Spiti Valley

Spiti is a high desert valley in the trans-Himalaya of Himachal Pradesh, running at three thousand five hundred metres and above between bare rock walls with almost no tree cover, its floor a braided grey river and a string of villages on irrigated terraces. Whitewashed monasteries stand on ridges and cliff edges at Key, Dhankar and Tabo, some of them very old, and the settlements of Kibber, Komic and Langza sit among the highest places reachable by road in the country. The scale is the point: rock strata folded and tilted, fossil beds in the hillsides, and light that is brutally clear. Snow leopard tracking trips run out of Kibber in deep winter.

What you actually see

• Key Monastery - the tiered white monastery stacked on a ridge above the river.
• Dhankar and Tabo - old monastery settlements on the cliff edge and on the valley floor.
• The high villages - Kibber, Komic and Langza on the plateau above Kaza.
• The valley walls - folded and tilted rock strata with fossil beds in the slopes.

When to go

June to September is the main season, when the Kunzum La road from Manali is open and the villages are running normally. The Shimla and Kinnaur approach stays open most of the year but is long and prone to landslides. Winter from January to March is bitterly cold with limited access, and is the only period for snow leopard trips. Take several days to gain height.

Honest expectations

Altitude is the main difficulty; arriving over the Manali pass in a single day puts most people flat with headaches. Roads are rough, frequently blocked by slides or river crossings, and journeys take far longer than the distances suggest. Accommodation is homestays and simple guesthouses with cold nights and unreliable power. There is no quick version of Spiti, and a rushed three day trip mostly delivers exhaustion.

Nearby

Kinnaur's orchards lie south along the river and Manali is over the pass to the west.