Overview
Long winding roads and valleys that present unforgettable glimpses of cold desert and snow-crowned mountains welcome you when you set foot into Spiti Valley. Bordered on all sides by the Himalayas, Spiti gets just around 250 days of sunshine in the year, making it one of the coldest places in the country. With the thick Himalayan snow cutting Spiti off from the rest of the country for around 6 months a year, the summer months are the only time Spiti is directly accessible via motorway.
It takes certain amount of madness to do this. Spiti Valley is a cold desert mountain valley located high in the Himalayas, is full of barren hills, bare mountainsides, rough terrain and more like a dry desert. Spiti, which loosely translates as ‘the middle land’. In cetain stretches NH5 (the old Hindustan-Tibet Road) is amazing, but what makes up for this is the gorgeous landscape that changes as one drives through the lush mountains of Kinnaur Valley and crosses into the rugged moonscape of Spiti valley. It just takes one thing to get going for this trip – passion for travelling and we have that in abundance.
Top Highlights
- Ancient Buddhist monastery perched dramatically on a cliffside
- Serene alpine lake surrounded by snow-capped Himalayan peaks
- High-altitude village with a giant golden Buddha statue and fossil-rich terrain
- One of the world's highest inhabited villages at over 4,500 meters elevation
- Lush valleys with apple orchards, tribal culture, and dramatic river gorges
- Thrilling mountain pass drives with rugged, otherworldly landscapes
