Visited in June 2019
JULLEYYYY 😊
Well after lot of searching and surfing we decided on Spiti Valley (Kaza) this time by negotiating on previous choices of Kerala & North Sikkim. I must say this was a right choice as the place is amazing..
To begin our journey started with a hiccup. We started from Delhi in Volvo towards Shimla as Manali-Kaza route was closed. Delhi to Shimla is an overnight journey but our journey extended by 3-4 hours as our Volvo broke down mid-way. And we reached Shimla by taking lift in cab, although we paid for it but it was literally a scene of standing on road asking for lift from vehicles passing by.
Day 1: After all these entertainments we reached Shimla around 12 noon where we boarded our tempo traveler for Kalpa, our stopping point for the day. We reached Kalpa in the evening and before that also stopped at a hotel in between for freshening-up and for brunch.
Kalpa is small mountain town in Kinnaur. Since we reached the place late in the evening (also we were exhausted by the journey), we couldn’t even explore our campsite much. We had our dinner, spent some time by the bonfire and went to sleep.
Day 2: The morning here was beautiful as we woke-up to this view in the morning 😊 snow-capped mountain with greenery all around. The place is beautifully maintained with amazing views.
As per local people there is a Shivlinga & Parvati in the mountains.
After exploring the place briefly, we got ready, had our breakfast amidst nature and gathered for our next destination. Before boarding our tempo travelers, we were briefed about an initiative of cleanliness as Kaza is a remote place so cleanliness is still maintained at the place.
We boarded our traveler with a nice message and started towards our destination Kaza (Spiti Valley). The journey was amazing due to beautiful landscape of raw mountain. We stopped mid-way on Khab Sangam (confluence of Spiti & Sutlej river), had some quick photos and traveled ahead.
Our next stop was for lunch before reaching Tabo Monastery in the evening.
The monastery was founded in 996 CE and is one of the oldest monastery of India. The same could also be understood through its architecture. The place also has a shop with general stuffs like caps, bracelets and etc.
Kaza welcomed us late evening with drizzling, so without wasting anytime we transferred to our tents. After freshening-up we had dinner, played some game and then retired to our tents for next day’s excursion.
Day 3: This was the day to touch some of the heights 😊
Our first day in Kaza started with a morning walk in drizzling weather followed by breakfast. The first place we explored is known as Chicham bridge, Asia’s highest bridge.
The bridge is at an altitude of 13,596 Ft (4145 meters) above sea level and connects Chicham village with Kibber.
Then we went to Key Monastery, which is built-up on a hill (at an altitude of 4,166 meters & 13,668 ft above sea level), hence it requires some hike but the view from top was worth the hike.
This is an old but biggest monastery of Spiti Valley. We had organic tea at the monastery which tasted really good. Soon it started raining so we went back to our traveler after exploring the place.
Again, we visited a unique place which is world’s highest post office, where we posted picture postcard for our loved ones. Post office is located at 14,567 feet above the sea level in tiny village of Hikkim.
To visit the post office, we went down and then climbed-up till the parking. There is a cafe as well, but it was closed when we visited.
Next was world’s highest restaurant located in Komic village, highest village in world connected with motorable road (altitude: 4587 mtr).
We had our lunch which included spiti sandwich, potato sandwich, maggie, hot chocolate & tea at this restaurant. Out of all these Spiti sandwich is a must try. The place also has a monastery.
Our last destination for today was Langza, also known as fossil village (due to huge quantities of fossils) situated at an altitude of 14,500 feet above sea level. It has a huge statue of Buddha which is believed to be around 1000 yrs old.
We clicked some quick photos at the place and started back for Kaza.
This was also the day for exploring Kaza market, hence after returning back we freshen-up and went to the market on foot. It is a small market with basic shops, we did some shopping and had momos which was pretty expensive (100 bucks for full plate veg momo) and tasted average.
Post dinner we got confirmation for our next spot (Chandratal lake) as it rained the whole day and the roads were closed.
After some chit-chats we went to our tents as we had to leave early the next day to avoid traffic.
Day 4: Last day of our Kaza excursion started at 7:30 am after having tea. We stopped at Losar village after around 1-1:30 hours of journey from Kaza for breakfast. Losar is also last inhabited village on the Indian side of India China border.
After going through rugged mountains for an hour or two we finally saw some white landscape at Kunzum pass.
The snow was fresh and soft which made the place even more serene and beautiful. After visiting Kunzum mata temple and some photo-session, we started again for Chandratal which was around 14 km from paas.
In around 60 more minutes we reached trek point of Chandratal and after around 1 km of trek we were at the lake. A magical lake with multiple colors.
This is a sacred lake for the people so nobody is allowed to swim or smoke near lake.
The whole ambiance is breath-taking. After spending some time at the lake, we proceeded towards the camp site where we ordered our late lunch of chawal & daal (rice & pulse).
We again hopped-on our traveler and started towards our return journey. On the way we stopped at Kunzum paas to play with snowwww and to admire beauty of the place.
We reached our tents late evening and since we had a hectic day hence, I slept as soon as I went in my bed, I even skipped my dinner for that night.
Day 5: We started our return journey from this day and went to Kalpa by stopping at the same place for lunch. Before going to our campsite, we visited suicide point in Kalpa which was very near to our campsite.
This was the last night of our camping so we spend some good time dancing across the bonfire to make it a memorable evening.
Day 6: We reached Shimla late evening from where we had our Volvo booked for Delhi. Since we had some time between reaching and leaving Shimla hence, we thought to explore Mall road in the meanwhile.
Due to holiday season, mall road was packed with people but its always fun to stroll around mall road in the evening due to liveliness of the place. We even climbed and visited church to have a nice view of Shimla city.
At 9:30 pm we boarded our Volvo and reached Delhi next morning around 6:30 am.
*We didn’t took Manali route as the same was closed. Manali-Kaza route is shorter then Shimla-Kaza route.
Points to remember:
- Take time to get acclimatize. Do get your pulse rate checked on every night in Kaza
- Do carry sunscreen with high SPF
- Carry enough warm clothes
- Carry backpacks