Excursion to Spiti Valley-'The Middle Land'

Spiti Valley located in Himachal Pradesh also known as 'Middle Land' (land between Tibet and India), 'Land of Lamas'(due to many monasteries).

HOW TO REACH

By Air: Chandigarh Airport then by road

By Rail: Chandigarh or Kalka station then by road

By Road: Chandigarh-Shimla-Kufri-Rampur-Reckong Peo-Nako-Kaza

We boarded train(CDG VANDEBHARAT 20977) from Delhi Cantt(11:35am) to Chandigarh(14:45pm) then hired a cab(Rs 32k) for 6days from Chandigarh Via google search cab operator. One of best cab operator and driver we got.

Day 1 : Shimla

We reached Shimla in night and checked in Railway rest house just above Shimla station. Then visited mall road and had dinner.

Day 2: Raksham

Started our journey early morning from Shimla to Raksham. Visited Himalayan nature park, Kufri; lunch at Rampur; reached Raksham at night.

Route: Shimla-Kufri-Rampur-Sangla-Raksham

Accomodation: Raksham vista homestay via insta( Rooms including meals on PP basis)

Day 3: Nako

Visited Chitkul, last village of India at a distance of 01hour from Raksham with beautiful views of River Baspa flowing alongside road. Witnessed Indo Tibet border(tourists are allowed till 90km of border), 'Hindustan ka Akhiri Dhaba'. Returned back to Raksham then started towards Sangla to witness monastery and Kamru fort.

Reached Nako in evening, checked in homestay then visited Nako lake.

Accomodation: Rikpa homestay via insta( Rooms including meals on PP basis)

Day 4: Kaza

We took off-route to visit Gue monastery witnessing 'Mummy' of Buddhist monk founded by Indo Tibetan border police while they were digging for bunker. Reached Tabo monastery, tabo and had lunch there.

Finally, we reached Kaza by evening, checked in homestay then explored local market with Seabuckthorn tea.

Accomodation: Surkhang homestay via insta( Rooms including meals on PP basis)

Day 5: Kaza Sightseeing

* Langza- Fossil village of India with tall Buddha statue

*Komic- World's Highest village

*Hikkim- World's Highest post office, we purchased postcards and stamp((10/-) to post it to our dear ones but let me reveal truth..lol. We didn't received posts yet but it was fun.

*Chicham bridge- Asia's Highest bridge connecting two villages of Chicham and Khibber over deep gorge of River Spiti.

*Keylong monastery

Returned back to home stay and again we went for local market exploration.

Day 5: Retreating to Shimla

While retreating to Shimla, it is impossible to return back same day so we took stoppage at off-route location Kalpa. Visited Dhankar monastery overlooking the confluence of Spiti and Pin rivers. Dhankar was traditional capital of Spiti valley kingdom during 17th century. It had room where coin was supposed to stick to its wall with ur prayers.

We reached Kalpa for a night stay and sightseeing but already exhausted so didn’t opted for sightseeing.

Day 6: Rollercoaster ride (Kalpa-Shimla-Barog-Kalka-Chandigarh-Delhi- Bengal)

This day was roller coaster journey for us. We took break at Rampur for lunch then sightseeing of historic ‘Padam Palace’which was winter capital of Bushahr dynasty built by Raja Padam Singh who was father of ex-Chief minister of Himachal Pradesh-Virbhadra Singh.

*We missed our toytrain from Shimla to Kalka(HIMALAYAN QUEEN 52456) due to heavy traffic so we boarded train from next station(Barog). It was an exhausting downhill trek of approx 700-900m to railway station with such heavy luggage as cab dropped us on nearest road.

*reached kalka station to catch our next train(NETAJI EXPRESS 12312) to West Bengal at 11:55pm but seat wasn’t confirmed so we hired cab to Chandigarh bus stand.

*Boarded midnight bus to Delhi, get our confirmed train tickets from Delhi to Bengal.

Souvenir- Dragon printed cup sets, magnets,postcards, sea buckthorn tea etc.

Notes- Excursion to spiti valley is a exhausting and challenging journey with daily travel of apprx 7-9hours by road to reach ultimate destination of Kaza from Shimla including AMS(Altitude mountain sickness) from Nako onwards. But it is a beautiful journey for passionate travellers who loves to challenge themselves.