Raacho Trekkers
Cherring’s Homestay is located in Kibber village of the Spiti Valley. It has traditional Spitian home decor and furnishing. Rooms are spacious and have good natural lighting.
To book a room at Cherring’s homestay please visit Airbnb link.
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Kinnaur in northeast Himachal, surrounded by Tibet in the east, is the least explored and the second least populous district, after Lahaul & Spiti, in Himachal Pradesh, India. The old Hindustan-Tibet road, the ancient Silk Route, passes through Kinnaur along the banks of Sutlej River. Kinnaur Kailash is a peak (6500 meters) in Kinnaur, considered the abode of Lord Shiva, and sacred to Hindus & Buddhists. The Kinnaur Kailash Parikrama trek is one of the toughest in the Himachal Himalayas.
Most of Kinnaur is inaccessible mountainous area cut-off from the rest of the world. The valleys of Sutlej, Bispa, Spiti rivers and their tributaries are some of the most gorgeous ones I’ve seen! Ropa valley near Puh/ Pooh is famous for shawl-weavers, apple orchards, and the finest metal artisans.
Kinnaur is the most tribal part of Himachal, and the people, called Kinners, have lived in isolation since thousands of years and have a strong culture, heritage & religious beliefs. They mostly follow Hinduism or Buddhism and speak a dialect of the Tibeto-Burman family known as Kinnauri and wear distinct green caps.
On the banks of Ropa river is the tiny beautiful village of Rusklang. Houses, streets and almost everything made of wood and stone, apple orchards and a bunch of warm & friendly people 🙂
Walking around in the village we met a family who invited us over for tea and generously served walnuts & almonds from their crop. They even brought out the traditional Kinnauri costume they wear during festivals, for us to see! Excited to see such exotic hand-made textiles and jewelry, we asked if one of them would dress up for us, and they obliged with much more! They dressed up one of us and we all had a good laugh 🙂
A Kinnauri traditional dress is a handwoven woolen shawl with a bright colored border, wrapped around the body with pleats at the back. A hand-stitched green jacket worn over it with the green cap and finished with traditional hand-made intricate gold and silver jewelry.
Rusklang was my first experience of a village in Kinnaur. And the untouched natural scenic beauty & the heartwarming experience with the people made it a memorable one!
After trekking for what seemed like most part of the day from Thangi & Lambar, we reached Charang – a delightful little village. I had no clue what lay ahead of us – the Kinnaur Kailash Parikrama!
One of the most challenging, once in a lifetime adventures I’ve had in the Himalayas. A day at Charang village and monastery was the best part of the trek, blissful!
The parikrama(circuit) of the holy Kinnaur Kailash peak starting from Charang village in Tidong valley and ending at Chitkul village of Baspa valley. Charang-La aka Charang-Chitkul pass forms the drainage divide between the Tidong & Baspa or Sangla valley of Kinnaur.
Kinnaur is the most beautiful and least explored part of the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh, India. Surrounded by harsh mountains, Charang is a small village of wood and mud houses at an altitude of 3500 meters in Morang, accessible only by foot, a beautiful trek through Thangi and Lambar. Less than a hundred families live in Charang and every home here has solar panels, their only source of electricity. They have been living here in this remote corner of the Himalayas, with almost no connection from the outside world. Proximity to Tibet has a Buddhist influence on the people and culture here. The PWD guest house is a great place to stay with the beautiful view of the river, chorten & the village in the distance. The gorgeous village and heart-warming people were as much a delight as the amusing kids! 🙂
A two-hour trek from Charang village is the ancient Rangrik Monastery – one of the most sacred and beautiful monasteries in India, in my next post.
My first ever trek was to Kedarnath in Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand, a small town in the Garhwal Himalayas flanked by snow-covered peaks, famous for its Shiva temple. Almost a decade later when I got the opportunity to do the Kinner Kailash Parikrama trek, I was thrilled! After traveling in public transport, bikes, and cars, what I enjoy the most is to walk.
Beginning of the trek to Charang, from Thangi through Lambar in Morang is a moderate one; the challenge starts after crossing Lalan Ti pass all the way to Charang La pass till you reach Chitkul. It is one of the more challenging & difficult treks in the Himalayas in Himachal, once in a lifetime experience!
Charang is a delightful little village near the Indo-Tibet border in Kinnaur – the less explored & non-touristy part of Himachal Pradesh in India. The Kinner Kailash Parikrama is considered incomplete without receiving blessings at the ancient 11th century Charang monastery also called the Rangrik Shungma – the holiest temple of Kinnaur.
Just 2 kms from the Charang village, it’s more like a stroll on a narrow path along the river up to the monastery. And we walked leisurely, through fields surrounded by harsh rocky mountains, chatting with the friendly locals we met on the way.
