[Mile_Breaker]

The wish
A small wish of mine to drive on the roads of Narkanda to Spiti in my own car got fulfilled very recently in the end of May 2024. It was seven years back when I had first visited Narkanda and made that wish while being driven down in a rented Innova through the beautiful curvy road lined up with violet colored Jacaranda in the background of a clear blue sky. As during my first visit I had already covered Shimla, Kufri, Fagu, Sarahan, Kalpa, Sangla, Chhitkul hence this time I planned only to cover Spiti valley. My final itinerary turned up as below –
Day 1 (eve) & 2 – Kolkata to Lucknow
Day 3 – Lucknow to Chandigarh
Day 4 – Chandigarh to Narkanda
Day 5 – Narkanda to Reckong Peo
Day 6 – Reckong Peo to Nako
Day 7 – Nako to Tabo via Gue Monastery
Day 8 – Tabo to Pin Valley via Dhankar Monastery
Day 9 – Pin Valley to Kaza
Day 10 & 11 – Kaza
Day 12 – Kaza to Reckong Peo
Day 13 – Reckong Peo to Narkanda
Day 14 – Narkanda to Chandigarh
Day 15 – Chandigarh to Lucknow
Day 16 – Lucknow to Aurangabad (instead in actual we stayed at Bodhgaya)
Day 17 – Aurangabad to Kolkata
As there was no surety of the road getting open for Chandratal and Kaza – Manali route during my travel dates (24th May – 9th June) I kept that out of my consideration. Eventually while I was in Kaza, the Kaza – Manali route opened after 2nd June for normal vehicles but I decided to stick to my original plan.

Below is the road I am talking about !



The Preparation

With the above itinerary, I then finalized my travel dates - from Kolkata to start on the evening of 24th May and return by the evening of 9th June. Next, I proceeded to finalize the hotel bookings. The booking for Lucknow, Chandigarh was done through online travel app. For Narkanda I went with HPTDC Hotel Hatu, as I was familiar with it from my last visit in 2017. For Reckong Peo, Nako , Tabo, Pin Valley and Kaza I directly reached out to the hotels/homestays. They usually reply over email and/or Whatsapp and booking was confirmed with some advance payment.
For our car, Tata Hexa (2019 make) I decided to replace the stock tyres from Bridgestone Dueler HT to Yokohama Geolander AT. The Bridgestones had already wheeled 70K kms before the start of this trip with still some juices left in them. I must say, I am highly satisfied with the stock tyres. They have taken us across India to Gurudongmar Lake, Longewala Border, Agra, Gwalior, several trips to the hills of North Bengal, Puri, Gopalpur-on-sea etc without any trouble. The only issue I have felt with the Bridgestone Dueler HT is of aquaplaning when moving with a slight speed on layer of water. Our esteemed members Samba and dip27in helped with contacts for tyres and finally got a very good deal from Indo Radial Tyres, Bhawanipore, Kolkata.
The other things I purchased for our car was heavy duty tow belt from Amazon, a tool box and 1 litre Coolant. Tyre inflator I had. dip27in helped with a jumper cable/charger. Calculated the travel distances in Spiti as per my plan and decided there is no need for me to carry extra fuel.
Couple of weeks before the journey I took the car to TASS for servicing. Changed all the brake pads and air filter. Hexa has an inherent design issue with the silencer pipe and hence asked the SA to check it thoroughly. Upon inspection they found few gaps in the joints and went for local welding. Brought it back home after servicing but still the sound of the exhaust note was not right. Hence called my SA and informed him that I want him to look again and took it back to TASS a week later. This time gaps were found near the Catalytic converter, not sure how they missed it last time. Silencer was removed, welding was done and finally the silencer issue got resolved.
With the car now tuned to my satisfaction it was time to pack our bags and stock up some food for the road & eventualities and finally on the evening of 24th May we rolled off.

All packed !



The Journey From Kolkata to Narkanda via Lucknow & Chandigarh

My mother came along with us this time. The plan was that my nephew who stays in Jalandhar would come and meet us at Chandigarh. He would accompany us till Narkanda. Then he and my mother would go back to Jalandhar and rest of us would continue towards Spiti. Later on our way back my nephew would bring my mother back to Chandigarh and she would return with us.

