INDIAN HIMALAYAS

Tour Details

“This is one journey that must be undertaken at least once in a lifetime by any discerning traveller” words of many widely travelled people after having visited these awe – inspiring parts of the Indian Himalayas.

In this remarkable journey you will walk on the most inspiring mountain trails, drive over some of highest roads and bridges, visit the remotest wildlife reserves, witness age old temples, exquisite villages, traditional architecture and tribal lifestyles. For the solitude seeker there cannot be a better place than here to experience the sounds of silence, the pristine glory of nature. This is surely the ultimate high for any discerning traveller.

1
1
Day:1
Arrival in Delhi. B

You arrive in New Delhi. Meet and greet and transfer to hotel.
Delhi is the Capital of India. It is a multicultural and historical hub, having over 2500 historical monuments of which we will visit a few that are most important.

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2
Day:2
Delhi. BD

Morning rest. After breakfast meet with your escort for tour briefing.  Afternoon tour of Old & New Delhi including a rickshaw  ride through old Delhi’s  Chandni Chowk bazaar.  Welcome dinner at a specialty Indian Restaurant.

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3
Day:3
Delhi – Chandigarh – Shimla. BD

Early morning transfer to New Delhi Train Station to board Shatabdi Express to Chandigarh. ETD 0740 hr/ ETA 1110 hr.  Drive onward to Shimla. We’ll stop for lunch.  Arrive in Shimla late afternoon. Evening free to roam on the Mall. Explore its wonderful colonial past of this Queen of hill stations.

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4
Day:4
Shimla-Sarahan (174 km/7 hrs). BD

After an early breakfast. Drive to the Jhaku (Hanuman)Temple. It is a short 15 min climb uphill on well laid out steps from the parking  to the temple.

Drive onward to Sarahan, a beautiful village surrounded by apple orchards and dominated by Shrikhand Mahadev  Peak (16908 Ft) which resembles the ‘Shivling.’  Visit the Bhimakali Temple, a wonderful mixture of Buddhist and Hindu architecture, sacred to both communities.  The Bhimakali goddess idol is  approximately 200 years old.  Lunch enroute.

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5
Day:5
Sarahan – Kalpa (105 km / 4 hrs / 9500ft) BLD

Drive to Kalpa. It is the headquarter of Kinnaur. It boasts of the best view that one can have of the mighty  Kinner Kailash Range of the Greater Himalaya.  Rising from its base till the top 19848ft of sheer rock.  Arrive in time for lunch at your hotel Kinner Villa. Afternoon walk the Old Hindustan Tibet Road to Roghi Village, considered one among the top ten mountain walks in the entire world. Overnight at the beautiful Kinner Villa,

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5
Day:5
Kalpa. BLD

Full day reserved for walking to the ancient and exquisite villages Chini, Peo, Kothi, Pangi and Telangi..  Overnight at Kinner Villa.

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7
Day:7
Kalpa – Nako (102 km / 7 hrs / 12250 ft). BLD

Visit Nako subject to road connectivity or else we drive from Kalpa direct to Tabo. The village of Nako lies at an altitude of 11890 Ft, high above the vast stretch of Spiti Valley. It was once a very important centre of Buddhism in the region. There are seven temples belonging to different periods of Buddhism between 11th and 12th centuries distributed all over the village, including a monastic complex on its western edge. Boasting four temples and a number of additional buildings, this complex preserves the earliest artistic heritage. The austere and unornamented exteriors of the buildings give little hint of its important artistic and spiritual legacy that lies within these walls.

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8
Day:8
Nako – Tabo (70 km / 4 hrs). BLD

Today you enter Spiti Valley. Geographically and archeologically, Spiti is a living museum.  The mountains are devoid of any vegetation due to erosion by wind, sun and snow over thousands of years.

Our vehicles climb up to the village Tabo (10000 Ft.).  Built in the year 996 ACE. HH The Dalai Lama performed  a Kalachakra, being closest ever to Tibet here in 1996. The Chos Khor Monastery at Tabo is the largest monastery in Spiti and one of the few remaining examples of the Golden Period of Buddhist Culture in the Himalayan Region.  The wall frescos of the monastery are comparable in their antiquity and quality to those of the World Heritage Site of the Ajanta Caves. Tabo is thus aptly called ‘Ajanta of the Himalayas’.  It houses more than 100 Lamas, a large number of scriptures and pieces of art, wall paintings, tankhas and stucco.  We reach Tabo for lunch. Afternoon and evening we visit its Monastery and village.

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9
Day:9
Tabo-Dankar- Lhalung–Kaza (74 km/8 hrs) / BLD

Rise early join the monks in their morning Puja (prayer) ceremony at Tabo monastery (5 min walk through the village).

We drive to Dhankar, the ancient capital of Spiti.  Dankar Gompa (12500 ft) was built in the 12th century. This hill top fort dominates the scene in Spiti Valley. It contains more than 160 scriptures of Lamas and Buddhists in Bhoti language.  A statue of Dhyan Buddha consisting of four complete figures seated back to back is the main attraction of this four – five centuries old monastery.  This monastery celebrated a millennium in 2004 with HH the Dalai Lama.