It’s a gorgeous monastery made of mud, stones, and wood but very different looking than any other I’ve visited before. Once a center of learning & worship, it has some of the oldest Buddhist texts, murals, and Thangka paintings. Brightly colored flowers manicured all around the temple complex and a room with a collection of bone and ivory knives & daggers, which only men could view!
Two Buddhist nuns take care of the monastery and live there; they greeted us with endless cups of butter tea! One of the nuns at the monastery was suffering from fever and chapped lips caused by the extreme cold and dry weather at that altitude. We offered her some medication and she remembered my brother! Pointing at the holy thread around his neck, as she could barely talk with her broken lips, she said, “Oh I remember you. You were here last year and had offered some medicines then too! How have you been? You are still wearing the holy thread; get a new one this time. It’s so nice to see you again!”
Sipping on delicious tea amidst conversations I wondered how it would be to live in this remote little place tucked deep within the mighty Himalayas cut off from the world, with nothing but the beauty and fury of nature. And as exciting as it felt, I shivered at the thought of it. But in retrospect, I guess this thought prepared me mentally for what was ahead of us – the Kinner Kailash Parikrama! And I feel fortunate to have had this opportunity. It would be another challenging experience to visit Charang in winter, all covered in snow!
This arduous trek was special in so many ways and it got even more memorable. One of my landscape images (Panorama from Charang La pass – beginning of this post) of the Kinner Kailash Parikrama Trek, adorns a center spread in the book Guge – Ages of Gold! The book is by Peter Vam Ham, a Frankfurt-based author, and photographer who has researched Himalayan culture for nearly thirty years and documented it in a dozen books to date. It showcases breathtaking views of the temple complexes, relics from the era that have survived to the present day, from both the Indian and the Tibetan side of the old Kingdom of Guge. I feel honored and it inspires me to travel more and share my stories! 🙂
The signboard read “हिंदुस्तान का आखरी ढाबा” (The last dhaba of Hindostan) as we reached Chitkul after witnessing some amazing views of Sangla village and exploring the trail to Chitkul village beside the Baspa river.
Kinnaur, the land of the mythological Kinnauras is almost divided in half by the Sutlej/Satluj River. Due to its geographical setting, Kinnaur has two distinct climatic zones – the wet and the arid.
| Elevation (meters): | 3450 |
| Location: | Baspa valley, Kinnaur |
| Best time to visit: | May to October |
| Attractions: | Baspa river, Chitkul Mata Temple Ranikanda & Dumti |
| Treks/Hikes around Chitkul: | Lamkhaga pass trek, Trek to origin or Baspa river, Borasu pass trek, Ranikanda meadows hike, Dumti meadows hike, and Nagasti camp trail |
Only the area south of the Great Himalaya (Sutlej & Baspa valley) receives monsoon rains.
In the upper reaches of the district, the monsoon showers progressively decrease and one can notice the beginning of the completely arid zone from Spillo and Kanum village.
Chitkul is located in the wet climatic zone of the Kinnaur district. The road to Chitkul village diverges from Karcham–a small town on National Highway 5– that is around 180 km from the state capital Shimla.
The winding road along the Baspa river is pothole-ridden & narrow. There are two landslides zones, one near the Karcham dam and second at Rutrang, just below the Sangla town.
During the rainy season(July-August), the valley turns foggy, reducing the visibility & falling boulders makes driving dangerous through the landslide zones.
The 22km journey from Sangla village to Chitkul is nothing short of a roller coaster ride when it’s done with HRTC buses, thanks to the bumpy pathways.
Chitkul found its place in the limelight when the people got to know that it is the last village of Himachal Pradesh & Kinnaur as well. The last doesn’t mean there is no human settlement beyond Chitkul. There are two ITBP posts, first at Nagasti which is around 2 kilometers from Chitkul and the second one at Dumti which is around 7 kilometers from Chitkul on Indo- Tiber border.
With a lot of tourists flocking this village every day, it isn’t the same remote and peaceful village it used to be several years back as a lot of commercial guest houses and eateries have come in here.
Though Chitkul is a lovely place, it’s the first view that may seem to a dampener after Sangla and Kamru in terms of natural beauty after all the buzz about Chitkul. Some irresponsible tourism and rampant construction have made this village a thriving business for a few.
After reaching Chitkul, we met the Lamkhaga pass group with Happy Negi, Rajiv, and Sonu Negi and checked into a guest house.
We were ten trekkers and the plan was to start the Lamkhaga pass trek the next day from Chitkul. The group of five from Pune had booked a SUV from Chandigarh and reached Chitkul a few hours before us. Kohinoor and Hiren from the group were telling me how calm and serene Chitkul used to be two years back when they both had come here during a bike trip. Aditya from Bangalore had reached Chitkul two days prior to the trek for better acclimatization. Anand had rested for a day in Kalpa before boarding the bus from Reckong Peo to Chitkul, and we had met Anand on the bus that we had boarded from Sangla to Chitkul.
