hi there,
Recently in second week of July, I had this wonderful experience of riding my 100 cc bike through the region you are planning to visit. Kinnaur and Spiti both are very beautiful. I don't do that much research about the area, because I am a local from Himachal Pradesh. I felt happy when I read your post, I think you should visit this place, and better if you could have visiting in the month of July, because now it is rain everywhere. Although Spiti is a kind of desert with very less rain, but still in order to reach Spiti you probably have to face the rain.
I am sharing my 4 days and nights in Kinnaur and spiti experience here on steemit through articles. I wrote the first part yesterday only. It was about Sangla valley and Chhitkul village in Kinnaur. Next I will share about Nako lake, Tabo monastery,Dhanker monastery, Kaaza, Kee monastery(you share one photo of it), Kibber village, Langja village, Komik Village and finally Chander taal lake. I sharing the names here so that you can remember the beautiful places which you must visit.
As you are planning to go to Ladakh also, I would suggest you do it in a group of people. Because you won't find much help on those lonely cold desert roads. You can read my first post here: Four Days and Nights in the Cold Himalayan Desert- Kinnaur and Spiti - part1. Sangla and Chhitkul
and if you read it, let me know if you like it.I will post about the other places I named above very soon. All the best.
and remember to take warm clothes. Altitude sickness is not a problem in Kaaza and Spiti. The highest elevation on the whole road is at Kunzum pass(4590 m), but you do not feel lack of oxygen until you are hiking. But if you are very new to elevation, then keep the pills, and take it one day prior to you visit to the the elevated place. Larger chances of this sickness happening are in the Ladakh region. Following you for your traveling experiences.
hi, Thank you for the explanation, I don't plan to visit too many places,( kaza, kibber and dhakahar) depending on public buses avablitlty . I will be starting at manali and end at manali, Do you think I should stay in manali a little longer to get used with high altitude ( I will have an overnight sleep in manali though). I am looking into public buses timing , going to one place another to those places. do you know any?
It is a good idea to stay at Manali, a beautiful place, and also good for acclimatization. I think buses are limited on that route, better if you can rent a bike if you are a good biker, but don't if you are not, because the road is very very bad. There are number of water streams that are up to 1 feet deep. Better to opt for bus. Buses run from Kullu via Manali, and only in this summer season, in winter the Rohtang pass connecting Spiti gets snow covered.
Generally buses run in the morning time, because the streams get swelled with the higher discharge in the noon due to sun heat and therefore melting.
I will call someone to know the exact bus timings, wait for my message, I hope you are not in a hurry to know this.
Thank you very much, not in a hurry, if you can confirm , I would like to know whether I need a permit to travel those places ( manali , kaza, dhakhar , kibber), the information I found online are mixed . the bus timing I need to know is kaza to dhakhar (both ways ) and same for kibber. so that I can budget the cost of private taxi or car just in case.
So here is the update for you.
The bus to Kibber goes from Kaza at 4:00 PM and after dropping the passengers at Kibber it reaches back at kaza in the same evening.
There are probably two buses from Kaza to Reckong Peo one in morning and one in afternoon, and this part of the road is pakka road. They go via Dhanker but reportedly from a trekking distance of about 2 kilometers, and a road distance of about 8 kilometers. If you can trek that much, that won't be a problem. Yet I am not sure it can be that the bus goes via this small alternative route that runs through Dhanker itself, in that case you can step out of the bus next the gate of the monastery.
oh wow, thank you for the informations.thanks a lot.
If you want to travel by the bus, then you don't need the permit. you need it only when you have your own private vehicle.
I am trying to get that other part of information about bus from Kaza to Kibber and Dhankar, once I get, I will let you know. Kibber is only about 10 kms from Kaza, but Dhankar is somewhere near to 40 km, but road is relatively good after Kaza.
I am curious, why you want to visit Kibber? It was famous because it was the highest motorable road, but now Komik(only about 9 km from Kaza) after getting connected has become highest motorable road in the world.
Langjha(another nearby village) is also a very good option. you can stay there overnight in homestay and they charge only 600-1000 rupees(including meals) per person.
no reason , and I m up for other options too , just a few places around with great views, I will read up on the places that you mentioned.