The Middle Land. All of it. ~2,000 km · Full Shimla-Kaza-Manali Circuit · Chitkul · Gue Mummy · Tabo · Key Monastery · Chicham Bridge · Pin Valley Snow Leopards · Chandratal — the most complete Spiti Valley motorcycle tour from Delhi.
Spiti Valley is called the "Middle Land" — between India and Tibet, between the monsoon and the desert, between Buddhism and the high Himalayas. Every rider who has been here will tell you the same thing: it doesn't look like anywhere else on earth. The grey mountains have a mineral quality, the rivers run turquoise through barren gorges, and the monasteries appear on clifftops so dramatic they seem geologically inevitable.
The problem with most Spiti motorcycle tours is that they go Manali–Kaza–Manali and miss half the story entirely. The Kinnaur Valley — the route in via Shimla — is a completely different landscape: terraced apple orchards, Tibetan wooden houses, the Baspa River, and a series of villages so photogenic they stop riders mid-ride. Chitkul, the last inhabited village before the Tibet border. Nako, a high-altitude lake village so visually perfect it looks staged. And Gue — a village containing a 500-year-old monk mummy, naturally preserved in the Himalayan cold, discovered by an earthquake in 1975, and visited by almost nobody. This is what the Manali-only circuit misses completely.
The Stoneheadbikes 12-Day Spiti Valley Motorcycle Tour does the full circuit: enter via Shimla through Kinnaur, spend three full days in the Kaza basin, and exit via Kunzum La and Chandratal back to Manali. ~2,000 km · five distinct valleys · one private Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 entirely for your group.
This is a private custom tour — your group, your dates, fully flexible. Stoneheadbikes has been guiding foreign riders through Spiti and Kinnaur since 2009. All Inner Line Permits for restricted areas are arranged and included.
Every pass, every monastery, every hidden stop — in the correct order for the full Spiti circuit. Click any day to expand.
Depart Delhi at 6:00 AM on NH44 north-west, the plains giving way to the Shivalik foothills after Ambala. The last 80 km from Kalka to Shimla follows the old Hindustan–Tibet Road — a narrow, winding road through dense oak and rhododendron forest that climbs from 300 metres to 2,200 metres in just over an hour. Each hairpin bend reveals a deeper green and a wider sky.
Shimla at 2,205 metres is the former summer capital of British India — all Victorian Gothic architecture, ridge-top promenades and the lingering atmosphere of an empire that retreated here from the Delhi heat every summer for 75 years. The Viceregal Lodge (now the Indian Institute of Advanced Study) is the finest example of Tudor Revival architecture in Asia. The Mall Road evening walk, lined with colonial-era shops and the Christ Church, is a strange and completely pleasant experience for riders who will spend the next 11 days in landscapes without a single Victorian building.
The first genuinely Himalayan riding day. From Shimla the road climbs to Narkanda (2,708m) — a small hill station famous for its apple orchards and the morning view of the Himalayan main range from Hatu Peak. After Narkanda, the road descends into the Sutlej River gorge and enters Kinnaur — a region whose visual identity changes completely from the green Shimla hills: the mountains become drier, steeper, and striated with geological layers in ochre, rust and silver-grey.
At Karcham you leave the Sutlej and enter the Baspa River Valley — one of the most beautiful lateral valleys in the Indian Himalayas. The road narrows to a single track carved into the valley wall, the Baspa River roaring below. Sangla is a traditional Kinnauri village of wood-and-stone architecture, terrace fields and the distinctive multi-storey wooden towers built over Buddhist shrines. Push the final 25 km to Chitkul — the last inhabited village before the Tibet border, at 3,450 metres, where the road ends and India stops.
Wake at 5:30 AM in Chitkul. Stand at the village edge facing east. The Kinner Kailash Range — a jagged wall of granite and ice running to 6,050 metres — turns from black to pink to blazing gold in approximately 12 minutes as the sun rises over Tibet. It is one of the finest sunrise views anywhere in the Himalayas and riders who sleep through it consistently report it as the regret of the tour.
The 70 km ride back to Kalpa (2,960m) is short enough to allow a full afternoon exploring one of the most scenic towns in Kinnaur. Kalpa sits directly across the valley from Kinner Kailash — the mountain visible from every window, every rooftop, every lane. The Suicide Point viewpoint (named for the vertigo it induces, not for darker reasons) offers an unobstructed view of the peak and the sheer drop of the valley below. The apple orchards here are at their best in August–September when the fruit hangs heavy on branches over the road.
