Spiti is home to some of most beautiful High Altitude villages in Himachal Pradesh. And Kibber is one such must visit villages in Spiti valley. So, if you are traveling for the first time to Kibber the question “How to reach Kibber village” will be definitely on your mind.
Therefore, this blog is going to be about the same. So stay with me till the end and you’ll have a fair idea on how to reach Kibber village.
How to Reach Kibber Village – Everything You Need To Know
Now there are two different routes from where you can reach. One is via Shimla and Kinnaur and the other one is via Manali and Lahaul. Both Shimla and Manali are easily accessible from Delhi and Chandigarh and you get a lot public and private buses for the same
The Lahaul route takes far less time to reach than Shimla. But Shimla route is safer in terms of AMS when compared to Lahaul route. The route via Shimla is also open throughout the year, although Kibber may or may not be accessible in winters.
By the way if you are visiting Spiti for the first time, here is a detailed blog on the best routes for Spiti valley.
How To Reach Kibber Village from Shimla (Reaching Kibber via Kinnaur)
To reach Kibber village from Shimla and Kinnaur you first need to get to kaza which is the administrative capital of Spiti. And a lot of people usually enter via this route as it is open throughout the year.
Once you reach Kaza, getting to Kibber takes just around 24 km. But most of the people usually take multiple days to get to Kaza as they tend to explore places in Kinnaur and Spiti on the way to Kaza.
And of course, reaching Shimla is quite easy from Dellhi or Chandigarh as you’ll get a lot of buses going towards Shimla on regular intervals.
By the way if you are visiting Spiti for the first time, then these 27 easy to follow travel tips for Spiti will be of a great help. Feel free to check it out. This is the route you would need to follow to reach Kibber village.
- Reaching Rampur Bushahr from Shimla
- Getting to Karcham from Rampur
- Reaching Pooh from Karcham via Reckong Peo
- Getting to Tabo via Nako and Sumdo
- Reaching Kaza from Tabo
- Finally making it to the Kibber village
Reaching Rampur from Shimla
Rampur Bushahr used to be the capital of Bushahri kingdom back in the day. From Shimla you’ll be passing through the beautiful villages and tourists of Upper Shimla like Kufri, Fagu, Narkanda and finally reach Rampur Bushahr.
The distance between Rampur Bushahr and Shimla is around 126 km. A lot of people like to start from Narkanda as well instead of Shimla due it being away from the crowd.
Getting to Karcham from Rampur
Finally you’ll be saying goodbye to Shimla and entering the tribal district of Kinnaur via Jeori which is the border of Shimla and Kinnaur.
The distance between Karcham and Rampur is around 76 km. Karcham is where the road diverts to Reckong Peo and the famous Baspa valley. The road conditions are decent with few bad patches here and there.
Reaching Pooh from Karcham via Reckong Peo
From Karcham you need go towards Reckong Peo and Pooh. The distance between Karcham and Pooh is around 75 km. Reckong Peo is the administrative capital of Kinnaur and also a major stopover for people traveling to Spiti valley.
You don’t really need to go to Reckong Peo, and can bypass it. But do note that Reckong Peo is the last Pertrol Pump before Kaza.
Getting to Tabo via Nako and Sumdo
Finally you’ll be entering Spiti valley today. The distance between Tabo and Pooh is around 88 km and passes through the famous Nako in Upper Kinnaur and the border village of Sumdo.
Both Nako and Tabo have some of the ancient monasteries of our country. By the way here is the list of celestial monasteries of Spiti’s counterpart Lahaul valley.
Reaching Kaza from Tabo
Kaza is the administrative capital of Spiti and one of the biggest villages in Spiti. The distance between Kaza and Tabo is around 48 km.
Kaza is where you get all the public transport to the upper villages of Spiti including Kibber village.
Finally reaching Kibber village from Kaza
So once you reach Kaza it will hardly take an hour to reach the beautiful of Kibber. The distance between Kaza and Kibber is around 19 km.