After lunch and some rest, the five-member Pune group decided to hike up a few kms for their acclimatization walk till the ITBP check post, while Anand, Gautham, Aashish and I were out to explore Chitkul, starting with the Mathi devi temple.
We reached the Mathi devi temple to find two small kids– Anirudh and Rishabh. Anirudh, with all his childish innocence, was telling Rishabh how Katappa had killed Bahubali in part 1 and the revenge that had followed on part 2. With the Bahubali fever gripping the entire nation in May (Bahubali part 2 had released in May 2017), I could never imagine that it’s waves would have reached the last village of India. This was one of the cutest memories I can recall from my Chitkul visit as Anirudh in all his innocence narrated a few scenes to his friend. Probably for the first time in my life, I felt motivated to go and watch a masala movie the way Anirudh had described it.
After a quick introduction, Anirudh and Rishabh become our tour guides for Chitkul. They proudly announced to their family members on the way that they have made friends with tourists and are taking them around. The children took us to two more temples which according to them had some more statues, but the temples were closed. Nevertheless, we had a great time there playing and clicking pictures with some more kids in the temple corridor. After some time, the kids took me around the village and though there was nothing much in the village, I ended up seeing their homes, post office and meeting more kids in playgrounds. Then we reached the spot where a lot of children were playing cricket and an excited Anirudh joined them for fielding.
While Aashish and Anand were playing there, Anirudh and Rishabh took me to the nearby playground where more kids were playing volleyball. After some 10-15 minutes in this place, the most unexpected thing happened and I ended up twisting my ankle during the volleyball game. With a strenuous 100km Lamkhaga Pass trek setting to start the next day, I was just hoping that this ankle sprain doesn’t turn out to be a show stopper and some kind of magic happens before the trek.
In an attempt to keep things moving, Anand and Aashish tried convincing me that the pain must subside in a while and that we could just move around the valley. So we moved towards the Baspa river and were joined by Gautam there. After 10-15 minutes of limping, I finally managed to reach the Baspa river. The views from this spot were beyond amazing. After some more time there, I decided to give some rest to my ankles and limp back to my guest house. The rest of the day went by as the people in the guest house tried out all possible things from hot water massage, few drops of kerosene to mustard oil massage to get my legs back to shape and to prevent swelling in my ankles.
The night just went by. It was 20th May 2017, and as per schedule 10 of us were to start for the Lamkhaga pass trek from Chitkul in the morning after our breakfast. I woke up that day with an even more painful ankle. Thanks to the encouragement provided by Gautam ji and timely medicines by our group pharmacist Kohinoor Indrani, I was able to make up my mind to go ahead with the trek with a crepe bandage and some painkillers. After breakfast in Chitkul, we finally moved further up and in a few minutes, Chitkul was out of our view.
The sojourn in Chitkul will stay in my memory for a long time. The time spent with the kids, the mesmerizing views near the Baspa river, badly twisting my ankle and finding the encouragement and support to move ahead with a strenuous trek are few memories that I would cherish throughout my lifetime.
Chitkul is a tiny hamlet set in scenic surroundings. If you are visiting this place while touring around Kinnaur, leave behind only your footsteps here, and not the plastics or your garbage footprints. Irresponsible tourism and rampant commercialization have resulted in mountains of plastics in these remote villages of Kinnaur, which lack the facilities to recycle or process the non-biodegradable waste. Do your bit for the environment by carrying back any non-biodegradable waste along with you instead of littering them in these hills, alongside appreciating the scenic beauty of our “Incredible India”.
The wide U-shaped valley of Baspa offers a panorama of the colored landscape in different seasons. In August and September month the valley appears a green oasis in desolate Kinnaur region.
Chitkul is the last Indian habitation beyond which lay sheer wilderness. There are plenty of activities to do and a few places to visit. Major places of interest in and around Chitkul are Chitkul Mata temple, Chitkul fort, Buddhist temple, and Old houses in Chitkul village. There are many trekking & hiking routes leading from Chitkul village towards the Indo-Tibet border & Kinnaur-Garhwal border. The following are easy hiking trails in Chitkul
Below is the approach route for Chitkul: Delhi⇒ Shimla ⇒ Kufri ⇒ Narkanda ⇒ Rampur Bushahr ⇒ Karcham ⇒ Sangla ⇒ Rakcham ⇒ Chitkul. Shimla to Karcham route is on National Highway 5. From Karcham you need to take the right turn over the Karcham bridge to crossover into the Sangla valley.
Public transport: Direct buses to Sangla are available from Delhi, Chandigarh, and Shimla.
Chitkul is around 590 kilometers from Delhi and the travel through public transport may take 15 to 16 hours depending on the road and weather conditions.
