Manali in December — where the snow actually is, and how to plan for it
The December question
Everyone who books Manali in December is booking snow, and the single most useful thing to know is that the snow is not, most weeks, in the town. Manali sits at 2,050 m. On the IMD normals, December days average around 13 °C and nights sit at freezing — cold enough for snow to fall, warm enough for it to melt off the streets within a day or two. Some Decembers the town is white for a week at a time; most Decembers it is white for a morning and brown by the afternoon, and the reliable snow is a half hour to an hour up the road.
Photos: Pbhuker007 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Catherine Lunaa (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Itsarti (CC BY-SA 4.0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
Plan for that and December is one of the best months here. Plan for a white town and you spend the trip asking the taxi driver where the snow is.
Where the snow actually is
Sissu, through the tunnel. The Atal Tunnel is open all winter and needs no permit. Sissu, the first village of Lahaul at 3,120 m, is 39 km and about an hour from the bus stand and holds its snow from December into spring. The meadow, the road, the flat roofs, the frozen edges of the waterfall across the valley: this is the snow day, and the Sissu day trip is the plan for it. Leave later in the morning after a fresh fall, once the road above Solang has been cleared.
Gulaba, on the pass road. The pass is shut, and the road is cleared as far as the meadow at Gulaba, about 19 km and 35 min from town, where the forest ends. Open snow on a slope, sledges and snowsuits at the roadside, and the first big view back down the valley. In a thin winter the snow is at the top of the meadow; walk up.
Solang and the Solang road. The meadow at Solang, 12 km and about 24 min up the valley, is white when the weather has been generous and brown when it has not. When it holds, the beginner ski slopes open and the skiing guide applies. The gorge at Kothi and the trees above it hold snow longer than the meadow.
The town, some weeks. When it does snow in Manali, the deodar grove at Hadimba and the trees of Van Vihar are the places to see it, and the sanctuary path is quiet and white. Do not wait for it; go up the road.
What is open and what closes
Open: the temples, the hot baths at Vashisht — the December hour that everyone remembers — the tunnel, Naggar Castle down the valley, the Mall, the museum, and enough of Old Manali to eat and sleep well. The walk to Anjani Mahadev above Solang is the December walk: in the coldest weeks the stream freezes on the rock into the ice column that gives the shrine its winter fame, and the path is done at midday with shoes that grip.
Closed: Rohtang Pass, from mid-November to around May, without exception. The camping treks. Many cafés and guesthouses in Old Manali, which shut from December to February and reopen in March. Enough stay open to make a winter visit easy, but check that your guesthouse is one of them and that it has a heater or a stove. The Jogini path holds ice in the shade and is a careful midday walk, not a morning one.
The roads in December
The highway up the valley from Mandi and Kullu is dry and fast until the first snow reaches it, which is rare before deep winter. The plains have fog in the early hours, which is the reason to take the overnight bus or leave Delhi after nine at night rather than before five. The road above Solang to the tunnel is cleared after every fall, and the police may check chains at the barrier when there is snow; a taxi from the union stand will know the morning's state. Bhuntar airport, 49 km away, loses more flights to cloud in winter than in autumn; keep a road plan.
The two Decembers
The month splits at about the twentieth. The first half is quiet: rooms at off-season rates, an empty meadow, the tunnel road to yourself. The Christmas and New Year week is the winter's peak — the Delhi and Chandigarh crowd, rooms at their highest, the Solang road a queue after ten, and Christmas itself a party on the Mall. If your dates can move, move them earlier; if they cannot, book the room weeks ahead, leave for the day trips by eight, and keep the temples and the springs for the afternoons.
What to pack
Real cold kit, not the plains' idea of it: a down or heavy synthetic jacket, thermal base layers, warm trousers, waterproof boots, gloves, a hat that covers the ears, and sunglasses — snow glare at Sissu is fierce. Snowsuits, boots and gloves for a day in the snow are hired at the roadside above Kothi and at Solang by the day; the warm layers underneath are not, and a jacket that fits is worth bringing. The packing article has the season-by-season list; a power bank and cash for the stalls above Solang complete it.
The plan
Three nights: the town and the springs on the first day, the tunnel to Sissu on the second, Solang or Gulaba and the shrine walk on the third. Naggar is the low-altitude alternative if the road above Solang is shut for a morning. The snow itinerary is exactly that, with the days in the right order; the best time article puts December against the other eleven months.
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Does it snow in Manali in December?
In the town, sometimes — usually from the last third of the month, and it comes and goes. Manali sits at 2,050 m; December days average around 13 °C and nights sit at freezing, cold enough for snow to fall and warm enough to melt it in a day. The reliable snow is higher: Sissu, Gulaba, the Solang road.
Is Rohtang Pass open in December?
No. The pass closes by mid-November and stays shut until around May; a December "Rohtang trip" sold in the town is a drive to wherever the road is cleared to, usually Gulaba. The Atal Tunnel is open all winter and puts Sissu, at 3,120 m with snow for most of the season, an hour away with no permit.
Is Manali crowded at Christmas and New Year?
The last ten days of December are the winter's peak: the Christmas and New Year week brings the Delhi and Chandigarh crowd, rooms cost more, and the Solang road is a queue after ten. The first half of the month is quiet and cheaper with the same cold and often the same snow. Move the dates earlier.
What should I pack for Manali in December?
Real cold kit: a down or heavy synthetic jacket, thermal base layers, warm trousers, waterproof boots, gloves, a hat that covers the ears, sunglasses for the snow glare. Snowsuits and boots for a day in the snow are hired at the roadside above Kothi; the layers underneath are not. Ask for a room with a heater or a stove.