Introduction
Planning a trip to Spiti and Kinnaur Valley along with Chitkul has been my best decision ever in the year of 2023. That too for my very good luck, I could visit this lovely Valley in the pre-winters time, the apple season i.e. the last week of October. The snowfall was yet to start here in these places, but mountains are already getting filled with beautiful snow caps, the temperature is getting lower and lower, people are getting prepared for the winters.
The Journey – Kalpa
As most of the tourists do, we started our Spiti trip from the Kinnaur side itself. We started from Haridwar after spending the best 10 days in Uttarakhand with fabulous treks and straight away took a HRTC to Reckong Peo via Shimla. Kalpa was our first destination and then straight away headed towards the most beautiful Himalayan Village, Chitkul.
Our day started by witnessing the lovely view of Kinnaur Kailash from our balcony followed by a tasty breakfast in our hotel. We were taking a HRTC from Kalpa to Chitkul. As we had the prior information we took the 8:30 AM bus to Reckong Peo, but further continued to Chitkul. After a 10 min halt at Reckong Peo we departed towards Chitkul.
What makes Chitkul Special
I was pretty excited for this journey because Chitkul is a unique travel destination for many reasons. It is the last inhabited village before the Indo-China border, almost 60 kms away from the border. The beautiful Baspa River flows beside the village with amazing stay options for tourists. The surrounding views of the giant snow capped mountains is a real treat to anyone’s eyes.
Cleanest Air Quality – India
The village is extremely small, with only a few houses and few homestays with a population of around 600. Most of them depend on tourism itself. It is mentioned that Chitkul has the cleanest air quality in India in a study by IIT Delhi, which is 30 times better than the air in New Delhi. We were lucky to witness the village with cleanest air quality along with the dirtiest too at the end of our trip. Even the tradition of Kinnaur Valley can be evidently seen in this village.
To cut short, a peaceful, very remote village with very less though very humble and hospitable localities, located far far away from the outside world with a lovely flow of the beautiful river Baspa makes it a proper destination for someone who loves to explore places with very less crowd and enjoy the true beauty of Himalayas.
One has to take Shimla road from Peo till Karchham Bridge and take the left diversion crossing the bridge which takes you to Sangla Valley, Rakchham and Chitkul, which is the last inhabited place in this area. This Hydroelectric Power Station just after crossing the bridge is a very important project for Kinnaur Valley.
Journey to Chitkul
Once you cross the Karchham Hydroelectric power point then welcome to the most deadly and dangerous roads of Kinnaur Valley. This entire stretch of 40km is near to hell. The road in this section is extremely narrow and you’ll be climbing up and within no time climbing down as well. Reckong Peo is at a height of 7,500 ft but Chitkul is at a height of 11,319 ft.
Buses, Military Vehicles, private taxis, localites keep moving through this road, as it is very narrow, one has to anchor at a point and give pass to the opposite vehicles. One side is the mountain and the other side is a deep ravine which makes this journey very dangerous. Once again you frequently get to see Half Tunneling, which is a special occurrence in Kinnaur Valley only.
Sangla Valley
After 17 kms you reach Sangla, which is another major tourist attraction in Kinnaur. Every vehicle heading towards Chitkul has to pass through this village. Once you cross this place, you barely find vehicles moving around and mostly you’ll be alone for the entire stretch. The next 32 kms is very harsh, narrow passes, broken roads but the scenic views of Baspa River and the mountains are fabulous. You cross the villages Batseri, Rakchham and finally reach Chitkul.
The last stretch of around 5-6 kms after crossing the IBEX camp is very beautiful. The red shaded grass and trees around are very beautiful, even the road condition is very good. You get many viewpoints of Chitkul and Baspa River on the way. It was so gorgeous before the winters, I can’t imagine how good it would be during the winters with snowfall all around.
Last Village of India
As you enter the village, you see quite a few houses and homestays. Mostly there are woodhouses which serve as homestays. At the center of the village is a bus stand where you can see many boards, The Last Village of India by SBI, India Post, etc. There’s also a restaurant which calls itself Hindustan ka Akhri Dhaba and it’s recommended to have your lunch here
Movie – Love Aaj Kal
The famous movie Love Aaj Kal by Imtiyaz Ali was shot here. The song Mehrama was shot in various parts of Chitkul and one can see the pictures of many actors’ pics like Karthik Aaryan, Sara Ali Khan in the Dhaba.
There actually aren’t many things to do or visit here in Chitkul, but spending time in this village itself is a different vibe. The peaceful atmosphere, weather all around, beautiful landscapes make it very special.
