Kullu

Kullu is the valley Manali sits at the top of, and the town itself is an administrative centre with a bus stand rather than a resort. Most people are through it in an hour. Two things are worth stopping for. Bijli Mahadev, on the ridge above, is an hour's climb from the road: a tall wooden staff there is said to draw lightning, and the lingam beneath it is broken by the strike and reset with butter. And the weaving — Kullu shawls carry a GI tag, and the co-operative showrooms on the highway sell at fixed prices, which the roadside stalls do not. The one time Kullu itself is the destination is Dussehra in October. It starts on the day the rest of India's ends, runs about a week, and brings the village deities down into the maidan on palanquins. Rafting on the Beas runs from Pirdi, roughly March to June and again once the monsoon has passed.