Why this ride
1226 km from Shimla to Shimla, about 31 h 22 of riding. It goes by way of Kalpa, Nako, Kaza and Kunzum Pass. The highest point is about 5,050 m. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Spiti Circuit starting at Shimla
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 1226 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 31 h 22
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Road summary
A high-altitude loop from Shimla, Himachal Pradesh to Manali, Himachal Pradesh, via Kalpa. Key character: cold desert; monasteries; deep gorges. Surface: mixed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Shimla
Shimla is where the British came to escape the heat of the plains, and it still has the look of a Surrey town that took a wrong turn into the Himalaya. Built along a ridge at roughly twenty-two hundred metres, with pine and cedar trees and rows of red-roofed houses, it served as the summer capital of British India, and decisions affecting hundreds of millions of people were made here between May and October. The Ridge, an open promenade in the centre, is lined with Christ Church, a pale yellow neo-Gothic building of the 1850s, and the Mall, a long shopping street, runs alongside. Vehicles are restricted on the Mall and the Ridge, so you will park below and walk up.
Read the complete Shimla write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shimla is where the day begins. Next is Kalpa.
2. Kalpa
Kalpa is the place where mountains stop being scenery and become an argument. The village sits at about three thousand metres on a ledge above the Sutlej valley in Kinnaur, and directly across the gorge rises Kinner Kailash, a peak of over six thousand metres that Hindus and Buddhists regard as the winter home of Shiva. At sunrise and sunset the snow on its flanks turns pink, then gold, and the effect from the village rooftops is hard to forget. Apple and apricot orchards surround Kalpa, and in autumn the trees are loaded with fruit.
Read the complete Kalpa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kalpa comes up 80 km in. Next is Nako.
3. Nako
Nako is a village you reach after a day of mountain road, and you feel the effort as soon as you arrive. It lies at about 3,600 metres in the Hangrang valley of Kinnaur, in Himachal Pradesh, close to the border with Tibet. The village is built of stone and timber and clings to a hillside above a small lake, with willow and poplar trees around its edge and the great peak of Reo Purgyil standing in the distance, more than 6,700 metres high.
Read the complete Nako write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
161 km in you reach Nako. Next is Kaza.
4. Kaza
Spiti means the middle land, the place between India and Tibet, and Kaza is its capital in the way that a cluster of low whitewashed buildings in a very large landscape can be a capital. It lies at about thirty-eight hundred metres on the bank of the Spiti river, in a wide valley of grey and ochre mountains with almost no trees, where the sky is a hard dark blue and the air is thin and dry. The climate is cold desert, with snow in winter and little rain in summer, and the people live by barley, peas and yak herding, and by the monasteries that have shaped life here for a thousand years.
Read the complete Kaza write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kaza, about halfway. Next is Kunzum Pass.
5. Kunzum Pass
At 4,551 metres, Kunzum Pass is the gate between two worlds. On one side lies Lahaul, with the Chandra river and the green fringes of the Himalayan monsoon. On the other side lies Spiti, a high, dry cold desert where the mountains are bare and brown, the sky is absurdly blue, and villages sit in oases on the valley floor. The pass is the only road link between the two valleys, and it is closed by snow for much of the year, usually opening around June and shutting again by October or earlier.
Read the complete Kunzum Pass write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kunzum Pass sits at 321 km, about halfway. Next is Manali.
6. Manāli
Manāli is where the plains give up and the Himalaya begins in earnest. The town sits in the Kullu valley in Himachal Pradesh, on the banks of the Beas, among deodar forests and apple orchards, with snow peaks rising behind. Old Manali, across the river, is the quieter half, a tangle of lanes, wooden houses and cafes, and in the cedar woods above the town stands the Hadimba temple, a pagoda-like wooden shrine built in the sixteenth century and dedicated to a figure from the Mahabharata. The valley has long been a stopping place for traders, travellers and, more recently, backpackers and motorcyclists.
Read the complete Manali write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Manāli comes up 402 km in. Next is back through Kunzum Pass.
7. back through Kunzum Pass
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kunzum Pass write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
482 km in you reach back through Kunzum Pass. Next is back through Kaza.
8. back through Kaza
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kaza write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kaza, about halfway. Next is back through Nako.
9. back through Nako
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nako write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Nako sits at 642 km, late in the day. Next is back through Kalpa.
10. back through Kalpa
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kalpa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kalpa comes up 723 km in. Next is Shimla.
11. Shimla
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shimla write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Shimla. That is the ride.
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