The overnight journey towards Lucknow was smooth. We brought our dinner with us and stopped after Palsit toll plaza to finish our food. By early morning reached Mohaniya and proceeded towards Purvanchal EW through Ghazipur. Brought fresh melons from the street vendors while moving through Ghazipur and finished our breakfast with those. The melons were very cheap and far sweet than what we get in Kolkata. Soon reached PEW and stopped for chai and samosas in one of the refreshment exits along PEW. The heat wave that Northen India was going through that time was evident as we came out of the car.



By 3 PM we had reached our hotel Gemini Continental, Hazratganj, Lucknow. This is the third time we were staying here. Lucknow being our all-time favorite stop in no time we hired a toto from outside the hotel and ventured out to our culinary favorites. First stop was Shukla chaat. The aloo tikki chaat here is just best in class !


Next we visited Bada Imambara, clock tower area. Spent some time to click photos and then went to Tunday for our dinner.











The famous Tunday Galawati kebabs were consumed so fast that I could not take any picture . The other dishes we had was mutton biriyani and mutton qorma.




Next day we had a filling breakfast and started around 10 am for Chandigarh. We traversed through Agra Lucknow EW – Yamuna EW – Greater Noida – Eastern Peripheral EW – NH44 and stopped at Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba at Murthal for a late lunch. Loved the aloo parathas with white butter .




Finally reached Chandigarh around 10 PM. Our accommodation was at Hotel Shagun which was right on the Chandigarh Shimla highway. The hotel interior looked old but had a good secured parking space. Room was comfortable. My nephew had reached before us. He had recently bought a Kia Seltos. I took a small test drive, chatted for sometime and then called it a day.

Following day was Day 4 of our plan and it was Monday. To avoid the Shimla traffic I wanted to start early. By 8:30 am we checked out of the hotel and was on our way towards Narkanda. A group photo with the two cars together before we left the hotel.


Had our breakfast in one Panjabi dhaba post Kasaul. Some time was wasted in the traffic jam at Shimla, but after we crossed the Dhali bypass the road was smooth with low traffic. Reached Hotel Hatu at Narkanda by around 3 PM and had a good lunch.

[Mile_Breaker]

Post lunch we decided to visit Hatu peak during sunset. Hired a local swift dzire and went to Hatu peak. It was a good decision to get a local car as the road was very narrow and rough. Could have brought our own car but it would have taken us more time to reach and would have been tiresome. We enjoyed great views at Hatu peak and prayed at Hatu Temple. We skipped our dinner due to late lunch and went to bed early that day. Some of the photos taken at Hatu peak.

Hatu temple











Narkanda to Nako via Reckong Peo


Day 5 morning both the cars started together, while we moved towards Kinnaur , mother and nephew turned towards Shimla for their way to Jalandhar. The road from Narkanda started getting beautiful with every turn. Remember this is the road which compelled me to visit again and I was enjoying the scenic drive to the fullest.





Some time later we entered Kinnaur. Both the man made gate & the natural gate welcomed us.





There is a checkpost while entering Kinnaur, one has to register their entry there with the police. The unique landscape starts right after that.







Some bad roads on the way



Taranda Mata temple. Every local driver stops here. I did too.





With mostly good n wide road we enjoyed the views and crossed Rampur, Jeori, Karchham to reach our accommodation Wanderer's homestay at Reckong Peo by around 3 PM. It was a very clean and homely accommodation. Room was with a balcony and with an excellent view. Owner Sudhanshu is a wonderful fellow. Post check in and dropping our luggage we went to Himlayan Kitchen at Reckong Peo market. The restaurant was recommended by Sudhanshu and the non-veg Himlayan Thali was awesome!





While climbing up to Reckong Peo



With Sudhanshu , owner of Wanderer's Homestay



Balcony attached to the room



Non Veg Himalayan Thali at Himalayan Kitchen, Reckong Peo. The protein rich thali came with both mutton and chicken



Because we had a late lunch, we took very light dinner. The ongoing heat wave had touched Reckong Peo as well and Sudhanshu provided stand fan. We ended our day at Peo and had a comfortable sleep.

Woke up next day to a beautiful sunny morning at Peo.



It was Day 6 of our tour. There was no hurry as our plan was to reach Nako and stay there for the night. Many go till Tabo from here. Previous day I had filled fuel from the petrol pump of Reckong Peo. So we took our time to get ready, had breakfast and left for Nako.

[Mile_Breaker]

We left Reckong Peo at 9:30 am, came down to Powari and turned left towards Nako. Soon came across a beautiful waterfall called Kassang Nala. Spent some time there and moved on.





The surrounding beauty compelled us to pause our journey every now and then. River Sutlej in flowing through the mountains.



