I recently visited manali with my family and I can endorse the saying that it is heaven on earth. It has both the scenic beauty and peace for soul. The snow clad mountains present a very beautiful view and is very eye soothing. One completely de-stress oneself in such a place. We went to manali as my kids wanted to enjoy adventure sports. We started our journey from delhi by road. It is quite a long and tiring journey by road (13-14 hrs). It is approx. 580 Kms from delhi but what is most tiring is 290 kms of mountain(hilly areas roundabouts) journey which is very tiring for kids and anybody who is not accustomed to such journeys. The only mantra to cross these mountains without much trouble is to start early in the morning with light stomach and drive at a normal speed without taking steep turns. The way from kullu to manali is very beautiful as the road moves along river beas most of the time. We enjoyed river rafting on our way to manali. It was quite adventurous. They cover approx. 6 kms of stretch in half an hour for Rs. 450-500/- per person. It some times feel very risky, it is an added advantage if you know how to swim but the waves are so strong and the water is chilling that it can scare anybody. My kids really enjoyed their trip to ROHTANG PASS as they wanted to feel the snow. Drive to rohtang pass was very scary as the road which leads to rohtang is in really bad condition, the water melting from the snow continuously comes to the road and there are major eruptions on the road which makes it completely bumpy ride but they have already made up their minds to play in snow so nothing else really does matter to them!!! Midway to rohtang is MARHI which has a very scenic view of mountains and water falling by way of melting of snow. There are few dhabas also to enjoy good food. Just above MARHI there is paragliding activity. We enjoyed paragliding, it was our first attempt and it was really breath taking and we cherised every moment of it. Our first attempt to fly like a bird in such a beautiful valley. The instructors were very good and cool. The only drawback was that it was very expensive (Rs. 700/- per person). Then we went to rohtang, crossing all the snow barricades which have stopped our way here and there. The view was breath taking and it felt as if we have reached the clouds. There are so many activities for kids and parents also but they are so expensive. The snow scooter ride cost about Rs. 500/- for a two minutes ride but it is worth trying. There is also sledge ride, skiing , tyre tube ride. We spent around 2 hrs playing in the snow and was dead tired on our way back home. I would recommend that one should carry some medicines for nausea (may be a first aid box) as there is no medical facility available (not even a chemist shop) and so many people were complaining of nausea/headache due to extreme cold temperatures. If we take all the precautions and plan everything in advance then the joy of visiting such a place can be doubled. My kids are very happy and they keep on telling me that they will not forget this trip.!!!!!!!!!