Old Manali's café culture is older than most people realise. It started in the late nineties when Israelis and Italians came in waves and never quite left — they opened the first cafés, taught a generation of local cooks how to make proper pasta and shakshuka, and the village became a small culinary anomaly in the hills. This is the honest list of the ones still worth your time.
If you've been on TripAdvisor's "best cafés Manali" list, you've seen the same ten places ranked by which one paid for promotion that month. This list is from someone who actually eats in Old Manali every week. It's shorter, less optimistic, and tells you which places have gone downhill — because some have.
The cafés that have aged well
Drifters' Inn — the original
The most recommended café in Old Manali for a reason. Run by the same family for over twenty years. Thalis are the standout — a simple, perfectly-cooked meal of dal, rice, sabzi, roti, salad, papad, and pickle. ₹250–350 per thali. They also do a great cheese omelette and proper South Indian filter coffee.
What makes it good: consistency. The chef hasn't changed in years. The food is the same as it was a decade ago. The wooden balcony seating looks across the valley.
Best for: first dinner in Manali, late breakfast, anyone wanting a Indian meal that isn't oily Punjabi tourist food.
The Lazy Dog Lounge — the casual Italian
One of the originals for wood-fired pizza in Old Manali. Real oven, leopard-spotted crusts, fresh basil. The lounge upstairs has one of the best valley views in the village. Pizzas ₹450–650.
Best for: a slow dinner with a view. Date night.
Come a Napoli Pizzeria — the best pizza in Manali
Easy call: Come a Napoli serves the best pizza you'll eat in Manali. Possibly in Himachal. Thin Neapolitan-style crust with the right blister, dough that's clearly proofed properly, simple toppings done with restraint. The kind of place where you finish a slice and immediately reach for another without thinking about it.
Smaller and quieter than Lazy Dog — different vibe, different league of pizza. If you're picking one pizza dinner on your trip, this is it.
Best for: the one pizza meal you'll remember. A quiet dinner away from the main strip.
Renaissance Café — quiet morning corner
Smaller, less crowded, sits up a side lane. The shakshuka and the Turkish coffee are real. The bookshelf has actual books worth reading, not Lonely Planet leftovers. Owners are warm without being touristy-warm.
It's where locals go when they don't want to deal with the main strip.
Best for: a slow solo breakfast or a quiet afternoon with a book.
Sunshine Café — for the cake
Skip the mains. Go for the cakes — the chocolate ganache and the lemon tart are exceptional, made fresh daily. Pair with the masala chai or a French press coffee. The seating is on a small terrace overlooking the lane.
Tip: Sundays they bake cinnamon rolls. Be there by 11am or they're gone.
Best for: mid-afternoon cake and coffee break.
Gabbu's Café — best breakfast in Old Manali
Three things to order: the coffee, the breakfast bowl, and the hot chocolate. The coffee is properly pulled — not the watery instant most cafés in town call "filter." The breakfast bowl is the kind of meal you didn't know you wanted until you're halfway through it: fruit, granola, yoghurt, honey, all generous portions. And the hot chocolate is the thick, real kind — not powdered sachet water.
Calm, low-key, no playlist trying too hard. The place locals point to when travellers ask where they actually eat.
Best for: the morning of your trip you want to start slowly. Cold-weather afternoons when the hot chocolate becomes the entire point.
Sabali — for the cheesecake (and the hike before it)
Sabali is famous in Old Manali for one thing in particular: their cheesecake. Dense, properly made, the kind that costs ₹450 and is worth it. People build whole afternoons around stopping here for a slice.
The other reason to go: it's the starting point for one of the better short hikes around Old Manali — a quiet forest walk that loops back to the village. Do the hike first, work up an appetite, then sit at Sabali for cheesecake and coffee. That's the perfect Old Manali afternoon.
Best for: dessert after a walk. A late-afternoon sit-down when you've already eaten lunch elsewhere.
The cafés people recommend that we wouldn't
Three places that show up on every "best of" list and don't deserve to:
The Johnson's Café: Used to be excellent. Has become a tourist trap with inflated prices and average food. Trout used to be the standout — now it's frozen and reheated.
Café Amigos: Average food, slow service, and they've stopped caring. Probably fine if you've never been to a café before.
People's Café: Decent enough but always overcrowded on weekends. The same Israeli menu done better elsewhere.
Beyond Old Manali — two short drives worth it
Old Manali's café strip is wonderful but small. Two spots a short drive away are good enough that we'd build a half-day around either of them.
The GlampView Resort & Café — riverside garden in Shanag
About 4 km from Old Manali toward Solang, past the cedar forest stretch, into Shanag village. GlampView sits right next to a river, with a garden café layout that's the opposite of Old Manali's busy lanes.
The menu is unusually wide for the area — proper Indian food alongside Israeli (real shakshuka, hummus, falafel) and a few Asian dishes done well. The garden seating is the real reason to go: river on one side, trees on the other, no honking horns. About 15 minutes from Old Manali and feels like a different valley.
Best for: a slow lunch when you want to be in Manali but not in Old Manali. Especially in monsoon, when the river is at its loudest and the garden is greenest.
Kyaroo House — proper Tibetan, near Vashisht
Cross the river toward Vashisht and you're in a different Manali — older, slower, more Tibetan in feel. Kyaroo House is the spot we send anyone craving real Tibetan food. Thukpa that tastes like someone's grandmother made it. Hand-folded momos with broth that's been simmering all day. Tingmo (steamed bread) so soft it's almost embarrassing how much you'll eat.
Small, unfussy, run by the family that cooks. No interior design statement — and that's part of the appeal. About 10–15 minutes from Old Manali by car.
Best for: a cold-weather lunch that warms you for the rest of the day. Travellers who've eaten too much café-Indian and want something honest.
What to know before you go
- Cash is king, except for the larger cafés. Drifter's, Lazy Dog, and Come a Napoli take UPI. Smaller spots are cash-only, often.
- Most cafés close by 11pm. If you want a late dinner, go before 9:30pm. Manali sleeps early.
- Wait times are real on weekends. May, June, and Diwali week, expect 30+ minute waits at the popular cafés. Tuesday-Thursday is dramatically quieter.
- Cafés close for winter. Most stay open year-round, but some smaller ones close Dec 15 – Feb 15. Check before walking up.
- Tipping isn't customary but appreciated. 10% if you're particularly happy with the service.
A simple three-day café route
If you want to taste the range without doubling up:
Day 1 — Old Manali, slow:
- Morning: Gabbu's for breakfast (the bowl + the hot chocolate)
- Afternoon: Sabali — short hike first, then cheesecake
- Evening: Drifter's Inn for thali
Day 2 — Old Manali, focused:
- Morning: Renaissance Café for breakfast (shakshuka + Turkish coffee)
- Afternoon: Sunshine Café for cake and chai
- Evening: Come a Napoli for the pizza dinner you'll remember
Day 3 — beyond Old Manali:
- Lunch: GlampView Café in Shanag for a slow river-side meal
- Evening: Kyaroo House near Vashisht for Tibetan
That covers the range — Italian, Indian, Israeli, Tibetan, garden, riverside, terrace, dessert, hike-and-coffee — without repeating yourself.
The honest summary
Old Manali's café scene is real but selective. Roughly seven places in the village are genuinely worth going to, plus two more a short drive away. The rest are coasting on the village's reputation. Pick from the list above and you'll eat well across a week; wander randomly and you'll have a hit-or-miss trip.
One last thing: cafés here are slow. The waits are part of the experience. If you order, expect 25-40 minutes for food. Sit, read, talk, watch the lane. The pace IS the point.
