Can we stay overnight between Rekong Peo and Tabo?

Hello,

We are making our way slowly from Shimla to the Kinnaur Valley and then to the Spiti valley. The Lonely Planet guide states that once you have got the inner line permit you are not allowed to stay overnight from Rekong Peo to Tabo. Is this definatley the case? We would like to maybe break the journey up and stay at one of the villages on the road between Rekong Peo and Tabo?

Thanks

Sally and Tom

Officially, you're not supposed to stay overnight in the Inner Line zone; the Inner Line permit specifically states that you must enter the zone after 7am on a specified date and leave it before 7pm on the same date. In practice, the police manning the checkpoints don't seem to care too much as long as you are within the 15-day validity of the permit, and many people do stay at Nako, which is well worth the detour. At Rekong Peo last week I met two Americans who were cycling from Delhi to Leh; it was going to take them 3 days to cycle from Rekong Peo to Tabo, making at least two overnight stops necessary, yet they had no trouble getting a permit.

Getting a permit in Rekong Peo is extremely easy. Just take photocopies of your passport details page and your Indian visa to the tourist office in Rekong Peo (just off the main square). There's a photocopy shop across the road that charges Rs.1.50 per copy. You don't need photographs. After filling in the form and paying the fee (Rs.150, I think) they take you to a little office across the square where they take your photograph and print the permit and then take you next door to the local magistrate's office for the permit to be stamped and signed. It all takes about an hour, depending on how many people there are. But they only do this twice a day, at 10.30 and 2.30. Be extra careful when completing the form - the magistrate compares the permit with your passport and visa very carefully indeed and if even the tiniest detail is wrong he will refuse to sign it and you're back to square one.

Sally & Tom,

I stayed in Nako for one night (on my way from Kalpa to Tabo) in a pretty nice Hotel Leo Purgiel, in April 2004. Nako is a nice place, a beautifiul lake and Gompa. You need to get off at Yangthang and then trek up hill to Nako or look for a share-jeep ride.

See my tour blog at for details: http://kothanda.srinivasan.googlepag...i&lahaulvalley

I am not aware of any stop-over restrictions .... of course, I am an Indian and don't remember taking a IL Permit. Just now, I quickly checked my copy of LP India Guide (10th Edition Aug-2003) and I did'nt find any such stop over restriction in that!

I think you can re-check that in some local SDM or Tourist office.

- KS

I am in Shimla now and asked at a few places and was told that it was not a problem to stop over . I will be stopping over , there is no way I want to do that trip in a day .
The permit is FREE if you go directly to the Magistrates office yourself , noo need to pay someone 150.00 .

Good luck and migght bump into you somewhere along the road.

Thanks for all the information, it is really useful. IndiaPaul, you said that we can get permits for free if we go straight to the magistrates office, do we get all the paperwork from there and totally bypass the tourist office? Mickey S said that the tourist office takes your photo and prints the permit, can we do this ourself at the little office next to the magistrates?

Thanks again for the info.

Sally and Tom

The tourist office takes your photo using a webcam; the photograph then appears as an integral part of the permit. I'm not sure how you'd do this if you were getting your permit yourself. (Someone else here might be able to tell you...)

I guess it must be possible to do it yourself, as there were a lot of non-Western foreigners - probably Tibetans and/or Nepalis - getting permits without the help of the tourist office. However, the procedure wasn't completely straightforward, and once inside the magistrate's office the applications being handled by the tourist office were dealt with first, so I'd just pay the very small fee and let someone else deal with the bureaucracy. It's only Rs.150, after all.

Mickey,
Can I apply for permit even for 2 persons only?

Is application possible in Rekong Peo on a Saturday.

Technically a group of four or more is necessary. I went by the tourist office , they said letīs wait and see if any more turns up , then we went to the magistrate an hour later , with another guy who had turned up.Easy. Others have mentioned here that you can get the permit in Shimla.

Most of the restrictions are pro forma : you sign a paper telling you photography and non-approved maps are forbidden , but the bikers ride in to the check posts with Google Earth maps on top of the front pannier, and I had my DSLR in the other hand while signing in there. I also stayed in Nako.

Get a night in Kalpa , because itīs a) nice and b) you need it to adapt to the altitude .

Updates on the road conditions , esp. around Malling and the Kunzum La , will be appreciated.

Hi! On the way to Spiti I spent many nights in the inner line zone and there has never been any problem besides one time,when the adc office in Pooh had not warned the police about our 25(yes,25)days of extension of the original two weeks permit got in Shimla.Being right,nothing happened to us.