 

Afterwards we drive onward to Lhalung. A magnificent  village of just 45 houses. In this village stands the second most interesting monastery of Spiti. The compound consists of five buildings.  Together with the unusually rich interior of  Lhalung’s main chapel and the fact that the building of the temples is attributed to Rinchen Zangpo, suggests that the temple site of Lhalung, like  Tabo, was designed as a Chokhor site, a place for learning and debate as opposed  to a simple chapel for worship by the local people.

 

Continue drive to the current capital and once the commercial head quarter of the traditional silk route KAZA.

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10
Day:10
Kaza-Ki-Kibber-Gete-Kaza (70 km / 4hrs) / BLD

Today is the day for the highest. The first highest road connected village in Asia Kibber, the highest vehicle fuel outlet in the world at Kaza, the highest oldest monastery that houses the oldest and largest collection of Tankha paintings in the world ?KI?.

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11
Day:11
Kaza-Kunzum Pass (14931 Ft) -Rohtang Pass (13051 Ft)-Manali. (200 km / 10 hrs).BLD

Drive  over the famous Kunzum Pass, enroute visit Lahaul Valley,  aptly called the no man’s land, it is dominated by glaciers and rocky mountains cut across by the Chandra river. We pass by the largest glacier in Himachal Pradesh the Bar Shingri Glacier 25kms long and 3 kms wide. Today the drive offers awesome views.

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11
Day:11
Manali. BD

Rise up at leisure. Easy day of strolling around the picturesque valley of the Gods, Manali and Naggar.   Visit Dhungri Temple (also known as Hadimba Temple by locals)and the quaint village Nagar with its many ancient temples including the 11th-12th century Temple Gauri and the Tripura Sundri Devi Temple.

13
13
Day:13
Manali-Kullu-Bir-Baijnath-Taragarh (180 km / 7 hrs). BD

Drive through Kullu to Kangra, valley of Temples. We visit the most ancient and oldest existing Shiva temples  at Baijnath. Overnight at the Taragarh Palace.

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Day:14
Taragarh. BD

A spectacular location with the Dhauladhars towering behind with its peaks between 9500Ft – 16000 Ft which are clearly visible from here. Baijnath (5 Km) is a pleasant little  town surrounded by tea plantations. It houses one of the oldest  existing Shiva temple. Just below the village is the Tashijong Gompa which is  the focus of a small Tibetan community who hail from Kham province in Tibet.  We will then visit the Sherab Ling monastery for the Grammy winning monks who got their award  for chanting in 2003 ‘ Winner for Best Traditional World Music Album’. Sherab Ling Monastery nestles in the gentle pine-forested foothills of northern India’s Kangra Valley, the seat of its founder His Eminence Ti Situpa XII, a leading Tibetan Buddhist  teacher and peace campaigner. Here the monks perform  mesmerising prayer ceremonies, as part of their daily lives, originating many centuries ago in the great Buddhists monasteries of Tibet. The monks begin their day with the Lineage Prayer, offering respect to a line of great meditation practitioners going back as far as the 7th century. The Mahakala Ceremony is part of each day’s closing ritual in which the monks ask for purification and dedicate their blessings to all sentient creatures. Return to the Taragarh Palace for the overnight.

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15
Day:15
Taragarh- Norbulingka-Dharamsala (McLeod Ganj) 40 km / 3 hrs. BD

On way to Dharamsala,  the official residence to HH The Dalai Lama and seat of the Tibetan Government in exile we will visit the institute of Tibetan Arts and Handicrafts Norbulinka. Upon arrival, we visit  the center of Tibetan Medicine and Astrology, the Tibetan Govt Secretariat. Evening you are free to explore the Tibetan Markets.

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Day:16
Dharamsala-Amritsar (175 km/5 hrs). BD

Independent morning walk to Dalai Lama’s monastery to attend monks puja; afterwards (parikrama) circum ambulate the monastery complex along with the locals. Return to hotel for breakfast.  After breakfast, drive to Amritsar.  After lunch we visit the Golden Temple the sanctum sanctorum of the Sikhs.  We will circum ambulate the temple, stopping periodically for moments of quiet reflection.  The temple is like a small community filled with many different activities.  We will visit the community kitchen where free meals ‘Langar’ are prepared by volunteers throughout the day; the temple where the holy book the “Guru Granth Sahib”  is read aloud 24/7non-stop; observe devotional rituals.

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17
Day:17
Amritsar – Delhi. B

Morning at leisure. Transfer to airport for flight 9W373 depart 1430 / arrive 1555 to Delhi. Transfer to hotel by the airport – shared rooms for wash, change. Dinner and late night transfer to airport for flight home.

B: Breakfast
L: Lunch
D: Dinner

Duration: 17 days
Destination: India Itineraries

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