Kinnaur and Spiti Valley Winter Route

• Duration7 days
• SeasonAll year
• Starts fromShimla
• AltitudeClimbs slowly from Shimla through Kinnaur to Kaza (about 3,800 m). Day trips go up to about 4,400 m at Hikkim and higher at Komic. Drink plenty of water and take the first days easy.

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Open all year

Spiti's all-year road. From Shimla up the Sutlej and Baspa valleys through Kinnaur, past Chitkul, Nako and Tabo, to Kaza and the high villages of Hikkim, Komic and Langza, and back by Kalpa. A private 4x4 with a local driver, open in winter too.

Day by day

Spiti Winter 4x4 - 7 days from Shimla 7 days, 6 nights

1. 1

   Day 1 Sangla

   Pick-up in Shimla in the morning. Drive past Narkanda and down to the Sutlej river at Rampur, then up the Baspa valley into Kinnaur. In the afternoon, visit Rakcham and Chitkul (about 3,400 m), the last village on the Baspa valley road, with the river running beside you. Night in Sangla.

2. 2

   Day 2 Tabo

   Leave the Baspa valley and follow the Sutlej upstream. At Khab the Spiti river joins the Sutlej. Climb the road loops to Nako, a stone village at about 3,660 m beside a small lake that freezes in winter. Continue along the Spiti river to Tabo (about 3,050 m). Night in Tabo.

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   Day 3 Kaza

   Morning at Tabo monastery, founded in 996 AD, with its old wall paintings and the meditation caves in the cliff above the village. Drive on to Dhankar, whose monastery sits on a ridge above the meeting of the Spiti and Pin rivers, then into the Pin valley. Evening at Kaza (about 3,800 m), the main town of Spiti. Night in Kaza or Rangrik.

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   Day 4 Kaza

   Day trip to the high villages above Kaza. Hikkim has one of the highest post offices in the world (about 4,400 m): send a postcard home from there. Komic is one of the highest villages you can reach by road, with its old monastery. Langza has a large Buddha statue looking over the valley, and fossils are found in the hills around it. Back to Kaza or Rangrik for the night.

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   Day 5 Tabo

   Visit Key monastery (about 4,166 m), the largest monastery in Spiti, built on a hill above the river. Cross Chicham bridge (about 4,145 m), high above a deep gorge. Then drive back down the valley to Tabo. Night in Tabo.

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   Day 6 Kalpa

   Short detour to Gue to see the mummy of a monk believed to be more than 500 years old, kept in a small shrine. Return through Nako and down the Sutlej valley to Kalpa, which faces the Kinner Kailash range. Night in Kalpa.

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   Day 7 Shimla

   Morning view of the Kinner Kailash peaks from Kalpa. Then the long drive back down the Sutlej valley to Shimla, with drop in Shimla in the evening.

What is included