Spiti Valley: What Nobody Tells You Before You Go
Spiti is not a road trip.
It looks like one on Instagram. Long roads, dramatic skies, some prayer flags. But if you go expecting a road trip — if you're thinking Goa-but-colder — you will have a bad time.
Spiti is a slow demolition of expectations. About comfort, about connectivity, about what counts as a good day.
Here's what nobody tells you before you go.
The roads will humble you
The NH-505 through Kinnaur is one of the most dangerous roads in India by every metric. Single lane, carved into sheer cliff face, with trucks coming the other direction and rockfall a genuine daily occurrence.
This is not something you acclimatise to. You just learn to stop looking down.
Between Kaza and Chandratal, the road disappears entirely in places — you're driving on whatever surface exists between the rocks. Our Tempo Traveller bottomed out twice in 2025. Both times, everyone got out, pushed, laughed, got back in.
If you're the kind of traveller who needs to be comfortable to enjoy yourself, go somewhere else. If you're the kind who can find the story in the breakdown, Spiti will give you decades of material.
BSNL or nothing
Your phone will not work in Spiti. Not "spotty signal" — completely off.
BSNL prepaid SIMs work in Kaza and a few other spots. Everything else is silence.
This is a gift if you let it be. Most people spend the first day anxious about it. By Day 3, nobody's reaching for their phone at dinner. That's what Spiti does.
Tell your family you'll be unreachable for the middle four days. Set an out-of-office. Let go.
Altitude is real at Kunzum Pass
The circuit crosses Kunzum Pass at 4,551m. Most people on road trips don't think about altitude the way trekkers do, but you should.
The pass is not where you sleep — you cross it in a vehicle — but if you have any predisposition to AMS, the combination of altitude and the previous days' gain can catch you off-guard.
Drink water constantly. We carry an oxygen cylinder in the vehicle for crossings. If anyone feels genuinely unwell, we descend before anything else.
Chandratal is worth everything
I've seen a lot of high-altitude lakes. Chandratal — the Moon Lake — is different.
We camp at the edge of it, about 200 metres from the water. In the evening, after the day-trippers have gone (they clear out by 4pm), the lake becomes completely still. The reflection of the surrounding peaks is exact, mirror-quality.
On clear nights, the Milky Way is visible from horizon to horizon.
Nobody in our groups has ever been disappointed by Chandratal. The road to it is brutal. The lake makes it irrelevant.
What to actually bring
Layers, not bulky jackets. Temperatures can swing 25°C in a day in Spiti. You need to be able to add and remove.
Cash. ATMs exist in Kaza but are unreliable. Carry enough for your personal expenses.
A real book. Not a Kindle — a physical book. The experience of reading by lamplight in a Spiti homestay is something you'll remember.
Patience. Things will run late. Roads will close. Plans will change. The travellers who enjoy Spiti most are those who treat the disruptions as part of the experience, not obstacles to it.
One honest thing
We've run this circuit multiple times. The guests who get the most from it are not the ones who've researched the most, or who have the best gear, or who've been to high altitude before.
They're the ones who arrived ready to be surprised.
Spiti will surprise you. The question is whether you're open to it being different from the surprise you expected.