Itinerary

Spiti Valley Trek – Itinerary

Day 01:Volvo from Delhi to Manali
Board the Himachal Tourism Volvo bus from outside Himachal Bhavan in Mandi House in the evening. There are multiple Volvo buses that depart between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. The bus stops for dinner on the way. Most of the trekking group if not all would be booked on the same bus.
Driving Time: 16 Hrs, Overnight Volvo.

Day 02:Arrive Manali(2000m)
The bus journey takes all night and you should be in Manali town before 10am in the morning. Our representative will pick you up from the bus stand and transfer you to our hotel near Prini. After breakfast, you can rest till afternoon after the long bus journey. Post-lunch, there will be a gear check and comprehensive briefing about the trip. You have the evening free to do some last minute shopping or checkout some Manali attractions. It is important to hit the bed early and rest well for the next day.
Meals: BLD, Overnight Hotel.

Day 03:Drive to Kaza(3800m)
We start super early from Manali to help us cross the Rohtang Pass before the rush of tourists who flock the pass daily for views of snow. We stop by at Marhi just 16 kms before the pass for a quick breakfast. Rohtang Pass is snowbound for most of the winter months and opens up in Summer by the first week of June. On the other side of the pass is Lahaul, and is in complete contrast to the green Kullu Valley. Lahaul is like a semi-desert and is part of the rain shadow area of the Himalayan range. We take a right turn before Khoksar towards Chattru. From here on till we cross the Kunzum Pass(4590m) is unpaved and is mostly a bumpy jeep track. We may have to get off the car in some stretches where water flows onto the road. The entire though is totally scenic with changing visuals all along. The Lahaul and Spiti part of the drive will force you to keep getting off the car to click photos. We reach Kaza, the capital of Spiti by evening.
Driving Time: 10-11 Hrs
Meals: BLD, Overnight Hotel.

Day 04:Sightseeing – Kye Gompa(4166m) and Kibber(4270)
We spend the day doing some light sightseeing and acclimatizing to the high altitude. After breakfast, we drive for about 30 mins to reach Kye village with a beautiful monastery. Kye monastery is more than 1000 years old and is the main gompa of Kaza with hundreds of resident monks. Incredible views of Spiti Valley from the top of the monastery. The monastery has a few small old shrines and a huge new one. The cardamom tea served by the monks is an absolute classic.
We then drive up to Kibber, which used to be the highest village in Asia. Now, Hikkim holds that position. Kanamo peak is a famous trekking peak that is attempted from Kibber. The ParangLa trek, which is the crossing over into Changthang also begins from this place. In winters, Kibber is famous among ardent wildlife enthusiasts who visit the region for snow leopard spotting. We have lunch at Kibber and return to Kaza. Afternoon free to checkout the place and the small town.
Driving Time: 2 hrs
Meals: BLD, Overnight Homestay

Day 05: Drive to Dhankar(3894m) via Tabo(3280m)
We drive to Tabo monastery, the oldest continuously functioning Buddhist monastery in India and Himalaya. Tabo monastery is unique because of its architecture. The 9 temples are all built like fortresses from the outside with white mud making the plaster. It gives you a very egyptian look and unlike all monasteries that are built on hilltops or high grounds, this is built in the valley in between the village. The walls of the temples are painted with frescoes depicting tales from the Buddhist pantheon.
We then move on to Dhankar, another millennium old monastery built on a mud spur high above the confluence of Pin and Spiti rivers. The scenery is stunning from this monastery which has many small shrines and caves for meditation. We stay in a homestay for the night.
Driving Time: 3-4 hrs
Meals: BLD, Overnight Homestay

