Travel style · Spiti & Lahaul
Photography in Spiti & Lahaul
Light, height and the right hour
Trips built around light: first sun on Khangchendzonga from Pelling, star skies over Chandratal and Hanle, prayer halls at dawn, apricot blossom in April. With notes on where photography is not allowed.
Photo: Adarsh Patel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · CommonsMountain light changes fast. The best of it is the first and last hour, which means early starts and evenings without a long drive.
Spiti and Lahaul form one high district of Himachal Pradesh behind the Pir Panjal. Spiti is a rain-shadow desert at 3,000–4,500 m with thousand-year-old gompas and fossil villages; Lahaul is greener, reached in two hours from Manali through the Atal Tunnel. Go June to September, by HRTC bus and homestay or by private car.
Trips
Photography trips in Spiti & Lahaul
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Comfort
Spiti circuit: Kinnaur in, Kunzum La out
Private SUV with driver
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Saver
Spiti village homestays: Dhankar to Langza
Shared car to Kaza, then local buses and short taxi transfers
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Signature
Gompas of Spiti, in and out by Kinnaur
Private SUV with driver, private guide
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Signature
Slow Spiti and Lahaul with a private guide
Private SUV with driver, private guide
7 places
Where to go
Photo: Adarsh Patel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Chandratal
The crescent moon lake, open June to early October
Photo: John Hill · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Dhankar
Spiti's old capital, a gompa on a cliff above two rivers
Photo: This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves. … · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Jispa
A riverside stop on the Manali–Leh road at 3,200 m
Photo: Pranav perspective · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Key Gompa and Kibber
Spiti's largest gompa and the village where snow leopards winter
Photo: Madhumita Das · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Langza, Hikkim and Komic
Fossil slopes, a high post office and a 4,587 m village
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Nako
A lake village and 11th-century temples on the road to Spiti
Photo: 11th century West Tibetan painter Photography … · Public domain · Commons
Tabo
A working monastery founded in 996 CE, painted inside
Experiences
Days that fit the style
Photo: Adarsh Patel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Morning walk around Chandratal
Walk from the camps to the lake and around its shore at sunrise, when the water is still and the crescent reflects the …
Photo: John Hill · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Kunzum La and its roadside shrine
Stop at Kunzum La, about 4,590 m, between Spiti and Lahaul, where drivers circle the small shrine to Kunzum Devi and th…
Photo: Gerd Eichmann · CC BY 4.0 · Commons
Dal and rice at a Batal dhaba
Eat with drivers, bikers and trekkers at Batal, the tiny stop where the Chandratal road leaves the highway. Hot dal, ri…
Photo: John Hill · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Inside the cliff-top gompa of Dhankar
Climb through the narrow rooms of Spiti's old capital monastery, perched 300 m above two rivers, and see why conservati…
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Hike to Dhankar Lake
A steep climb of about an hour from Dhankar village to a small high lake with views of the Manirang peaks. Short, hard …
Photo: Arup1981 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Lhalung village and its old temple
A quiet side valley above Dhankar leads to Lhalung, a farming village with an old temple full of clay figures. Few visi…
Photo: This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves. … · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Morning walk on the Bhaga riverbank
Walk the gravel flats and willow groves along the Bhaga below Jispa at first light, with snow peaks above and the Leh r…
Photo: This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves. … · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Jispa village lanes and gompa
Walk up from the highway into the village, past potato and pea fields, to the small gompa that serves Jispa's families.…
Where to sleep
Stays in these places
Photo: Tim Dellmann · CC BY 3.0 · Commons
Budget
Tabo Monastery Guest House
A plain guesthouse run beside the 996 CE monastery complex in Tabo. Simple rooms, some with shared bathrooms, a sh…
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Budget
Langza homestays
Langza's farming families open their homes to travellers at about 4,420 m, below the Buddha statue and Chau Chau K…
Photo: Ksuryawanshi · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Budget
Kibber homestays
Kibber, on a plateau above a deep gorge at about 4,270 m, has a good number of family homestays. In summer they ar…
Photo: This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves. … · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Mid
Padma Lodge, Jispa
A popular comfort stay on the Bhaga river at Jispa, 22 km beyond Keylong. Wood-finished rooms and riverside tents,…
Photo: Adarsh Patel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Mid
Chandratal camps
A group of seasonal Swiss-tent camps in the designated camping area a few kilometres before Chandratal. Beds, heav…
Photo: This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves. … · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Luxury
Hotel Ibex, Jispa
The most established hotel in Jispa and one of the best in Lahaul, beside the Bhaga river on the Manali–Leh road. …