Plan The Cheapest Trip To Spiti Valley - A Trip To Discover Your Inner-self

A cold deserted place freckled with green patches, windswept landscape and villages with less people Spiti means The Middle Land, The land between India & Tibet.

Key Monastery - Spiti Valley

I started my trip from New Delhi by taking a direct bus to Reckong Peo via Shilma from ISBT Kashmiri Gate. You can book the same online on https://www.hrtchp.com/

(I won't recommend you the direct bus, Please read the full blog to know why)

When travelling to Spiti Valley by bus, you have to cross Reckong Peo where you take a night halt as you're not allowed to travel in night so the very next day by 5.30 am you have to take another bus to Kaza (Spiti Valley) which is another 8hrs of journey and this bus needs to be booked on the spot no advance or online booking allowed.

(Also to know how to make this trip possible at the cheapest price, Keep reading)

Now this Bus from Reckong Peo to Kaza is the only bus you'll get and so its crowded which obviously mean its really difficult to get any seat. This bus picks and drops n no of things on the way like picking letters and parcels from the post office, delivering news papers to the people in the village, picking each and every individual possible on the way as this is the only bus which runs in this area and finally reach Kaza by evening.

Due to the crowd in the bus we requested the conductor to allow us to sit on the roof top which is not allowed in the mountains but lucky us, he allowed us at certain places.

To know the bus timing and details please read this blog

How To Reach SPITI - The Most Offbeat Place In Himachal Pradesh

Now the main reason I won't recommend you to book direct bus from New Delhi to Reckong Peo is when you take bus from Recong Peo to Kaza, you wont get any seat in the bus and its really difficult to stand in the bus for 8hrs during this journey.

So the better way to book the bus from New Delhi is to book the bus from Delhi to Shimla, stay there for a night or reach Shimla by 3 to 4 am in the morning and then book the bus directly from Shimla to Kaza. This is the only bus to Kaza which goes by Reckong Peo where it halts for a night. Now the benefit you'll get by booking in this manner is that they reserve your seat from Reckong Peo to Kaza so that the next morning you dont have to rush to the bus. Also Please note this tickets can only be booked at the counter in Shimla and no kind of advance or online booking is available.

After reaching Kaza, you can book your stay at n no of places but I would personally recommend to stay in guest house as n no of people out here have converted their own home to guest house which will truly give you the feeling of locals.

To know any place better try to travel and stay with locals

Now the next difficult task is to get a bike on rent as its very less in no in that area and also while talking to the locals I discovered that due to the rule of Taxi union one person can only rent 2 bikes a day max even though he might have 5 or 6. This rule is very strange but this is what they were following when I reached Kaza.

So the evening we reached, we booked our bike and stayed at a guest house. You can find food and snacks over there at very nominal price.

Also do carry cash as the only SBI ATM available there is not functional most of the time and also dont forget to carry your winter wear and biking gears.

Next morning after waking up and drinking some morning tea, we started exploring Spiti Valley on the bike we rented (we were two of us), Starting from Langza

Langza will give you some breathtaking views and The Lord Buddha Statue over there in nothing less than a cherry on a cake. We were at Langza village for hrs exploring and admiring the beauty and capturing the same through our lenses

Next we moved towards Hikkim. Just google Highest post office in the world

Yes Hikkim has the World's highest post office at an elevation of 4440 metres, the tiny post office in the village of Hikkim connects a cluster of small villages in this isolated region to the rest of the world. Villagers come here to post letters or deposit money in their savings accounts also travelers who make it this far take pride in mailing their letters from the highest post office on Earth.

This was the last place we decided to explore at Day 1, So now the next day i.e Day 2 our first destination was Key Monastery, Undoubtedly one of the most popular place in Spiti Valley located on top of a hill at an altitude of 4,166 metres. It's 1000-year-old monastery which dates back to 1100 CE

This place will give you some kind of positive vibe, you're allowed to go inside and explore it (photography not allowed at certain places) My advice would be to take a proper time and reach this amazing monastery. You can talk to Monks over there about their life and the importance and value of this monastery.

From there We went to the next Location Kibber and by night we were back to the guest house to backpack and leave the very next morning.

Next morning we booked our bus tickets from Kaza to Shimla directly which went by Reckong Peo and then from Shimla back to New Delhi