On May 24, Nitesh Thakur left Shimla in his car around noon, hoping to reach his village 200 km away in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh by evening. But he soon found himself caught in a heavy stream of tourist vehicles on their way to Manali. “The vehicles were overtaking each other on the narrow single road, leading to the traffic jam,” he said.Instead of the usual four hours, it took Thakur six hours to reach home. For those travelling on the Shimla-Manali highway, this summer has brought many such punishing experiences.Throughout May, nearly 8 lakh tourist vehicles entered Shimla from different points. Of these vehicles, 70,000 arrived in Shimla over just three days, the weekend of May 22-24.Routes to many famous tourist spots across Himachal Pradesh branch out from Shimla. The result was long, serpentine queues of cars on the highway, parking lots spilling over and Shimla’s narrow roads choked with vehicles.Much of the tourist flow to the hill state had to do with the heat waves that swept north India as early as mid-April. The surge of visitors is good news for the state’s tourism industry, but the pressure of cars and tourists is straining the resources of Himachal Pradesh’s hill stations.Thakur told Scroll that losing hours in traffic jams during the tourist season has become a common experience for residents across the state. “Many of the private tourist vehicles never follow lane discipline and stop randomly on the road to click pictures,” said Thakur. “At times, these tourists are intoxicated and aggressive when confronted.”From unruly behaviour of tourists on the roads to littering and solid waste, Himachal Pradesh is struggling to balance the economic gains of tourism with sensitivity for the local ecology and culture. This comes at a time when climate change has already started battering the Himalayan region.“By paying an entry tax, a tourist thinks he has purchased Himachal and can do anything he wants to,” said Thakur.#WATCH | Manali, Himachal Pradesh: Traffic congestion and slow vehicular movement witnessed in Manali as people thronged to hilly areas to get respite from the scorching heat pic.twitter.com/U0E9K1lFHm— ANI (@ANI) June 6, 2026