MANALI
Roughly 9 km under the Rohtang massif, linking the Manali side to Sissu and Lahaul without a Rohtang permit - a useful alternative when Rohtang is shut or overbooked. Vehicles entering Lahaul-Spiti must register on the Himachal e-Aagman portal, so do it before leaving Manali. Access can be restricted for snow, avalanche risk, black ice, congestion or local observances. 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.