Day 06:Trek to Lalung(3660m)
We take the road leading out of Dhankar towards Lalung for a while before stepping onto the trekking track over the mountain. We walk on a dusty, undulating trail and traverse the mountain to the right. A hit a farm with plantations at the end of the trail where we join the road. We have an option of hopping into our cars and driving the last bit to Lalung or just walking it out. The sun is pretty strong. Carry a lot of water and top your face with copious amounts of sunscreen to avoid sun burn. Lalung is a beautiful village on the mountain side with a 1000 year old monastery right on top of the village. The village farms extend all the way to the river below. We reach our homestay and order lunch. Post-lunch , we can take a tour of the village and the monastery with its very knowledgeable abbot. The monastery is unique with the whole inner sanctum having walls decorated with sculptures of deities from the pantheon.
Trekking Time: 3.5 hrs
Meals: BLD, Overnight Homestay

Day 07:Trek to Demul(4350m)
A long walk today and probably the hardest of our short trek. We descend all the way to the river, a tributary of Spiti, cross it via a suspension bridge with wooden planks. We then continue on to a small hamlet of 2 houses and some farmfields called Sanglung. From there we walk on the right side of the stream, and then move over to the left for the steep ascent to Demul. We ascend almost 650m to the pretty village of Demul. The name Demul itself stands for Demo (beautiful) + Yul (village). The village has no electricity but each house is lit up by solar power. The village is very advanced in usage of solar power having been empowered by some efficient local agencies at work. Post-lunch we can walk around the village and to the main monastery.
Trekking Time: 5-6 hrs
Meals: BLD, Overnight Homestay

Day 08:Trek to Komic(4587m)
From Demul, we gently climb past the monastery to Komic Pass(4710m), our highest point on the trek. Amazing panoramic views from here both of Demul and the route towards Komic. The pyramid shaped Chauchaukhang Nilda(6300m) rises on our right. We walk through the barren landscape past some shepherd settlements to reach Komic. The last bit of walk could be avoided by hopping onto our cars since the trekking trail meets the motorable road. Post -Lunch, we can visit the ancient Tangyud Monastery built on top above Komic village. Tangyud monastery has 2 complexes, the main shrine within which the old shrine is enclosed and the other block with a main temple and little rooms on the flanks for residing monks. A stuffed snow leopard hangs from ceiling at the gompa.
A lot of kids and locals at Komic love displaying their fossil collections they have accumulated over time. There is Komic and Demul are great places for stargazing.
Trekking Time: 6 hrs
Meals: BLD, Overnight Homestay

Day 09:Trek to Langza(4290m).Drive to Chandratal(4300m)
We make a super early start and trek the last mile to Langza, passing Hikkim, the highest village in Asia. It has a World’s highest post Office at 4440m. Langza, with the big sitting Buddha statue is one more hour from Hikkim. Our cars will be waiting at Langza to drive us Chandertal Lake. We descend to Kaza, refuel our vehicles and retrace our routes across Kunzum La and turn right at Batal and drive for another 14 kms. Vehicles have to be parked about a km from the lake, from where we walk the last mile to the beautiful lake of Chandratal. Chandratal gets its name from its crescent shape. We spend sometime soaking in the beauty till evening and return to camp.
Trekking Time:3-4 hrs ; Driving Time: 6 hrs
Meals: BLD, Overnight Deluxe Camp.

Day 10:Drive to Manali(2000m)
After an early breakfast, we take the long scenic drive to Manali over the Rohtang Pass(3985m) and descend back into the lush green Kullu Valley. We check into our hotels in Prini on arrival. Evening free to rest and checkout some wonderful restaurants at Manali.
Driving time: 8 hrs
Meals: BLD, Overnight Hotel.

Day 11:Evening Volvo to Delhi
A leisure day to rest or spend time checking out more of Manali. You could experience the hot springs at Vashist, the Hadimba and Manu temples or the charming markets, restaurants and chilled out atmosphere at Old Manali. Late Afternoon, departure to the bus stand for the overnight Volvo to Delhi.
Meals: BL, Overnight Volvo

Day 12:Arrive Delhi
Arrive Delhi by 9 am. Trip Ends!