Old Manali village & cafe strip

Old Manali takes its name from the sage Manu, held in Hindu tradition to be the progenitor of humankind who came ashore here after the great deluge; the village predates the newer town center built up around Mall Road from the mid-20th century onward. It sat along a branch of the old trans-Himalayan trade routes linking the Kullu valley with Ladakh and Central Asia. From the 1970s onward it became a stop on the countercultural 'hippie trail,' and its narrow lanes of wood-and-stone houses have since evolved into the backpacker-cafe strip known today for live music venues and Israeli, Tibetan and Himachali eateries.