Spiti Valley via Manali: 8 hour Fun journey

Spiti Valley is on everyone’s bucket list after Ladakh. Spiti valley is situated in a remote region of Himachal Pradesh and for 6 months it is mostly closed because of heavy snowfall. There are two roads which go to Kaza – the administrative headquarter of Spiti valley. One is via Rampur Bushar which is a long way and another is from Manali via Grampu and this is mostly referred to as shortcut to Kaza.

Travellers most take Rampur Bushar road because it covers Kinnaur valley as well. But some prefer the shorter route because of fewer office leaves and they don’t want to travel much.

The route from Manali is Manali-Gulaba-Rohtang pass-Gramphu-Chatru-Batal-Kunzum pass-Losar-Chicham-Kaza.

Most people leave early in the morning to avoid the traffic on Rohtang Pass. And most importantly if you’re driving your own vehicle, then the next fuel station is directly in Kaza after Manali, so make sure you have enough fuel. You will find ATMs only in Kaza after Manali. In between, you won’t find any ATM. After you cross Gulaba, your phone won’t work as after that there is no network except BSNL that you will directly get network in Losar.

Once you cross the Rohtang Pass at Grampu there is a right turn that goes towards Chatru and straight to Keylong. Once you take the right turn the road conditions get worse. The road is narrow and muddy. It really gets very difficult and dangerous to drive especially in the monsoon time when landslides are a normal thing.

Spiti Valley

Chatru is a place where you will find many small food joints or dhaba. There you can take rest, they charge ₹100 per bed. There is nothing in Chatru other than these food joints.

Many people plan to visit Chandra tal while returning and some want to finish it first as there is no guarantee of weather change. People who plan to do first mostly go to the campsites near the lake. People who are on a budget choose to stay at Batal which is also known as the base for Chandra tal lake.

Here you will find cheap tents compared to campsites near the lake. Here is that famous dhaba of Chacha Chachi who serve travellers since a long time on this route. From Batal there is a trek to the lake but not many people know about this trek.

After Natal you will head towards Losar and you will cross the mighty Kunzum pass. On this route you will only find good amount of population in Losar. This place has decent options for home stays and guest houses.

People who break their journey in two parts mostly stay in Losar for the night as it has decent stay options as well as good food options. Here you can get BSNL network but not power full network. From here you can leave early and can reach Kaza by noon.

On the way, you will cross Asia’s highest bridge known as Chicham-Kibber bridge which connects the village of Chicham and Kibber. This is the main attraction on this route after Chandra tal and the population of these two villages are very low.

From here you will reach Kaza in another one hour crossing the Key Monastery and the village of Rangrik on the other side of the Spiti river.

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