You can easily make a day trip to Kibber village and even kye monastery and be back before the dark as the both the places are quite nearby.
And in case you are planning to spend a night at Kibber village, make sure that you are well acclimatized as Kibber is around 14,000 ft above the sea level.
There are HRTC buses running on this route from Shimla. But of course, you have to break your journey Reckong Peo and Kaza. Although this route is accessible throughout the year, but in peak winters do not expect public transport to be functional.
How To Reach Kibber from Manali (Reaching Kibber From Lahaul)
If you want to reach Kibber village in a short span of time, then taking Manali-Kaza is the best way to reach Kibber village. You can reach Kibber village from Manali within 8-10 hours.
However, spending a night a Kibber directly from Manali is not advisable and you should head to Kaza after spending a few minutes in Kibber. Once you are acclimatized only then you should spend a night in Kibber.
Please note, that this route is only accessible during June to October and is closed for the rest of the year due to heavy snow at Kunzum La. This means that public transport from Manali is available only during the same period.
By the way, if its your first time in Spiti and you are worried about the safety, you should definitely check this out. It will surely put all your concerns to rest. This is the route you need take to reach Kibber village from Manali.
- Reaching Gramphoo from Manali
- Getting to Chhota Dhara from Gramphoo
- Reaching Kunzum La from Chhota Dhara
- Finally making it to Kibber from Kunzum La
Reaching Gramphoo from Manali
Now before the Atal tunnel opened up, it would have taken you around 2.5 to 3 hours to reach Gramphoo from Manali via Rohtang La.
But now due to Atal you can bypass Rohtang La and directly head to Gramphoo via the tunnel this would save at least a 1.5 hours. The distance from Manali to Gramphoo is around 47 km.
By the way you should definitely check out my blog 31 ethereal places to visit near Spiti. These places are equally picturesque as the places in Spiti.
Getting to Chota Dhara from Gramphoo
From Gramphoo basically you’ll be driving on a dirt track. The road from Gramphoo till at least losar is in extremely bad shape. So you have to be extremely careful while driving.
Even though the road is bad, it is just celestial. If you are lucky enough and the weather is clear, then you’ll be able to witness some insane views of snow-clad peaks that will be etched in your memory.
I was not so fortunate enough as the weather was overcast throughout the journey. Gramphoo to Chhota Dhara is around 28 km.
Reaching Kunzum La from Chota Dhara via Batal
So Kunzum La is the actual boundary between Lahaul and Spiti valleys and once you are at Kunzum La you’ll finally enter the Spiti valley from Lahaul.
The road from Chota Dhara to Kunzum is in complete shambles with infinite water crossings and big stones on the dirt track. It was somewhere between Batal and Chota Dhara that we were stuck for 3 hours as a truck was stuck due to a big stone.
The distance between Chota dhara and Kunzum La is around 26 km. Pay your respects at Kunzum La along with the insane views of glaciers and high mountains.
Finally making it to Kibber village from Kunzum La
So now the extremely bad roads will be behind you, but still it will take some to get metaled roads. Losar is the first village that you’ll encounter if you travel to Spiti via Manali-Kaza road.
You continue to keep moving towards Kibber and you should be able to reach there in a 2 couple of hours. The distance between Kunzum La and Kibber is around 60 km.
You can use google maps to navigate to Kibber village. And it will show you the proper way. But remember to download offline maps as there is no network between Gramphoo and Kunzum La
So It should take around 10-12 hours to reach Kibber from Manali as the roads is in Shambles. But according to some news reports, BRO has repaired the Kaza-Manali road, but we will get a clarity about the actual road conditions only in Summer 2021.
To conclude, I hope that you now have a fair idea on how to reach Kibber village. In my opinion, you should take the Shimla route if you plan to explore Spiti for a few days. If you are short on time only then you should take the Manali route.
And make sure you are properly acclimatized if you wish to spend a night in Kibber. In case you have any queries on how to travel to Kibber village, please drop them in the comments below. I’ll be happy to help.
