planning manali to kaza, pls help!

dream_traveller

hi friends,
my friends and i planning to go from manali to kaza in 1st week of october. what are the cheapest option to reach kaza from manali and also if possible timing and fair of the buses.

and secondly, what are the options to stay at kaza.
and thirdly is it possible to go to chadertal by bus from kaza or manali. if not then how much charge a car take to visit chandertal either from kaza or manali. looking for your needful advice.

landoormama

Hi ,
I did this trip last year by a local bus , which leaves Manali early in the morning @ 5.00 a.m ( please reconfirm the timings) .
From Manali Take a Bus to Batal and from Batal you can walk to Chandertal Lake ( about 5-6hrs) ..you can stay @ Chandertal lake there is a guy who has a fixed camp site @ chandertal who also provides for food ( pl reconfirm this at Batal)..
Later you can hike over the Kunzum La and reach the road head from where you can get a bus or hitch a ride to Kaza.
Kaza has plenty of Budget Accomodation.
The Road from KAZA to TABO @ the moment I am not too sure ( I heard its blocked)
Kibber also has aguest house and you can to hikes around Kowmick , Langza villages.
If you hire a Jeep from Manali to Kaza for lets say 4 days ..it may cost you around ten thousand.
hope this helps.
Cheers an Have fun.

dream_traveller

thnx, landoormama for the information. also can any one advice which trip wud be better
a) shimla-sarahan-sangla-kalpa-shimla or
b) manali-kaza-kibber-tabo-manali.
waiting for your suggestion.

Tapestry

Another option is to take a vehicle from Manali to Kaza that is already going that route in order to carry goods back to Kaza. It'll be a Qualis or Sumo or some such vehicle, and these drivers often take other passengers to pick up a little more cash. This is not a "definite" that you can book in advance, though, you just have to ask around at the guest houses when you get to Manali and see if there are any drivers heading to Kaza the next morning who have room for another passenger or two. There are a couple of guest houses where the drivers tend to stay. The journey should just be Rs. 200-300 and I suspect is worth it over the bus on those tight, winding, cliffhanging roads! FYI if you try to take the same vehicle back to Manali and it was NOT already going that way, it will cost you much more and would be worth it to take the bus.

There are guest houses/hotels in Kaza where you can stay. I've stayed a the Snow Lion and it was fine. I think it was Rs. 300/ night or so.

landoormama

hi , the Snow Lion G/house in kaza is a good budget option , they also have budget accomodation@ the rear of the bldg.
Both the options you mentioned ..Kinnaur and Spiti are beautiful.
But Kinnaur is a flood prone district , but I believe till Kalpa is should be Okay ..but if you want to venture further into Spiti from Kalpa get a fresh update on the road conditions.
Cheers & have fun.

Dr.Barai

is road to spiti via kinnur open now ? Planning a bike trip through this route from 4th sep.Heard a lot about flooding in this area.

dream_traveller

thnx for the advices. still my question remains if i have to choose between kaza and kalpa as a first timer in this region which place ishd choose, b'coz my time and budget arent permitting me to choose both kaza and kalpa a full round trip, which i would have loved to do. so guys pls help me out to choose between manali-kaza or shimla-kalpa.

Dr.Barai

if u love more of barren mountain do manali kaza.in case u love more of green mountains u should do manali kalpa.Theres nothing much at kalpa so u should visit sangla valley which is close by.

dream_traveller

hahaha, yeah i can understand it is very hard to suggest between the two differnt beautiful places. thing is that i like both greenary and rugged mountains as both have their own uniqueness. any i guess manali-kaza would be little bettr, wht do u think freinds. and also my two questions are
a) will it be worth doing the manali-kaza trip without going to chdratal?
b) can i cover manali-kaza trip within 5000 if i mostly travel by local buses and delhi to manali by hptdc volvo and return to delhi. if 5000 not enough what wud b the minimum cost.
also pls give a firm suggestion between manali-kaza or shimla-sangla-kalpa.

jyotipg

Hi,

I may be doing the same journey in 2nd week of September. I plan to start from Kaza and descend at Batal. Then trek to Chandratal and then back to Manali. Here is my tentative iterinary:

D-1:- Take the bus to Batal from Kaza.
D-2:- Batal - ChandraTal
D-3:- ChandraTal to Batal and then take a bus to Manali.

I need the following info.
What time does the bus starts from Kaza?
How much time does it takes to reach Batal?
Is the bus too jerky. Can i have a shared jeep for the same route??
What time the bus leaves from Batal to Manali. Is it too crowded??
Do we have a decent shack to stay in Batal?

Thanks,
Jyoti

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dream_traveller

can i get car from kaza for travelling the surrounding area like tabo, kibber, ki monastry, cosmic village, pin valley. if i get car how much it charges. if i dont get car then what are other options, to travel to those areas.