Shopping in Manali is mainly restricted to Tibetan and Kashmiri arts and handicrafts. Manali provides a great souvenir shopping opportunity with its wide variety of local stores selling shawls (Kullu and Kashmiri) and other jewelry and embroidered stuff.
The village Vasisht boasts of a Gem store (owner named Shafi) that deals in semi-
precious stones, unset stones, silver ornaments,carpets, rugs and shawls. This corner shop just below the main square in the village will suffice all your jewelry shopping needs in this region.
With wide variety of shawls and stoles, both Kullu pattern (cheaper in price but with distinct pattern) and Kashmiri style (hand – embroidered are a delight) the
place is packed with stores. Remember ‘BARGAINING’ is the name of the game. No matter what anyone says the only person to beat the price is going to be you. So put on yours ‘Shopping hat’ and enjoy the leisure. Even though we would like to suggest you of shops to buy shawls from, all we would recommend is to look around the Mall and the road off Hadimba Road to search for your prized possessions.
You can also read our general shopping tips section to find out more on shopping in India.
There is not much of nightlife in Manali. As a matter of fact you may consider it to be non-existent. However, there are a couple of places you can go to grab a glass of drink. For Techno enthusiasts there is an occasional rave in the village Vasisht.
Two places to grab a drink are Khyber (on the Mall) and Johnson's cafe (old Manali Rd). Johnson's Cafe plays music and also serves alcohol and dinner.
Even though there is a discotheque in the Manali social club, there is not much of an activity there. You will be better off asking someone on current happenings (if any), once you reach Manali.
