Field guides
Know the place before you go.
Seventeen guides to the places our trips go. What to eat, what is worth your time, what other travellers pass on, and the practical bits: season, altitude, permits, cash.
Himachal Pradesh · cold desert
Spiti and Kinnaur
The old Hindustan-Tibet road from Shimla up the Sutlej, then into the cold desert of Spiti. Start with the valley guide, then read the stops in the order the road reaches them.
See the Spiti trip-
The whole valley
Spiti Valley
The route in, the monasteries, the high villages and how to handle the altitude. -
Facing Kinner Kailash
Kalpa
Orchards, old Kinnauri houses and the sunrise across the Sutlej gorge. -
The lake village
Nako
A small lake, thousand-year-old temples and the first real altitude on the Spiti road. -
996 CE and still in use
Tabo
A thousand-year-old monastery, caves in the cliff above, and an easier night than Kaza. -
Spiti's base town
Kaza
The market, the cafes, the fuel, and the day trips to the high villages. -
The Baspa valley
Sangla and Chitkul
Kamru Fort, wooden villages, and the road that ends at Chitkul.
Himachal Pradesh · hill towns
Himachal towns
The towns our two Himachal circuits string together, plus Amritsar, where one of them ends. Each is a different trip in itself, so each gets its own guide.
See the Himachal trips-
The old summer capital
Shimla
The Ridge, the toy train, Himachali food and the forest walks behind the crowds. -
Parvati valley base
Kasol
A riverside village, the walks around it and the hot springs up the road. -
Beas valley base
Manali
Old Manali, Hadimba's cedar forest, Solang's snow and the tunnel to Lahaul. -
Paragliding and monasteries
Bir Billing
The launch at Billing, the Tibetan colony below, and slow village walks. -
Little Lhasa
Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj
The Dalai Lama's temple, Tibetan kitchens, and the walk up to Triund. -
The Golden Temple city
Amritsar
Harmandir Sahib at dawn and at night, kulcha for breakfast, and the border at sunset.
Meghalaya · Khasi and Jaintia hills
Meghalaya
Root bridges grown by hand, caves under a plateau that takes some of the heaviest rain on earth, and a river you can see the bed of in winter.
See the Meghalaya trips-
The whole state
Meghalaya
Root bridges, caves, waterfalls, Khasi food and how the seasons change all of it. -
Falls, caves, root bridges
Cherrapunji (Sohra)
Nohkalikai, the steps to Nongriat, and the caves under the plateau. -
The hill capital
Shillong
Markets, museums, music, and Khasi food stalls on every corner. -
The clear river
Dawki and Shnongpdeng
When the Umngot is glass, when it is mud, and which village to pick.
Arunachal Pradesh · Monpa country
Tawang
Two days of road from Guwahati, a permit, and a monastery town at about 3,000 m near the border.
See the Tawang trip
Go with Charkadam
Read enough? Pick a date.
Every trip we run and every date that is open is on the departure calendar. Each trip page has the day-by-day plan, what is included and the price for each date.