Winter season starts from late October or early November. The chances of snowfall in the Chitkul region are high after November month. However, this region has witnessed snowfall as early as the first week of October as well. I would recommend late December to early March is the best time to witness the magic of snowfall in Chitkul village.
Normally the road to Chitkul remains open during December. In case, there is heavy snowfall, the road may get blocked for 3-4 days. It is advised to confirm the road status before planning travel to the valley. You can get the latest information by calling the helpline numbers of the district administration
Blog: by Sandhya Sourirajan
There are many hotels, homestays, and camps in Chitkul where you can get budget accommodation. Some of them are Zostel Chitkul & The Wanderer’s Nest. We can get you the best deals. Contact us!
There are many trekking routes leading from Chitkul village. The following mountain passes on the Kinnaur-Garhwal Himalayan range are high altitude crossover to Uttarakhand state.
The snowfall or winter season in Chitkul starts in early December(sometimes Chitkul gets snow even in November) and ends in early March. Occasionally the snowfall season gets stretched to the April month. Heavy snowfall often snaps road connectivity to Chitkul during the March month. The local administration and ITBP personal at Mastrang(near Rackcham) employ snow cutters & excavators to keep the traffic moving. Ping us to get the latest connectivity status.
Bewitching Baspa valley, Beautiful birch, and pristine pine forests, stark azure skies, leisure walk by the murmuring Baspa river, hiking trails around Chitkul, and gentle rolling meadows of Ranikanda makes Chitkul worth visiting.
Chitkul is connected to the rest of the world by a connecting road(Karcham-Sangla-Chitkul road). The connecting road from Karcham(located on National Highway-05) has many spots where landslips and falling boulders often cause recurring disruption which could last for many days( sometimes even for weeks!). Early snowfall in December month often snaps road connectivity to Chitkul. The local administration and ITBP personal at Mastrang(near Rackcham) employ snow cutters & excavators to keep the traffic moving. Ping us to get the latest connectivity status.
Chitkul village is situated in the south-eastern part of Himachal Pradesh. The village is around 250 kilometers far from the state capital, Shimla.
The last frontier village on the Indo-Tibetan border, Chitkul is often regarded as ‘the jewel of the Baspa valley‘. The English traveler and explorer Captain Alexander Gerard once proclaimed the Baspa valley the most spectacular of the Himalayan valleys. Chitkul is separated from Uttarakhand by the Kinnaur-Garhwal Himalayan range. The two most iconic landmarks of Chitkul are the Thola peak (P6565) and the Baspa river. The peak of Thola is prominently visible above the landscape of the village. The river Baspa, which gives its name to the valley, in its upper course, rolls effortlessly on pebbles with a soft murmur. Chitkul & Sangla was once the focal point of the traders and shepherds of Garhwal & Tons Valley. The numerous shepherds’ trails leading from Chitkul make it a backpackers and trekkers’ paradise.
HRTC and some private operators run buses on the Reckong Peo to Chitkul route. The departure time for the HRTC bus from Reckong Peo is 9:15 a.m. It takes about 4 hours to cover a distance of about 60 km (from the Reckong Peo bus stop to Chitkul). Another bus departs from the Reckong bus stop at 12:05 p.m. You can also get a taxi from the Reckong Peo taxi stop at a fair price.
By Road: A few ordinary (non-AC) Himachal State Transport (HRTC)buses depart late at night from the ISBT Kashmiri Gate. You can take a straight bus from Delhi to Sangla that leaves at 10 p.m. from Kashmiri Gate and drops you off at Sangla the next day at around 3:30 p.m.
The last bus from Sangla to Chitkul departs at 4:30 p.m. and takes almost an hour to cover a distance of 18 kilometers between Sangla and Chitkul. You can also hitchhike quite effortlessly on this route, or you can also get a taxi. You can also take a more comfortable route by taking a Volvo or AC bus to Shimla and taking a 7 or 8 AM ordinary bus from ISBT Tutikandi Shimla to Sangla.
By Air: Nearest Airport is Jubbarhatti, Shimla. Air India’s weekly flight departs from Delhi airport at 7:50 AM.
By Train: The nearest railway station is Shimla. The following is the departure schedule from Kalka.
| Train Name & Number | Departure from Kalka | Duration | Arrival at Shimla |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalka Shimla Special/52445 | 07:00 | 5h 55m | 12:55 |
| Kalka Shimla Passenger/52457 | 03:30 | 5h 25m | 08:55 |
| Himalayan Queen/52455 | 12:10 | 5h 20m | 17:30 |
| Kalka Simla Express/52453 | 06:20 | 5h 15m | 11:35 |
| Shivalik DLX Express/52451 | 05:45 | 4h 50m | 10:35 |
| Him Darshan Express/52459 | 07:00 | 5h 55m | 12:55 |
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