The Parvati Valley backpacker hub — Israeli cafe culture in the Himalayas, Kheer Ganga hot springs, and the world's most dramatic valley walk
Kasol is a tiny hamlet in the Parvati Valley of Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh — at 1,640m on the bank of the Parvati River, 30km north of Bhuntar (the Kullu airport), surrounded by deodar cedar and pine forest with the snowcapped Parvati and Pin Parbati peaks visible up the valley. Kasol is one of the most unexpected food destinations in India: the Israeli backpacker community that discovered the valley in the 1990s (post-IDF service travel, the same demographic that built the Israel-trail in Southeast Asia and Nepal's budget trekking circuit) established an ecosystem of Israeli cafes serv…
The Parvati Valley has been a sacred route for Hindu pilgrims travelling to the Manikaran Gurudwara and hot springs (5km upstream from Kasol) — the hot springs at Manikaran (one of the hottest natural hot springs in the world at 95°C) are sacred to both Hindus and Sikhs (the Guru Granth Sahib makes reference to Manikaran). The valley's isolation and the combination of the sacred pilgrimage route and the abundant cannabis (charas, hand-rolled hashish from locally grown plants, a traditional Parvati Valley crop) created the unusual atmosphere of intense spirituality and recreational drug cultur…