The road from Kalpa north-east into the upper Sutlej gorge is the most dramatic in Kinnaur — a 30 km section carved directly into near-vertical cliff faces, with the river 500 metres below and the rock wall centimetres from the handlebars. The Rock Gate of Kinnaur — an enormous boulder balanced above the road, painted with prayers — is where Kinnaur announces its character to anyone entering from the south.
Nako (3,625m) is a detour off the main road that rewards every minute — a high-altitude village built around a perfectly circular lake, set against an amphitheatre of dry mountains. The Nako Lake reflects the surrounding peaks in such perfect symmetry that photographs of it consistently look like mirror-image composites. A 20-minute walk around the lakeside before continuing is mandatory.
The climax of Day 4 is Gue village — specifically, the Gue Mummy. In 1975 an earthquake in Spiti district exposed a buried meditation chamber containing the body of a Buddhist monk who died around 1475 AD, sitting in the lotus position, perfectly preserved by the Himalayan cold and dry air. Hair and nails are still intact after 550 years. The monk is now housed in a small shrine in the village. It is one of the most extraordinary sights in all of the Indian Himalayas and one of the least-visited. Most Spiti tours never come here. The detour to Gue adds 40 km and is the correct use of that distance.
A shorter riding day — deliberately, because Tabo Monastery demands and deserves full attention. Founded in 996 AD by the Tibetan scholar Rinchen Zangpo, Tabo is one of the oldest continuously active Buddhist monasteries in the world — 1,000 years of unbroken religious practice in the same mud-brick complex. The paintings and stucco sculptures inside the nine temples and three cave shrines are considered the finest surviving examples of early Indo-Tibetan Buddhist art — the Dalai Lama has described Tabo as the "Ajanta of the Himalayas." Give it two hours minimum.
Dhankar Monastery (3,894m) is 35 km east of Tabo and one of the most dramatically sited monasteries in the world — a fortress-like structure balanced on a knife-edge ridge 300 metres above the confluence of the Spiti and Pin rivers. The view from the monastery walls is total: two rivers, two valleys, two mountain ranges and a sky that goes on for 50 km. The Dhankar Lake — a 45-minute hike above the monastery — is a high-altitude glacial lake so beautiful that riders who make the effort unanimously call it the highlight of the day. Most tour operators mention the monastery but skip the lake. We include both.
A short final ride into Kaza (3,800m) — the capital of Spiti district, a town of 3,000 people that operates at the intersection of Tibetan culture, Indian bureaucracy, and extreme altitude. The world's highest fuel station and the world's highest polling booth are both here. The main bazaar is a single street of small shops selling Tibetan crafts, local woolens, dried apricots and instant noodles — and it is one of the most characterful streets in any Himalayan town.
This is a deliberate acclimatisation day. You have climbed from 350 metres (Shimla) over five days to 3,800 metres (Kaza). The next two days include riding at 4,000–4,400 metres around the Kaza plateau. Your body needs today to adjust without adding more altitude gain. The afternoon is used for a gentle ride to Komic (4,587m) — the highest village in the world connected by a motorable road — as an altitude test and preview of tomorrow's full day. The evening in Kaza: momos at a rooftop restaurant with the Spiti Valley spreading in every direction.
Key Monastery (4,166m) is the largest and most iconic monastery in Spiti — a white-and-ochre fortress stacked 10 storeys high on a conical hill above the river. It dates to the 11th century, houses 300 lamas, and serves as the spiritual centre of the Spiti district. Morning prayers begin at 6:00 AM; your road captain arranges access to the rooftop before regular visitors arrive. The view of the Spiti Valley from the monastery roof — the river silver and tiny below, the mountains receding in layers — is one of the defining images of the entire tour.
Kibber (4,270m) is a compact village above Key with excellent views of the monastery and the valley. The road from Kibber to Chicham is new tarmac, recently upgraded specifically to serve the bridge. Chicham Bridge — completed in 2017 — spans a 150-metre gorge at 4,350 metres and is considered the highest suspension bridge in Asia. Standing at its centre, the gorge below is so deep the bottom is invisible. Riding across it on a Himalayan 450 is an experience that doesn't need qualifying with more words. Do it twice.
The day that foreign riders consistently rate as their favourite. It has four entirely distinct experiences within 140 km.
