of the year. Rohtang opens in May and the valley fills: the busiest, most expensive weeks, when the Solang road is a queue by ten and permits sell out. Everything runs — flying at Solang, the pass, rafting on the Beas below Kullu, the treks from late May. Book stays ahead, leave early every morning, and know that the crowd is the price of having everything open.
July to September — monsoon
Rain of 201.5 mm in July and 217 mm in August, the two wettest months by a distance; September dries out fast. Days stay warm at around 25 °C but the slides close the Rohtang and tunnel roads for hours at a time and the high meadows sit in cloud. The valley is at its greenest and emptiest, the rivers at their loudest, the guesthouses at their cheapest. Come to sit, read, eat and walk in the forest, not to drive. Late September is already autumn.
October and November — the clear months
Days around 22 °C in October and 17 °C in November, nights dropping towards freezing by late November, and the clearest skies of the year. The pass is open until mid-November, the poplars and orchards turn, the treks run into mid-October, and the crowd is a fraction of June's. If there is one month for a first visit, it is October.
December to February — winter
Days around 10 °C to 13 °C, nights at or below freezing. Snow in the town comes and goes from late December; the reliable snow is on the Solang road, at Gulaba, and at Sissu through the tunnel, where it lies all winter. Rohtang is shut. Many cafés in Old Manali close; enough stays open. The snow itinerary is built for exactly this: the tunnel to Sissu, Solang for the slopes when they hold, the temples in the quiet.
The short version
October for the first visit. May and June if you want everything open and can bear the crowd. January for snow, planned around Sissu. March and April if you want it to yourselves. The Manali guide has the rest; our stays page shows what is open in each season.
Plans that include this
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1 night · 2 days · Slow travelWaterfallsQuestions people ask
Which month is best for Manali?
October for clear skies, warm days and the pass still open; late May and June for the peak-season version with everything running; January for snow. March and April are quiet and green with blossom below and snow above. Each is a different trip, and the answer depends on what you came for.
When does it snow in Manali?
In the town, from late December to February, and not every week: Manali sits at 2,050 m and the snow on the streets comes and goes. Reliable snow is higher — the Solang road, Gulaba, and Sissu through the tunnel, where it lies most of the winter. Plan a snow trip around those, not the town.
Is Manali worth visiting in the monsoon?
For the green and the quiet, yes; for the drives, no. July and August bring 201.5 mm and 217 mm of rain, slides that close the Rohtang and tunnel roads for hours, and cloud on the high meadows. The valley floor is at its greenest and the guesthouses at their cheapest. Come to sit rather than to go.
When is Rohtang Pass open?
Roughly May to November, once the winter's snow is cleared and until the first heavy falls close it, with the dates announced by the district administration each year. Outside that window the Atal Tunnel is the only way over the ridge and the snow trip is Sissu, an hour away, not the pass.