Wife wanted to have some fun at one unnamed waterfall which we had all to us.



We reached Pooh around noon and decided to stop at Lungta cafe for coffee and snacks. For everyone's information there is a fuel station available at Pooh, the only one I saw between Reckong Peo to Kaza.



Our next stop was Khab Sangam bridge where Spiti river meets the Sutlej. Excitement was at peak as this is the first we came across river Spiti !



Post crossing the Khab bridge, the landscape started changing from green to barren as we progressed more and more towards Nako.



From Khab it is a steady climb to Nako which is at a height of roughly 12,000 ft.



Finally the Nako village came to our sight ! Look at the barren mountains, the village is almost obscure.



We reached our stay at Hotel Zambala around 2:30 pm. The hotel is located just beside the Nako lake.



The streets of Nako village were very narrow. One must drive with caution so as not to scratch the car at the corner of the house or boundary wall which are made by stack of stones.



We went out to explore Nako village. Completed a walk around the lake first.



Found a restaurant called Knaygoh with some unique decor and went in and had our first chicken momos of the tour.





Post our momo episode we walked up the hill and reached "I Love Nako" point. The entire village and the lake was visible from the top.



A further hike took us to the top most point where there was a large prayer wheel rotated by the force of wind.



We kept exploring the village through the maze of stone houses and finally reached the Nako Monastery.







At night we had a very simple vegetarian dinner at the hotel. It was very cold outside. Sufficient blanket and quilt were provided in the room. At Nako we were still in Kinnaur district. Next day we would enter Spiti valley. With that thought we ended the sixth day of our tour.

[Mile_Breaker]

Nako to Tabo via Gue Monastery

We woke up to a very wet morning on Day 7 of our tour. The distant snow clad peaks had received fresh snow. Chill wind was blowing. By 7:30 am weather cleared up and soon we were on our way to Tabo.

The peaks after receiving fresh snow.



At Nako Helipad.



Tabo is at a lower height than Nako, the winding way takes one down.



Malling Nallah is pain no more. Thanks to BRO !



After about an hour drive we reached Sumdo checkpost. It is the official entry point to Spiti valley. Need to register car number, name, contact number at the checkpost.



Very soon the detour towards Gue Monastery came up on our path. It was clearly marked hence easy to identify. However this detour till Gue monastery is one of the few stretches of bad road that we encountered in Spiti.



Gue was windy and cold. The monastery was closed, hence could not go inside.



Saw the almost 800 year old mummy of buddhist monk Sangha Tanzin Wasa. It was placed inside a small room outside the main monastery. Hair, tooth, nails could still be found on the mummy, naturally preserved.



We returned to the main highway again through that broken road and reached Tabo by 1 PM. We checked in at our hotel Maitreya Mudhouse.



The room given to us was huge and with a balcony. The hills and Tabo caves were visible through the large windows of the room and ofcourse from the balcony.





Tabo is a very small place, everything is within walking distance. Our hotel was located just next to Tabo old and new monastery. We visited the old mud monastery. It is very unique in its structure. We went inside and also walked around the complex.



Post lunch we went up to Tabo caves. It took us altogether one hour to go, visit and come back at a leisurely pace and on foot.



We spent much of our evening time seating outside the monastery and watching people.



Tabo to Pin Valley (Sangnam & Mudh village) via Dhankar Monastery

Next day which was Day 8 of our trip, we prepared to leave for Pin valley. We visited the Tabo monastery one last time to watch a festival that was in progress.




Our next destination after Tabo was Dhankar Monastery which is located on a cliff and reminded me of the movie "Where Eagles Dare". On our way we stopped beside the Spiti river.



Some eye catching shapes formed over millions of years of erosion were found on the way to Dhankar.



Distant view of Dhankar Monastery !



View of the valley from inside the Dhankar Monastery.


The car parking at the monastery was small and occupied by group Travellers. I parked our car some distance before to avoid the chaos.



Post Dhankar we proceeded towards Pin Valley.

Previous night at our hotel in Tabo we had met another family from Kolkata. They mentioned about the bad road condition of Pin valley and how the driver of their rented car refused to go and turned back. Glad that I had my Hexa with high GC and super comfortable suspension. I was only mindful for the entire length of 30 km from the gate of Pin valley till Mudh village to avoid sharp stones. The view made up for the bad roads !



We crossed the Sangnam village and then the Tailing bridge which was a hanging bridge over Pin river.



