Himalaya only · Saver trips from ₹7,500
Try "Spiti", "snow leopard", "Char Dham", "homestay", "Tiger's Nest"
Himalaya only · eleven valleys, west to east
Villages packed onto the sunny side of a slope, joined by old salt, wool and pilgrim paths. We plan trips into eleven of them, from ₹7,500 Saver trips by shared jeep and homestay to the best lodges in the range.
Everest 8,849 m · Nanga Parbat to Namcha Barwa ≈ 2,400 km
The arc
From Kashmir in the west to Arunachal in the east, the Great Himalaya runs about 2,400 km. The dotted line follows its crest through twelve real summits. Hover a hive to see what it costs and when it is open.
Pick your price, keep the valley
Same valleys, same altitude rules, same planner. What changes is how you move, where you sleep and what you spend.
Trips from, per person₹7,500
The affordable Himalaya. Shared jeeps and state buses, homestays and government tourist bungalows, local food. Simple, safe, and planned so the money goes to the valley.
Trips from, per person₹38,000
A private car and a driver who knows the road, good three and four star hotels and the best homestays, with time built in for altitude and weather.
Trips from, per person₹1,10,000
The best hotels and lodges each valley has, a private guide, and slow days. The Himalaya at its most comfortable.
The affordable Himalaya
State buses, shared jeeps, homestays and government rest houses. Prices are per person from the start point, indicative 2026, with the trade-offs written down.
Saver trips
Saver trips
Saver trips
Good in November
Photo: Nadeem Hassan · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Home of the hangul, 22 km from Srinagar
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain · Commons
Trout river, timber villages and a UNESCO national park
Photo: Abhijit Kar Gupta from Kolkata, India · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Gandhi's ridge, a poet's birthplace and a 300 km wall of peaks
Photo: Saddam19 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Apple orchards, Thakali houses and the windy Kali Gandaki
Photo: SubrataEmfluence · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
A forest hamlet on the Ghum–Mirik road
Photo: Indrajit Das · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
A valley village of the Lachungpas, base for Yumthang
Photo: Christopher J. Fynn · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Hot springs and a cliff-top dzong at the edge of the high north
Photo: Chaduvari · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
West Kameng's hill town of gompas, orchards and birds
Field notes
Small, true facts from inside each hive, with the source named so you can check. They change each day.
Fotu La, about 15 km west of Lamayuru, is at 4,108 m the highest point on the Srinagar–Leh highway, higher than Zoji La and Namika La.
Source: Fotu La
Naggar Castle is traditionally dated to around 1460 and credited to Raja Sidh Singh of Kullu. It survived the 1905 Kangra earthquake and was converted into a hotel, now run by the state tourism corporation HPTDC.
Source: Naggar Castle
In the 19th century the geologist Ferdinand Stoliczka studied the rock formations near Mud village in Pin and named one of the layers the Muth succession.
Source: Spiti
Bal mithai was developed by sweet makers in Almora's Lal Bazaar in the early 20th century. A local legend says Kumaoni soldiers carried it to Burma in the Second World War, and one shop advertised branches in Burma.
Source: Bal mithai
The city's name comes from Kasthamandap, from Sanskrit kastha (wood) and mandapa (pavilion). Newar people call the city Yen, and older texts call it Kantipur, the city of light.
Source: Kathmandu
The name Mirik comes from the Lepcha words mir-yok, meaning a place burnt by fire.
Source: Mirik
Planners' picks
Photo: Fulvio Spada from Torino, Italy · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons
Comfort
Private car with driver
Photo: Anirvan Shukla · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Comfort
Private SUV with driver; local car in Padum where required
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain · Commons
Comfort
Private car with driver
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Comfort
Private SUV with driver
Photo: McKay Savage from London, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Comfort
Private car with driver
Photo: Skalvanov · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Comfort
Private car with driver
Photo: Gerd Eichmann · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Comfort
Domestic flights to Lukla, private car in Kathmandu, five days on foot
Photo: Auli Raha (অলি রাহা) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Comfort
Private car with driver
The almanac
Dark cells are the best months, pale cells are good, empty cells are closed or hard. A ₹ marks months when rooms and transport cost least.
Coming up
Photo: Ailiajameel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · CommonsLadakh celebrates its new year, Losar, about two months earlier than Tibet, in the eleventh Tibetan month. Fa…
Photo: Shivam Kumar 766 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · CommonsTwice a year the doors of Kedarnath change hands between summer and winter. In spring the Panchmukhi doli of …
Photo: Rahul Kumar Shakya · CC BY-SA 4.0 · CommonsTihar is the five-day Gorkha festival of lights, held around Diwali. Each day honours someone: crows, dogs, c…
Photo: (c) Johannes S., some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY 4.0 · CommonsA one-day community festival in the courtyard of Gangtey Goenpa in the Phobjikha valley that welcomes the bla…
Read before you go
Photo: Fulvio Spada from Torino, Italy · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons
Kashmiri food runs on mutton, rice, dried spices and milk-free gravies coloured with Kashmiri chilli and cockscomb flower. L…
Photo: Rodmantyler · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Almost every night in Spiti is above 3,000 m, and the high villages pass 4,400 m. Enter from Shimla through Kinnaur so your …
Photo: Gerd Eichmann · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Nepal is one of the cheapest Himalayan trips for Indian travellers. With a hostel bed, dal bhat and tourist buses, you can t…
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