Langza (4,460m) sits below a giant Buddha statue that gazes over the valley — and sits on top of an ancient seabed. Spiti Valley was underwater 40–50 million years ago, and the dry slopes around Langza are littered with marine fossils — ammonites, belemnites, sea urchins — visible in the rocks and loose scree. Your road captain knows exactly where to look. Fossil hunting at 4,400 metres under a Buddha statue overlooking a cold desert valley is not something any other tour in the world offers.
Hikkim (4,400m) has the world's highest functioning post office, operating since 1983. Send a letter or postcard home from 14,400 feet — it will arrive weeks later as a tangible souvenir with an official Hikkim postmark. Foreign riders love this universally. Komik (4,587m) is the highest village connected by a motorable road in the world. The monastery here dates to the 14th century and has a view of the Spiti Valley that you would need 20 minutes just to absorb properly.
The afternoon is devoted to Pin Valley National Park — a 40 km ride from Kaza into the Pin River gorge. The park is one of the best habitats for snow leopards in India, with the highest snow leopard density per square kilometre of any protected area in Himachal Pradesh. You won't see one on a single afternoon visit — but the landscape of the Pin gorge, the Himalayan wolves crossing the road, and the ibex on the cliffs above make the detour entirely worthwhile. Most tour operators skip Pin Valley. We don't, because it's irreplaceable.
The shortest riding day in terms of distance but among the most dramatic. The road north-west from Kaza climbs steadily through the Spiti Valley before ascending to Kunzum La (4,551m) — the pass that separates Spiti from Lahaul and the gateway through which you exit the cold desert. The Kunzum Temple at the pass summit is a circular shrine to the goddess Kunzum Devi, where every passing vehicle stops and circles the shrine clockwise for safe passage. Your road captain explains why, and you will do it too.
The descent from Kunzum La drops into the Chandra River valley — the return of green, the return of water, the return of the smell of grass after four days in the cold desert. Chandratal (Moon Lake, 4,300m) is a 1 km detour from the main road and the most celebrated overnight stop in all of Spiti. The crescent-shaped glacial lake at 4,300 metres, surrounded by grass and mountains, turns successive shades of blue, green and silver as the light changes. The camp at the lake edge serves dinner and breakfast. The night sky here — with no electricity within 50 km — is genuinely extraordinary.
A dawn walk to Chandratal before departure — the lake at first light is at its most still and its most blue. Other camp visitors are still asleep. This is the last genuinely remote moment of the tour and it is worth 40 minutes of early rising.
The road from Chandratal follows the Chandra River through the Lahaul Valley — broad, green, high-altitude pastureland entirely different from the stark Spiti landscape. After Gramphu, you enter the Atal Tunnel — 8.9 km of all-weather tunnel through the Rohtang massif, opened in 2020, connecting Lahaul to the Kullu Valley year-round for the first time in history. Exiting the tunnel on the Manali side, the temperature jumps 8 degrees, the vegetation appears, and the air thickens noticeably. The transition from cold desert to lush hill station takes literally 10 minutes. Arrive in Manali in the afternoon — the first hot shower, the first proper restaurant, the first moment the full scale of what you've done becomes discussable over dinner.
A rest day in Manali before the final long ride home. After 10 days of high-altitude mountain terrain, Manali's trees and warmth and functioning infrastructure feel almost urban. Use the day to recover, resupply and process.
The Hadimba Devi Temple — a 450-year-old pagoda structure in a deodar cedar forest, built without a single nail of iron — is one of the finest examples of Himachali wooden architecture in existence and entirely free of the crowds that plague it in peak tourist season. Old Manali village above the commercial strip retains its original character: stone houses, apple trees, guesthouses run by local families. An afternoon ride to Solang Valley (14 km north) gives a preview of the terrain you drove through on Day 9 from a different angle, and serves as a final mountain ride before the plains tomorrow.
The reverse of Day 1 in every respect. You leave Manali at 6:00 AM and the mountains begin to diminish behind you — the pine forest gives way to the Shivalik hills, the Shivalik hills give way to Chandigarh, Chandigarh gives way to the flat Haryanvi plains and then to Delhi's density. By the time the city appears the contrast is overwhelming: 12 days ago you left this. Now you understand what you've been through.
