This blog is for those who want to travel using public
transport to Spiti valley via Shimla only. Usually you will get lot of blogs
describing the itinerary from Manali but I have not discussed anything about
travel from Manali side in the blog.
We decided to visit spiti valley and kaza in October 2016( 9th
to 22nd Oct) just because we could get our leaves from office easily
in that time but if you have an option avoid going after mid of October to
Spiti valley since weather starts showing its cold side, especially in nights.
So following was the plan which was executed successfully:
Day 1: Mumbai-Delhi-Shimla: roam around in Delhi (if wish
to). Take the bus from ISBT Kashimiri gate to Shimla. We travelled in the
Himachal state transport Volvo bus which starts at 9:02 pm (sharp and this
sharp is actually sharp not a minute early or late).
You also have an option of catching the regular state
transport bus which goes to Rekong Peo via Shimla.
Day 2: Shimla-Rekong Peo: Get down at early morning in
Shimla ISBT and immediately catch the bus for Rekong Peo, note-> this is the
same regular state transport bus coming from Delhi mentioned in Day 1.
Bus reaches Rekong Peo at around 5 pm and here you have two
options either stay in Rekong Peo(very limited option but cheap) or go to Kalpa
which has lot of accommodation and is around 5 km above Kalpa.
You can either stay in Peo/Kalpa and explore Kalpa-Sangla-Chitkul or straight away head for Kaza.
We decided to stay in Rekong Peo since our objective was to
catch the next day early morning bus to Kaza(known as Kaza bus also). I suggest
to stay in Peo itself since it becomes very easy to catch bus next day.
One important thing needs to be done here in the evening, visit
the Peo main bus stand and try to get hold of the conductor who will be in the
Kaza bus next day. Do setting with him and he might keep seats reserved for
you. That is what I did and it helped me a lot.
Day 3: Rekong Peo-Kaza: Reach bus stand by 6:00 am max
because you will have to buy tickets. Bus starts around 7:00 am and reaches
Kaza by 6:00 pm.
Bus stops for breakfast and lunch so don’t worry about food,
but do carry some snacks with you.
Once you reach Kaza, Old Kaza has lot of places to stay but
we stayed at zhostels which is at the entrance of the city, note that zhostels
need to be pre-booked online.
Once you are in Kaza you will have to hire taxis for
visiting local places, internet is full of details as to what can be seen in
Spiti valley.
Last, we stayed at Kibber for two days (since we planned our
trek ahead, but due to weather we had to skip it). But staying at Kibber is a
very good option and I recommend to stay there at least for one day. We arranged
ourselves in a Home stay with Mr. Thinley( Cell No: +919418841713) a gentleman
altogether. He gave us a lot of intresting information about the local Spiti
culture and it is feels great to hear all those things from him. Surely this is
something you would never want to miss.
We completed the
circuit by travelling to Manali and then went for a trek to Bean kund.