Exploring Chitkul
Our bus reached here exactly at 1:00 PM after a 4 hour ride from Reckong Peo and we had a great lunch in this dhaba. Though the time was 1-2 PM the weather was similar to the weather during 6 AM like in the south. It was extremely cold at that time already. There were not many tourists at that time. We straight away headed to look out for the stay and there were many options available.
Stay Options
There are many homestays along with some rooms in the main village area. Also if you go down, there’s the beautiful Baspa River flowing swiftly and there are many tent stays which have come up these days. I am not sure about the costs but yeah that would be a great offbeat option. But if you don’t have your vehicle, it would be tiring for you to go down and climb up whenever you need to visit the village.
We found a good hostel at a cheap cost which was maintained by the local people. Though food options were available they weren’t that great, so we roamed around other places for the food. After lunch we set out to visit the nearby places around the village.
The Lovely Baspa River and Scenic Views
We straight away went to the river side, as there was nobody around, it was so calm and so peaceful. It would be a proper place for couples to spend time at such places with no crowd most of the time. The best part of the rivers flowing in the Himalayas is that the water is formed by melting glaciers, so it would be damn cold and also the color would be too different. Also due to the unique stones all around, the water appears crystal clear and looks so beautiful.
I never miss a chance to drink the waters in such rivers originating from glaciers as it is very tasty and not polluted before it reaches me. Though it was cold it was worth drinking and we spent 1-2 hours just experiencing the calmness around and enjoying the beautiful landscapes all around.
Later we went out of the village to get a good view of the entire village. There is a board, The Last Village of India, some 1-2 kms away on Sangla Road where the landscapes are very good and I recommend visiting there in the morning to capture good clicks. We took good clicks there and came back to the village.
Water Run Flouring Machines
Another unique thing found only in Chitkul is the Water run flouring machines called Gharats. There are 7 such machines here and people use them for their daily needs which are located right above the place where water flows. Though the technology is so advanced and everyone uses motors for this purpose, Chitkul still follows this tradition.
The speed might be slow but it’s completely natural and has been in practice since a very long time. This small stream of water originates from somewhere in the mountains and flows through the village and joins the Baspa later. This is the magic of such rivers and streams, nobody actually knows their origin but they serve as a lifeline for the localities round the year.
Trekking & Culture
One more iconic thing about Chitkul is the lovely treks. The Lamkhaga Pass and Bhorasu Pass trek actually starts from Chitkul Village and takes you upto to Gangotri Glacier. You start from Himachal Pradesh and end up in Uttarakhand. Also with this trek route, there are also many other treks which you can continue to, or even start from Uttarakhand side and end up in Chitkul.
In the evening there was a ceremony taking place in the village. The people here believe in Chitkul Matha, the goddess who protects them from all harms. They were offering goats to the goddess and its blood too. Also they were carrying the head part to somewhere else. We found it awkward and even some villagers suggested not to go, still we had a look and came back soon.
Beautiful Evenings
The evenings in this village is the best part ever. On the river side there are giant mountains and the sun sets behind it. Once it sets, the snow capped mountains are lit by the dark shades of sunlight and the entire landscape looks tremendous. This is the best part of visiting Chitkul.
The nights here are too dark. As the population and the buildings are very less the lightings are very less and after 6 PM nobody comes out and it’s completely silent. We actually had a plan to stay here for another day before leaving for Nako, but we got news that the Shimla – Reckong Peo road has been blocked due to a landslide and it might take many days to clear it off. So we immediately started on the next day.
Road Blocks in Kinnaur Valley
This is the worst part of visiting Kinnaur. The roads get blocked even up to several weeks. All the villages around don’t get any supplies and hence it becomes difficult. All the necessary things come from Shimla and this is the only major connection, which lands this place in trouble.
Even during the winters, the road gets completely blocked and most of the days the road to Chitkul is covered with snow allowing no vehicles to enter. The villages are cut off from the outside world for almost 5-6 months due to heavy snowfall and even landslides.
I have read in the news that there was floods in the Baspa river destroying Rakchham and Chitkul completely. Many tourists were stranded in Chitkul and Rakchham. Later they were reduced by Indian Armed Forces through helicopters after a few days.
Conclusion
So if you’re planning to visit Chitkul, make sure you check the weather and the road conditions. Also the status of snowfall and temperature too. Because you’ll experience very high cold during winters here. But trust me, visiting Chitkul during the peak winters time would be a complete stunner with lovely landscapes all around. Comment below when are you planning your trip to Chitkul and also share your memories during your trip to Chitkul.