Arrive at Stoneheadbikes HQ in Vivek Vihar in the late afternoon. 12 days. ~2,000 km. Five valleys — Kullu, Baspa, Sutlej gorge, Spiti, Lahaul. Chitkul and Kaza and Chandratal and Gue and Key and Chicham and Pin Valley and Kunzum La. Your road captain shakes hands at the gate. The Himalayan 450 is parked.
No hidden costs. Everything below is confirmed before you book.
After analysing every competitor's Spiti itinerary — here are the 6 things this tour does that none of them do together.
A 550-year-old naturally preserved Buddhist monk in meditation posture, discovered by an earthquake in 1975. Hair and nails intact. In a small shrine in a village almost nobody visits. One of the most extraordinary things in the Indian Himalayas, and barely on the tourist map. We go there.
Most tours do Manali–Kaza–Manali and miss the entire Kinnaur Valley. We enter via Shimla, covering Chitkul, Nako, Gue and Tabo on the way in — a completely different landscape from Spiti proper. Going both ways via Manali means missing half the journey.
The Pin gorge has the highest snow leopard density of any protected area in Himachal Pradesh. Most operators skip it because it adds distance. We include a full afternoon in Pin Valley because the landscape alone is worth the detour, and the wildlife encounters are possible only here.
Asia's highest suspension bridge spans a 150-metre gorge at 4,350 metres. Most competitors mention it briefly. We ride to it from Kibber, cross it, and give it the time it deserves — because standing at the centre of that bridge, looking down at the invisible gorge floor, is a moment no photograph reproduces accurately.
Send a postcard or letter home from 14,400 feet with an official Hikkim postmark. It arrives weeks later as a physical memento of the ride. Foreign riders universally love this — a tangible souvenir that costs a few rupees and lasts a lifetime.
The lake above Dhankar Monastery requires a 45-minute uphill walk. Most tours skip it because it's effort. We include it because the view from the lake — looking down over the monastery and the two-river confluence — is one of the finest in Spiti and cannot be seen any other way.
The full circuit requires Kunzum La to be open. The Shimla route is available year-round but the Manali exit is seasonal.
Three originals required on Day 1 in Delhi. All Spiti and Kinnaur permits are arranged by Stoneheadbikes and included in the tour price.
Original, valid, explicitly covering motorcycles. Required at bike handover on Day 1. No digital copies — original only. No exceptions.
Issued in your home country by your national motoring association. Valid for India. Apply at least 4 weeks before travel. Original only — photocopies not accepted at Spiti/Kinnaur checkpoints.
Indian e-Visa accepted. Apply at indianvisaonline.gov.in. Stoneheadbikes provides a booking confirmation letter for visa applications on request.
To confirm your booking: A 50% deposit secures your chosen private departure dates. The remaining 50% is due 45 days before departure.
Early booking: A one-third advance can secure your dates early, with final price adjusted up to 10–20% at final payment to reflect fuel, accommodation or currency changes.
| Notice Before Your Departure Date | Refund |
|---|---|
| 120+ days before departure | 50% refund |
| 90–119 days before departure | 30% refund |
| Less than 90 days before departure | No refund |
| No-show on departure day | No refund |
Force Majeure: Stoneheadbikes may modify or cancel in the event of road closures, natural events, government restrictions or safety emergencies. Alternative dates offered where possible.
4.2 stars · 300+ Google reviews across all Stoneheadbikes tours and rentals.
"The Gue Mummy alone made this tour unforgettable — nothing I've read prepared me for standing in front of a 550-year-old monk still sitting in meditation. The Shimla circuit was the right call. Chitkul, Nako, Tabo — we saw everything. Chandratal night camp was the best night's sleep of my life."
"Pin Valley was our biggest surprise — we didn't expect much and it completely blew us away. The Pin gorge is extraordinary. Hikkim post office was hilarious and brilliant — our postcards arrived home before we did. The road captain knew every back lane and every monastery that wasn't on any map."
"I specifically chose this tour because it did the full circuit via Shimla. Every other operator I found went Manali-Kaza-Manali. The Kinnaur section was the best part of the whole trip. Chicham Bridge — I have no words. Key Monastery at dawn with no other tourists. Stoneheadbikes knows Spiti."
12 days. ~2,000 km. Five valleys. Full Shimla-Kaza-Manali circuit. Gue Mummy. Tabo. Key. Chicham Bridge. Hikkim Post Office. Pin Valley. Chandratal. Private tour, your chosen dates. June to October only.