The road continued to be bad with breathtaking views.



Finally reached Mudh village.



Parked our car and went by foot till the end of the road where there was a glacier.



Valley view.



Our stay in Pin valley was booked at Shanta Rakshita Homestay which was located near Sangnam village. So after spending some time at Mudh , we turned back. Our homestay at Sangnam was around 13 km from Mudh. The view from the homestay was excellent !



Two more couples also came to stay. We spent a nice evening chatting and retired to our room for the night. Dinner served was very simple and vegetarian.



The following morning we started for Kaza. It was 1st of June and Loksabha election day in Himachal. On our way to Kaza we found many local people asking for lift. May be that is the practice as public transport is not frequent. We gave ride to a student , her name was Dolma.

As we left the breathtaking Pin Valley !

[Mile_Breaker]

Kaza, Chicham bridge, Kibber village

The next three days i.e. day 9, 10 and 11 of our tour was based out of Kaza. It took little time to reach Kaza from our homestay at Sangnam village.



The first thing I did after reaching Kaza was to fill up the tank. Luckily it was not so crowded that time and we didn't have to wait for long.



Mandatory photo. This point is just next to the Petrol pump.



Kaza Monastery is just opposite to the "I love Spiti" point.



Our stay, Hotel Deyzor, was very near to the petrol pump.



The hotel as my wife described was like an art gallery.



We had reached our hotel quite early and had to wait till the previous guest checked out. Meanwhile we took breakfast. We left soon after checking into the room and headed for Chicham bridge. It was very cold and windy there.



After our photo session with the bridge, we drove for sometime towards Losar passing the Chicham village.



Went through the Kibber village on our way back to Kaza.



Later in the evening went to Kaza market and found my reward !



Ended the day with a glass of seabuckthorn juice.



Key Monastery & Tashigang

On our second day in Kaza, we first visited the Key or Kee Monastery. Inside the monastery they serve hot tea to the guest. I had one. It was welcoming in that cold.



Proceeded next towards Tashigang village which featured as the world's highest polling booth in 2024 Loksabha election.



This place rarely gets visitor, but the journey offers awesome views. There was no proper road, so needed to drive carefully. Many off road trails could be seen. Because of height my wife started feeling uncomfortable. About 4 kms before Tashigang , I decided to turn back.



We went to Kaza market and straight to the famous Himalayan Cafe. This cafe is quite famous and the dishes we tried were indeed superb !
This is a must visit in Kaza. We took chicken steak and meat shapta with TingMo. Photo of the latter below.



Evening was special. It was my birthday. Wife and daughter arranged for a small cake through Karanbir, owner of Hotel Deyzor and we had a small celebration.



Langza, Komic Village and Hikkim

The first place we visited on our last day in Kaza was the fossil village of Langza and the Buddha statue located at a height of 14,300 ft.



Then proceeded towards Komic which is the highest motorable village in the world.



Outside of Komic Monastery !



Okay ! you have to be convinced with the "highest" tag !



Our last stop was special. World's highest post office at Hikkim.



it was crowded.



World's highest postmaster at work. Before our trip started we planned and bought a pen for him . He was very happy when my wife gifted him the pen and his happiness made us happy too!



We posted our letters.



For lunch we visited Cafe Piti in Kaza market. It had a beautiful seating arrangement both inside and outside. We took mutton fried momo, meat thenthuk and butter tea.





We had planned for a late evening visit to Langza for clicking the milky way, but cancelled it as I was feeling feverish may be due to dust. Worth mentioning here that it was very windy and dusty in Spiti. Something like from the first few scenes of Intersteller. While in Kaza, this was how I looked to save myself from dust allergy!



However wife managed to capture milky way through the window of our room.



Day 12 of our trip, we left Kaza for Reckong Peo. Karanbir handed me a parting gift. A fossil similar to below.



As we bade adieu to Kaza!

[Mile_Breaker]

Kaza to Reckong Peo

We left Kaza around 8:30 am on Day 12 of our trip. Reached Nako in around 4 hrs. From Nako , it was 2.5 hours to Peo. We took breaks at Nako, Sumdo and Pooh. Before leaving Kaza I had once again filled my tank, hence there was no need to visit pump again at Reckong Peo. We stayed in the same Wanderer's Homestay as we did during onward journey. After witnessing dry and rugged mountains of the cold desert of Spiti for these many days, the green hills were soothing to the eyes.



