Walmo

Spiti Valley travel guide — Walmo

High-altitude cold desert — Key Monastery, Kaza, Chandratal, fossil villages, and the Kinnaur–Manali circuit.

Walmo travel guide to Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India. A high-altitude cold desert in the north-east of Himachal Pradesh, bordering Tibet - rust-coloured treeless mountains, glacier-fed rivers, thousand-year-old Tibetan-Buddhist monasteries and some of the world's highest inhabited villages. Not a green hill station: it's raw, remote, spiritual, and best done as a slow road trip based out of Kaza. Famous for Key Monastery, Chandratal Lake, the Langza-Hikkim-Komic village circuit, Chicham Bridge, and the Tabo-Dhankar monasteries. High-altitude cold desert — Key Monastery, Kaza, Chandratal, fossil villages, and the Kinnaur–Manali circuit. Also known as: Little Tibet; Cold desert of India; The Middle Land. Acclimatize: enter via Shimla-Kinnaur for a gradual climb; take the first day in Kaza slow; hydrate; descend if AMS turns severe. Never drive Delhi-Kaza in one go - plan overnight halts (e.g. Kalpa/Nako on the Kinnaur side). Carry plenty of cash - ATMs only in Kaza (often out of order); villages are cash-only. Fuel up in Kaza (and Reckong Peo) - the villages have no pumps.