MANALI
World's longest highway tunnel above 3,000m, connecting Manali side to Sissu/Lahaul without needing a Rohtang permit - genuinely useful alternative when Rohtang is shut or overbooked. Sissu side has far fewer crowds and better photo spots than the Manali-side viewpoint.
First proposed after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 2000 visit to Lahaul, construction on the tunnel beneath the Pir Panjal range began in 2010 and took a decade to complete due to the extreme high-altitude terrain and unstable rock. Renamed the Atal Tunnel in Vajpayee's honor in December 2019, it was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 3 October 2020. At 9.02 km, it is recognized as the longest single-tube highway tunnel above 10,000 feet in the world, cutting the Manali-Keylong journey by around 46 km and keeping Lahaul accessible through winter months when Rohtang Pass itself is snowbound.