Reckong Peo to Narkanda

Next day which was Day 13 we started for Narkanda. Stopped for lunch at Nau Nabh Heritage Palace , Rampur Bushahr. Had a very tasty mutton rara.





We stayed at Tethys Ski resort, Narkanda. Except that the food there was tasteless, I liked the property.



Narkanda to Chandigarh

On Day 14, filled up fuel at the beautiful Urja petrol pump right after leaving Narkanda. On our way back, we didn't face much traffic in Shimla. From Narkanda we had started around noon and reached our hotel at Chandigarh by 7 pm. We had stopped twice. Once for lunch and another for HP juice break. We again reunited with my mother who reached from Jalandhar.

Chandigarh to Lucknow

Left early from Chandigarh on Day 15 and reached Lucknow by evening. This time stayed at Hotel Golden Tulip. Went to the Mughal's Dastarkhwan. The fried mutton chops and Shahi Tukra were yumm !





Lucknow to Bodhgaya

The long tour was coming to an end and everyone wanted to slow down. We left Lucknow at noon. Reached the junction of Gaya on NH19 and took a detour of 25 Km to Bodhgaya. Stopped there at Hotel Bodhi Palace for the night on Day 16 of our journey.

Modified Thar at the hotel.



Bodhgaya to Kolkata

Surprise came on last day i.e. Day 17. Met fellow BHPians Haisaikat (middle) and s_scorpion (right) who were also returning from Kumaon.



We continued and took our lunch at Shaan e Punjab and tea break at Shaktigarh. Finally concluded our journey with an odo reading of 5339 Km at 9 PM.

Conclusion

In this part of Himachal the road is too good. Except some bad stretches in Spiti (some small stretches in Shimla to Kinnaur, Gue Monastery, Dhankar to Pin valley, Chicham bridge, Tashigang, Komic to Hikkim, Hikkim to Kaza) overall road condition is excellent. Ofcourse I didnt go to Kaza Manali & Chandratal route hence not including. That route opened up after 2nd June. Kudos to our Hexa and the new tyres which performed top class ! I had a worry how the AC will fare in that 45 degree plus heatwave when we passed through Chandigarh, UP, Bihar but it never failed to keep us cool.



Finally, a big thank you to my wife and daughter whom I take through these long travels and troubles to satiate my driving urges, but they always make sure that I feel special !

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[HappyWheels]

Belated birthday wishes, @mile_breaker.

Great photos and narration.

Hexa is a vehicle meant for such trips; being put to the right use here. Are you still on OEM lights or have you done any changes to it?

[shourya_lahiri]

What a beautifully written travelogue. A Tata Hexa with AT tires should not stop you from going anywhere.
Superb photos also. Wish you could take your Hexa to the Chandratal route next time.
Cheers.

[reignofchaos]

Lovely photos and narrative. I did this trip last year and it seems roads have improved by leaps and bounds since then. The roads to enter kinnaur were terrible and considering we were in my ultra low ground clearance(143mm) v40 managed it, in a hexa it would have been an absolute cake walk.

[edunata]

Beautiful pictures, nice writeup. This travelogue rekindled my Spiti plans, which I had made last year, but had to reroute to Nepal due to time constraint.
Again I have started planning. Thanks for this detailed writeup.

[Samba]

It’s always pleasing to read a travelogue on Spiti or Ladakh.
What a lovely trip to enjoy with the family. Plus the blue Hexa looks beautiful in this terrain.
Wish you many more such happy holidays in the future & we hope to get such lovely travelogues like this from time to time.

A couple of memories with my Etios from Kaza!

At Tashigang



At Kaza - Manali highway just after crossing the Kunzum top.

[vijayols]

@mile_breaker Happy Birthday.

The blog had lovely photos and very detailed. A trip to Spiti is always so unique and breathtaking.

[NomadicLife]

Oh, what a wonderful travelogue, I could feel your passion and was with you all the time. Each description of the places and the food tells me how much you love the place and its delicacies. I searched for the LIKE button for each of the photos you took.

Wish to see more of such beautiful travelogues

[Neversaygbye]

Your TL made for an engrossing read on a Saturday morning. It has just the right balance of details and descriptions with excellent photos to boot! The Milky Way photo was especially amazing - we don't get to see that in most places these days.

It's great how you utilize the full potential of your Hexa. I would have bought this car had it still been around. Your TL has made me think of doing this trip again (i visited many of these places back in 2011) and maybe also do Chandratal while I'm at it.

Thanks once again for sharing this wonderful travelogue!