Frequently asked

The Explore map shows the whole Himalaya as live layers — trails, treks, peaks, viewpoints and temples. You can fly through the terrain in 3D, drop into a first-person peak view to see what a summit really looks like, and tap any place to read about it, see photos, or add it straight to a trip you're planning.

Yes. Walking trails are drawn on the Explore map, so you can trace a route before you go. Curated multi-day treks — Hampta Pass, Pin Parvati, Bhrigu Lake and many more — are bookable on the Treks page with fixed departure dates and verified local guides.

Yes — that's what the trip planner is for. Open Trips and build a day-by-day Himalayan itinerary: add stays, treks, day adventures, cafés and map points to each day and keep the whole plan in one place. Free accounts save one trip; Pro accounts save up to ten.

Not quite — Skyscanner compares flight and hotel prices across many providers; HimLocal doesn't book flights. What HimLocal does instead is Himalaya-specific: a map-based day-by-day trip planner where you add real stays, treks, day adventures and cafés straight from the map, then book each one direct with the local host — no OTA commission. Think of it as the planning-and-booking layer for what to do once you're in (or heading to) the Himalaya, not a flight search engine.

Yes. As you explore the map, tap any place — a viewpoint, homestay, trek or café — and choose “Add to itinerary”. It drops onto the day you're planning. You build the trip straight from the map instead of typing everything in by hand.

Yes. Every stop you add appears on the map, so you can see how each day flows geographically. The planner is a live editor — reorder or move stops, remove ones you've changed your mind about, and add a note to any day. The map updates as you go.

Your itineraries are private to your account by default. If you'd like a travel companion to see the plan, you can share a read-only link — they can view the days and stops but can't edit them. Free accounts keep one trip; Pro accounts keep up to ten.

Because your money reaches the people doing the work. You book directly from the local host, guide or maker and payment settles to them — no OTA or aggregator skims an 18–25% cut on top. Stays, treks, tours, adventures, café orders and shop purchases all check out on HimLocal itself.

Homestays, cabins, wooden huts, earthen houses, cottages, villas, glamping tents, glass pods and boutique hotels — all booked direct from the host on the Stays page. Stays are commission-free, so the price you see goes to the family or property hosting you, not to a booking platform.

Yes. Day activities — river rafting, paragliding, zipline, bungee jumping, camping and mountain biking — are bookable at local adventure centres on the Adventures page, each run by a verified operator with its own equipment and safety standards.

Treks are on foot — multi-day guided hikes like Hampta Pass or Bhrigu Lake, with fixed departures. Tours are road-based — multi-day vehicle circuits run by local agencies, with transport included. Both are on HimLocal: choose treks to walk the mountains, tours to cover more ground comfortably.

Yes. Himalayan cafés on HimLocal take orders directly through the Cafés page — you order from the café itself, not a delivery aggregator, so more of what you pay reaches the kitchen rather than a middle layer.

The Shop sells Himalayan produce and handmade goods straight from the maker — Pahari pickles, desi ghee, wild honey, rajma and hill beans, apples and dry fruits, Himalayan tea, Kullu shawls and handloom, wool and crafts. It ships across India, and the money goes directly to the vendor.

We support UPI, debit and credit cards, net banking and wallets through Razorpay, and your card details never touch our servers. Payment settles directly to the vendor or host. For larger orders and bookings, a 30% deposit holds your spot and the balance is due closer to the date.

For curated treks and trips with fixed departures, you pay a deposit to confirm your place and the balance falls due about 7 days before you travel. Smaller orders and many stays are paid in full at checkout. You always see what's due now and what's due later before you pay.

Send us a photo within 7 days of delivery and we refund in full, including return shipping, with no questions asked. The vendor is reimbursed separately, so the maker never loses out for a courier's mistake.

Yes — by India Post EMS (about 12–21 days) or DHL (about 5–7 days), with duties payable at the destination. Message us with your address for a quote; a few products, such as honey to the EU, need specific paperwork that we handle for you.

Yes. HimLocal lets you compare stays across many booking sites in a single search — you see options and prices side by side on the map, then book direct with the host where you can, or open the best deal. Stay comparison works across India and into Nepal, so you can plan a whole trip and price it in one place instead of opening ten tabs.

Yes. Browse Himalayan cafés on the map and the Cafés page, near a town or near where you are, and open any café's own page to see its menu and order directly. Each café takes orders itself — not through a delivery aggregator — so more of what you pay reaches the kitchen.

Yes. The Explore map is a trail and trek finder: search a place — Manali, Kasol, Tirthan — and see the walking trails and multi-day treks around it, drawn on the terrain. Trace a route in 3D before you go, read about the difficulty and season, and add it straight to a trip you're planning.

Yes. Alongside the traveller marketplace, HimLocal builds vendor websites and provides the software to run them — a restaurant management system for cafés and restaurants, a property management system with a channel manager for hotels and homestays, and a retail online store for shops — with SEO, Google Merchant Center and Google Ads setup included, on one honest annual plan. We also list your business on the himlocal.com marketplace for discovery. See our partner site to get started.

HimLocal is deepest in Himachal Pradesh — Manali, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Dharamshala, Spiti, Kasol, Tosh, Bir, Tirthan and Jibhi — where most stays, treks, cafés and shops are. Map discovery of trails, peaks, viewpoints and temples reaches across the wider Indian Himalaya — Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Sikkim and beyond. Our website and software services are available pan-India, and stay comparison reaches across India and Nepal — all growing as we verify more local partners.

No — HimLocal doesn't use passwords. Sign-in is by email magic-link or one-time code (OTP): type your email and we send you a code. If it doesn't arrive, check spam and try again, or write to support and we'll help.

Apply through our partner programme. We verify every partner in person — a team member visits — before anything goes live, which usually takes about 2–3 weeks in Himachal and a little longer elsewhere. Stays, treks, adventure centres, cafés and shops are all welcome. If you also want a website or booking/billing software, that's included in our partner plans.