Kinnaur & Spiti by Motorcycle

Eleven hundred kilometres on a Royal Enfield, from Shimla’s deodars to the cold desert of Spiti and out over the Kunzum La at 4,551 metres. The riding is technical in places: water crossings on…

Length: 12 days, 11 nights
From: ₹3,12,000 per person
Pace: Active
Stops: 8
Best months: June to July, September to October

The route

8 stops over 12 days

Delhi
Shimla
Sarahan
Sangla
Kalpa
Tabo
Kaza
Manali

Kunzum La at 4,551 metres, prayer flags and hail
Key Monastery stacked white above the Spiti river
Posting a card from Hikkim, the highest post office
Chitkul, the last village before the Tibet border
Camping at Chandratal, 4,300 metres, under full stars

Day by day

What actually happens

Length: 12 days
Stops: 8
Pace: Active
From: ₹3,12,000

1D

Delhi

Arrive Delhi and ride briefing

Arrival in Delhi. Transfer to the hotel, then the ride briefing at five: bike allocation, luggage limits of one soft bag on the support vehicle and a tank bag on you, tyre pressures, hand signals and the altitude plan. Riders need a valid international permit and their home licence. Kit check follows; we carry spares, but not your boots. Dinner is early.

Night: The Claridges, New Delhi
2B D

Shimla

Chandigarh to Shimla on the bikes

The morning Shatabdi to Chandigarh, three and a quarter hours, then the bikes: Royal Enfield Himalayan 450s, run in and freshly serviced. From Chandigarh it is 115 kilometres to Shimla on NH5, climbing 1,900 metres in the last fifty of them through Solan. Ride at your own pace with the lead rider ahead. Shimla by tea, and an early night.

Night: Clarkes Hotel, Shimla
3B D

Sarahan

Narkanda, the Sutlej and Sarahan

Out through Kufri and Narkanda, then the long drop to the Sutlej at Rampur, apple country with the orchards netted against hail. The last thirteen kilometres up to Sarahan are steep and tight. Bhimakali temple stands here in slate and timber, a tower of interlocking beams built without mortar, and the courtyard looks straight at Shrikhand Mahadev.

Night: Hotel Srikhand, Sarahan
4B L D

Sangla

Into the Baspa valley: Sangla

Bhimakali at seven, before the crowds and while the brass is still cold. Then the Baspa valley: ninety-five kilometres of cliff road above the Sutlej, some of it cut into overhang, with a permit check at Karcham. Sangla sits at 2,700 metres among apricot and buckwheat. Camp is on the river and the water noise is constant. Trout for dinner if the kitchen has any.

Night: Banjara Camps, Batseri
5B D

Kalpa

Chitkul, then the climb to Kalpa

Up the valley first to Chitkul at 3,450 metres, the last village before the Tibet border, where the road ends at a police post and a wooden Mathi temple. Back down, then the switchbacks to Kalpa. Kinner Kailash fills the sky opposite, a wall of rock and ice at 6,050 metres that turns orange for about four minutes at sunset.

Night: The Grand Shangri-La, Kalpa
6B L

Kalpa

Acclimatisation at Kalpa

A rest day, and not a spare one, since you gain serious altitude tomorrow. Walk to Roghi village along the cliff path, three kilometres each way, and look down at the Sutlej from Suicide Point. The bikes get a full check: chains, brake pads, valve clearances. Afternoon in a Kinnauri home over chhang and dried apricots. Sleep early and drink four litres.

Night: The Grand Shangri-La, Kalpa
7B L D

Tabo

Khab, Nako and the road to Tabo

The hardest day so far, and the one that changes the landscape entirely. Past Khab, where the Spiti joins the Sutlej, the green stops: no trees, only ochre and grey scree. Nako at 3,660 metres for lunch beside its small lake, then the Malling nala, often washed out, and on to Tabo at 3,280. Eight hours in the saddle, and wind after two.

Night: Dekit Retreat, Tabo
8B D

Kaza

Tabo’s murals and Dhankar to Kaza

Tabo monastery was founded in 996 and its mud-brick walls hold clay bodhisattvas and murals lit only by torch. No photography, and the guide will say so twice. A short ride today: up to Dhankar, hanging on a spur above the Spiti and Pin confluence, then Kaza by three at 3,800 metres. Take the afternoon slowly and eat the momos, not the beer.

Night: Hotel Deyzor, Kaza
9B L

Kaza

Key, Kibber, Langza and Hikkim

A loop above Kaza. Key monastery, a thousand years old and stacked like a snowdrift on its hill, then Kibber at 4,270 metres and the Chicham bridge, the highest in Asia at 4,037 metres. Langza has a seated Buddha above the barley and marine fossils in the soil; Hikkim has a post office at 4,400 metres. Send a card home.

Night: Hotel Deyzor, Kaza
10B L D

Chandratal

Over the Kunzum La to Chandratal

West along the Spiti to Losar, the last fuel worth the name, then the climb to Kunzum La at 4,551 metres: prayer flags, a chorten, and weather that can turn to hail in ten minutes. The eight-kilometre track down to Chandratal is rock and gravel, first gear with feet down. Camp at 4,300 metres beside a crescent lake the colour of a gas flame.

Night: Parasol Camps, Chandratal
11B D

Manali

Batal, the Atal Tunnel and Manali

Dawn on the lake is worth the cold, and minus two is normal here in September. Then Batal, the Chhota Dhara water crossings, and Gramphu, where the surface finally becomes tarmac again. Through the Atal Tunnel, nine kilometres under the Rohtang, and out into rain, cedar and oxygen. Manali feels tropical after Spiti. Hot shower, cold beer, bikes handed back tomorrow.

Night: Manuallaya Resort & Spa, Manali
12B

Manali to Delhi

Bhuntar, Delhi and departure

Departure day. Bikes are returned and inspected after breakfast, then a fifty-kilometre transfer down the valley to Bhuntar airport for the ninety-minute flight to Delhi. If the Kullu weather closes in, and it does, we switch you to a private vehicle or the overnight coach, so keep your international connection late in the day. Farewell from our man at Terminal 3.

Night: Departure day, no overnight