car hiring in Himachal Pradesh...

I am planning a trip to Himachal Pradesh this October.
as per the itinerary that I've decided to follow from one of the IMikers (iamani), it goes like this;

8/10 : reach Delhi. Depart for Manali at night.
9/10 : reach Manali.
10/10 : towards keylong
11/10 : visit Baralacha La
12/10 : Towards Kaza
13/10 : visit kibber and Kye monastery
14/10 : towards Kalpa
15/10 : towards Sangla/chittkul
16/10 : towards Shimla
17/10 :sight-seeing Shimla

The total number of days that I will need the driver is about 9-10 days. ( I havent really decided if I will be needing him around for sight-seeing in Shimla. but i guess, i won't)

so, how could I get to hire a driver ?
Thanks in advance. (and thanks iamani for the itinerary,too)

too much travel
take my advice drop few destination you will keep driving only not enjoying

which place do you recommend dropping out from the list?

Keylong and Baralachala are in the opposite direction! I dont think its posisble within the time you have...(please consider that the roads are usually in terrible shape which means the car moves very slowly and you get tired as well)

You could do the Kinnaur circuit via Kaza, Tabo, nako and Rekong Peo but that is also quite a bit of driving. Kalpa is awesome as is Sangla but even small distances in the hills take a long time to cover! Chhitkul itself will take 1.5-2 hrs from Sangla (again depend son the state of the road) Add to it time spent for you to relax there... and really you wont be able to cover much!

I suggest that you just go with the flow... start from Manali and drive down via Kaza (halt in Kaza for a night, explore Kyi and Kibber the next day) then drive down and halt at Kalpa next evening (you can have a flying visit of Tabpo and nako which are enroute)

kalpa is up the hill from Rekon peo, so that will take time as well but its NOT to be missed! the HPTDS resort up on top has a superb view of the Kinner Kailash range (its bang in front of you!)

Leave for Sangla next day early morning and halt in Sangla, explore Sangla on that day and the next morning very early, leave for Chhitkul, enjoy the sights and then drive down towards Shimla, halting for the night in Narkanda.

PS : You can ask your hotel people to arrange a driver for you or just check them out at/near the Manali bus/taxi stand.

Actually, baralacha la is just a day visit. We'll stay in keylong after the visit to baralacha la. How many hours does it take from keylong to kaza?

Actually baralacha la is just a day visit. And we'll go back to keylong to spend the night. Is it do-able like this? And how many hours does it take to reach kaza from keylong? Is it possible to go on a stretch? But we wanna see chandratal lake as well which is along the route. Do you have any idea?

yes Baralacha and Keylong are on the same route relative to each other but on the OPPOSITE side as compared to Spiti ... thats what I meant, sorry if I was unclear

Chandratal as well?? thats asking a lot! Keylong to Kaza will take an entire day easily. Chandratal is high up and again takes a long time... (the lake is a day trip all by itself)

Like I said the mountains have very bad roads due to the height and inclement weather conditions. (Kunzumla received the seasons first snowfall already! 2 days ago) Even short distances can turn out to be long tiring hauls... add to it the effect of high altitude and you really should try and keep your program in a certain region. either the Keylong range or the Spiti side.

Hm..as per the itinerary that i've followed, there are more stops in Spiti side as compared to Lahaul. Do I miss much if I ditch the plan to Keylong altogether? And how will I make it possible to visit the Chandrataal as well ??
about Kunzum La, I am afraid that the pass will close due to heavy snowfall, and for that I couldn't go to Rekong peo via tabo route..

Kunzumla *may* be open... it all depends on luck The problem is Rohtang... you will be unable to get to Lahaul or Spiti once that closes! I would suggest you plan for such a contingency and instead opt to either go to Kashmir - Leh ( I myself will be trying that late in Oct this year....hoping for luck!) OR you could go to Dharamsala and the Chamba circuit... OR if Rohtang is closed and you are stuck in manali, go to Solang, Manikaran, Naggar and then catch the road going down towards Kinnaur where you can enjoy Kalpa, Sangla, Chhitkul. If you are lucky the road could even take you up further till Tabo. On your way back you could take the road from Kinnaur to Shimla via Narkanda and Kufri

thanks for the info.. And one more thing, where could i get the info about those passes? I really need to know so i could plan my journey beforehand in case one of the passes closes. thanks

Here's the road map of the region ...



Manali is marked as num 1 . at num 2 you have Rohtang Pass. The road going upwards is the route to Lahaul. The usual route to Spiti is indicated by the arrow route with a cross. As you can see that roads comes down all the way past nako, Tabo, kalpa and then to Shimla.

If Rohtang is closed, drive down by the other arrow route to point 3 which is Kalpa from where you can go to Sangla and Chhitkul (Chhitkul is the last villag eon the Indian side... bordering Tibet and the place is stunning) You can then return form there to Shimla via Narkanda - point num 6.

OR you could go on up to Nako and then Tabo if you are lucky and the driver thinks there isnt much chance of snow or rain to block the road. Be warned though that if the road gets blocked, you will be in a lot of bother! After Tabo/Nako you could turn back to Shimla.

The route to Chamba goes to the left of Kullu and is not shown in this map.

Rohtang officialy closes on 15 september according to Himachal government so the police post at sarchu are removed but BRO will keep it open as long as possible so no help after Keylong

HRTC buses has stop plying on road from Manali to Kaza and MAnali to leh and KAZA-Keylong due to official closing

as far as Kunzum is concerned there are more glaciers on gramphoo Kaza roads so once it closed i dont think that someone will try to open it your main problem will always be Kunzum
try reading Himachal news paper e.g."Divya Himachal" or call HPTDC office for information

I would suggest go to kaza Kinnaur through Shimla road is treacherous but luckily never closes for long time even when it snows a lot after reaching KAZA you can also check status of KUnzum and keylong and can goto manali if passes are open but if not then atleast you visited spiti valley without fear of getting stuck



skip MANali KEylong altogether

just made a call to HPTDC marketing office in Shimla. and the guy told me that Rohtang pass is open until 15th october. As per the itinerary, I think it is still feasible to go through the pass. HOPEFULLY ! And he told me Kunzum La is still open at least till 1st november.. I really hope everything will go just fine
And yeah, apparently, it snowed just recently. was 1-2 inches in thickness, but he told me it was okay.

by the way, is it OKAY if i skip Keylong side? Now I am planning to cut short the trip - lest Rohtang La will close.. What do You guys think ?

there is nothing like definite date of closing of rohtang pass if it snows a lot it will be closed its that simple it may be tommorow or some years it has been 30 november

as told earlier kunzum is very easy pass to cross but if it snows no one will clean it (no one uses it except tourists and may be few shipment of daily needs in Spiti )

but in end you will have to make decision on status at time of travel according to conditions

if you can skip rohtang completely there will be a terrible traffic jam just few killometers before rohtang it takes hours for to clear so if you can skip
take shimla - Kalpa - kaza route
but if you want to see manali take manali- kullu - Aut- rampur-Kalpa -Kaza route

there will be lots of tourist because of recent snowfall at rohtang( also lots of garbage by irresponsible tourists) so expect waitingo of hours in traffic jam

If yo you can skip all passes better it will be given there is a constraint of time and you wann enjoy too