FremzaHimalayan trek guides
Fremza · Parvati Valley, Himachal

I miss the old Kasol.

Three visits, from October 2022 to April 2025, and a valley I hardly recognise. This is what I saw.

By Chhavi · An opinion piece

I first came to Kasol in October 2022, and I still remember how green it was. The hills were thick with trees, the river ran loud and clear, and the lanes were quiet. There were a few cafes and a few hotels, and nobody seemed to be in a hurry. I left thinking I would come back every year.

I have been back three times since, the last time in April 2025. Each time, Kasol felt a little less like the place I fell in love with. This time it did not feel like a little less. It felt like something had gone.

October 2022

Green and quiet

  • Thick greenery on the hills
  • No rush of crowds
  • A few hotels and cafes
  • The river you could hear from your bed
April 2025

Crowded and loud

  • Crowds and traffic on the road
  • New hotels and cafes on every corner
  • Plastic bottles in the river
  • Hills cut open for new roads
3visits since October 2022
Every timeplastic bottles in the river near Grahan village
May–Junethe months when the crowd is at its worst

Kasol is not what people say it is.

Ask most people what they know about Kasol and you will hear the same line: that it is only a place for weed. I am tired of it. I have been three times, and that is not what I saw.

I saw a river that roars through pine forests. I saw villages like Grahan and Tosh, where life moves slowly and people open their homes to travellers. I saw trekkers heading for Kheerganga at dawn, hot springs at Manikaran, and families who have lived in this valley for generations.

When a whole valley is reduced to one rumour, the rumour becomes the story. People who have never been believe it. People who do come arrive with the wrong idea of what the place is for, and they treat it that way: loud, careless, leaving their rubbish behind. A place spoken of with no respect is treated with none. Kasol deserves to be known for what it really is: a river, a forest, a mountain culture and a community. Not a punchline.

The river I used to love

The first thing I noticed on all three visits was the Parvati, especially near Grahan village. Plastic bottles caught along the banks and between the rocks. It was not a one-off. I saw it every time, and it looked worse each time.

The Parvati is the reason many of us come here. It is the sound we want to sleep to and the view we photograph. Seeing it full of our own rubbish is painful. And it is not only the river. People throw garbage on the roads and into the rivers as if the mountains will clear it away. They will not. Every bottle and wrapper stays somewhere.

Others have seen it tooA May 2025 report described bottles and wrappers piling up on the Grahan trail, with locals asking for a strict plastic ban in the valley.
Waste has no planA treatment plant for Kasol was proposed in February 2023 and approved only in November 2024, a delay of nearly two years.

Too many people, too fast

May and June are the worst. The crowds are huge and the roads fill with cars. Traffic you would expect in a city now crawls through a mountain village. The noise and the rush are the opposite of why most of us go to the hills.

The crowds bring other problems too. Women travelling here are harassed from passing cars. A place should not feel like that for the people who come to enjoy it.

New roads

I have watched hills being cut open to make room for roads. Each cut is a scar that will not heal, and the slopes become weaker.

Hotels and cafes

In 2022 there were far fewer. By April 2025 there seemed to be one on every corner. I know tourism feeds local families, and I am not against people earning a living. But building without limits is slowly destroying what brought everyone here.

Tunnels

NHAI has planned 68 tunnels across Himachal to make travel faster, with 11 done and 27 under construction. But faster routes mean more cars and more people. A tunnel entrance on another highway has been blocked by repeated landslides, which shows how fragile these hills are. I worry that faster roads will bring even more pressure to places like Kasol.

To the youth of this country

I am young too, and I am speaking to everyone my age who comes to Kasol: raise your voice.

We are the ones who fill these places, post about them and shape what they become. If we stay silent, Kasol will keep filling up with concrete and more construction until it becomes a second Manali. Ask for limits on building. Ask for waste to be managed. Support the people trying to protect this valley. It will be ours to lose.

Kasol, as I saw it

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Kasol weather, right now

Planning a visit? Check the live forecast first. If it is May or June, think about waiting for autumn, when the valley is calmer.

What we can do

We are part of the problem, so we can be part of the answer. A few habits make a real difference.

Carry your waste backDo not leave it on trails, roads or at the river.
Refill, do not rebuyBring a refillable bottle instead of buying new plastic.
Avoid May and JuneAutumn is calmer, and the valley gets a rest.
Choose responsible staysPick hotels, homestays and cafes that care about waste.
Respect the localsWalk gently, speak kindly and follow village rules.
Speak upShare this, support clean-up drives and report dumping.

Come with peace. Leave with sincerity.

I am not writing to put anyone off Kasol. I am writing because I love it. I want people to come, and I want the river to still be clean when they do.

Read the Fremza trek guides

Sources

Everything else in this piece is my own experience and opinion from three visits.