Cycling in Spiti Valley - Himachal Pradesh

Tour begins in the Himachal hill station of Shimla or from Chandigarh, it depends on your arrival point.. If you are flying in, you can land at Chandigarh, our driver will pick you from Chandigarh airport. On Day 1, we drive to Narkanda from Chandigarh or Shimla. You will get your room at pre-booked hotel at Narkanda. you will meet and acquaint with team members, prepare for the cycling tour ahead, and complete paperwork formalities.

We will have our breakfast at hotel and will get ready for the first day of cycling of this Himachal Spiti cycling tour. Narkanda, which has pleasant weather throughout year, is the perfect place to hit the road. We leave the tourist map well and truly behind us. Places like Rampur have little to boost in terms of tourism related infrastructure. These pit stop, are nothing more than small town-like establishments with basic accommodation and necessities covered. You cycle past local apple orchards and forested hills of the lower Himalayas. The place abounds with conifers, oaks, and maples. The air is bracing, and cycling should be fun for most part of the day, save for some short and steep inclines which actually do the good of preparing you for the journey ahead. We will overnight at pre-booked hotel at Rampur.

Rampur is a scenic place situated on the bank of Sutlej river. Historically, it was located on pilgrimage routes to sacred sites in Western Tibet. You have another day to prep yourself before we start hitting the tougher and longer sections of the tour. We expect it to be a short cycling day Today, what you come upon on this route are water dams and hydel power grids, majestic structures all of them. The first 30 km out of Rampur makes for easy-breezy cycling over gentle slopes until we hit Jhakri from where you pedal through some downhill and uphill gradients for the second half of the day’s journey to Wangtu. We will finish our cycling at Wangtu for the day to get some much needed rest before we start hitting the higher roads and stiffer climbs.

Finally, the day comes to make some serious altitude gain as we leave behind the foothills of the Himalayas at Wangtu and begin cycling towards Kalpa. Kalpa is a high and beautiful place in the Kinnaur region, popular not just for its views and natural beauty but also for it apples and the rarely grown pine nuts. In the first 30-35km of this stretch, we will gain upto 420 m to reach an altitude of 1990 m. Except for a few short downhill rolls and uphill climbs, this section isn’t really hard-going. What’s tough is the final 15km of the day’s ride. It is a steep uphill ascent in which you gain as much as 835 m to end the day at Kalpa, a high altitude, beautiful place in Kinnaur that offers breathtaking views of 6000-plus meter high Himalayan peaks. Day 4 is the first test of your mettle as a cyclist. More than anything, it prepares you for the high-altitude journey ahead.

Cycling on Day 5 begins with the downhill ride of 15 km we ascended the previous day. Thereafter starts the 60 km journey towards our new destination, Pooh. Over this distance we begin to gain altitude slowly and the road turns eastward towards the Indo-Tibetan border. Known as the Hind-Tibet road, this used to be an ancient route connecting India and Tibet for centuries. Pressing on, you’ll notice the landscape change. The greenery of Kinnaur falls behind, replaced by rocky mountains. You almost feel another world coming round the corner. The last 8 km of the day’s cycling will be a steep uphill ride to Pooh.

On Day 6, we gear up for what will be the longest ascent of the journey as we officially enter the high altitude cold desert region of Spiti. The first 5 km out of Pooh will be an easy downhill ride along the Sutlej river up until its confluence with the Spiti river at Khab. The road here is literally carved out of rugged mountain faces. Khab onwards, the road starts rising steadily towards Nako, a gorgeous fertile oasis in a barren landscape. Crossing Nako, the ascent continues, the air gets thinner and it’s here that the physical and mental endurance of a cyclist will be tested. All the cycling of preceding days prepares you for this challenge. We press on through several hairpin bends until Malling Nalah, which is a place notorious for falling stones and sudden closures. A signboard by Border Roads Organization here describes it as “the world’s most treacherous road.” But thanks to our guides and support staff, crossing Malling Nalah shouldn’t be a problem for you. Thereafter, the journey gets easy with a downhill ride of 30-40km all the way to Tabo, which is home to a tenth century Buddhist monastery. Arrival here is a welcome respite after a long day’s cycling.

An easy day of cycling follows the previous day’s rough and tough ride. The road out of Tabo takes you into the overwhelming expanse of the Spiti valley. Here, we are well into Kipling’s ‘world within a world’. Mountains with intriguing formations and colors dot the landscape. The geography can aptly be described as Martian. The gentle uphill road lets you appreciate the views at leisure. Along the way, we take a detour to the high-altitude village of Dhankar. Perched at a height of 3894 m, Dhankar offers some heart-stopping views. From here, you can see the confluence of the Spiti and Pin rivers in the distance. You can marvel at the majestic Manirang peaks (literally meaning jewel-colored peaks) that separate the valleys of Kinnaur and Spiti. You will visit a small lake and monastery at Dhankar. Here onwards, it’s an easy way down to Kaza, the largest township and commercial center of the Spiti valley.

Leaving behind the hustle and bustle of Kaza on the morning of Day 8, we start the climb to Key Monastery. This is the largest and best known gompa in the region and merits a quick visit before we press on towards the twin villages of Kibber and Chicham. These villages are situated close to each other but are separated by a massive and deep gorge, a telling instance of geography deciding accessibility in these parts. A suspension bridge inaugurated in 2017 now straddles the gorge. It is often described as the highest altitude bridge in Asia and just crossing it is sure to give you a high. After Chicham, the road enters the rolling plains of Ladarcha, which has been the hub of historical barter trade for the people of Spiti, Ladakh and Tibet. To this day, a festival is organized annually where merchants come from these places to barter goods. Ladarcha onwards, the road descends to Kiato after which it isn’t so much a road anymore as a gravelly track. The last leg of the day’s journey from Kiato to Losar is rough, so you better sit tight and hold fast.

On the last day we bid adieu to Spiti. No more cycling from here on. We will drive you to the Kunzum La (La means a mountain pass in Tibetan) which is situated at the altitude of 4590 m and is the highest point of this journey. We visit the temple on this pass and enjoy the view of distant glacial peaks. From here we head to the Chandra Tal,a crescent shaped lake situated at the height of 4300 m. This scenic lake and its surrounding meadows mark the highpoint of journey for many travelers and is a fitting end to our cycling tour. From Chandra Tal we will be making the bumpy and adventurous drive to Manali, over the well-known Rohtang Pass, which we call the gateway back to your urban lives. You will spend your last day of cycling at pre-booked hotel in Manali. Overnight at Hotel.