Spiti Valley Tour Package: 8 Days with Chandratal

What we work through with you

1. Your dates and priorities

   Tell us when you want to visit Spiti Valley, Himachal, who is travelling and what you would change in the outline below.

2. The route and pace

   We discuss the 8D / 7N starting itinerary, your preferred stays and how much you want to fit in. Any changes depend on availability and are agreed in your written plan.

3. Your written quote

   Review the final arrangements, total price, inclusions and payment and cancellation terms before booking. An enquiry does not reserve this trip.

The route we start from

These are the stages published for this trip. A stage can cover part of a day or several days; it is not a separate travel day.

1. Stage 01

   Shimla Start

   Meet in Shimla, which at about 2,200 metres is the first step of a climb that ends above 4,500. The evening is the Ridge and Mall Road, which are colonial leftovers and pleasant enough, but the real purpose of tonight is sleeping high before going higher tomorrow.

2. Stage 02

   Into Kinnaur

   Into Kinnaur on the old Hindustan-Tibet road, which is cut into cliff faces above the Sutlej and is not a road for nervous passengers. Kalpa at the end of it, a village of slate roofs and apple orchards looking straight across at the Kinner Kailash range.

3. Stage 03

   Nako & Tabo

   Deeper in, past Nako, a village built around a small lake at 3,660 metres in country that has stopped being green. Then Tabo, whose monastery was founded in 996 and holds murals and clay statues of that age inside mud-brick walls, which is why it is called the Ajanta of the Himalaya.

4. Stage 04

   Kaza

   On to Kaza, the administrative centre of Spiti at 3,800 metres, which is a small grid of buildings in an enormous brown valley. The altitude is real now and the correct response is an easy afternoon, a lot of water, and no ambition beyond finding dinner.

5. Stage 05

   High Villages

   The high villages above Kaza. Langza has a large Buddha statue looking over the valley and fossils in the surrounding ground, since this was seabed before the Himalaya existed. Komic claims to be among the highest villages with a motorable road, and Hikkim has a post office at 4,400 metres that still works.

6. Stage 06

   Key & Kibber

   Key monastery in the morning, which is the photograph of Spiti: a thousand-year-old complex stacked up a conical hill above the river. Kibber afterwards, at 4,270 metres, which is snow leopard country in winter and a good walk in summer.

7. Stage 07

   Chandratal

   Over Kunzum La at 4,590 metres and down to Chandratal, the moon lake, which sits at 4,300 metres in a bowl of scree and changes colour through the day. Camp nearby, since camping on the shore itself is no longer permitted, and the night sky is the reason people come.

8. Stage 08

   The Return

   Down the Chandra valley to Manali, which is a long and rough drive, and then the overnight bus home. Seven nights, a high point of 4,590 metres, and a valley that looks more like Tibet than India because it very nearly is.

What this trip lists

Use these inclusions and exclusions when reviewing your quote. The displayed price starts from ₹24,999 per person; your written quote confirms the total for your dates and arrangements.

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