Challenging (high-altitude winter)
Winter Spiti Circuit
Starts Chandigarh (Mumbai/Pune add-on by train)
- From
- Rs. 20,000*
- Nights
- 10
- Open dates
- 6
Field guide · Himachal Pradesh
Nako travel guide
A Buddhist village around a small lake at about 3,600 m, where green Kinnaur gives way to the cold desert on the road to Spiti.
- About 3,625 mAltitude
- 1025 ADTemples dated
- One nightGood for
Photo: Bare brown mountain slopes under a line of snow peaks near Nako in upper Kinnaur
Nako is the highest village in the Hangrang valley of upper Kinnaur, a few kilometres above the main road between Khab and Sumdo. It has a willow-fringed lake about 500 m long, a cluster of mud temples dated to 1025 AD, and a view down to the Spiti River far below.
Most people pass through in an hour. It deserves a night, partly for itself and partly because it is the right height to sleep at before Tabo and Kaza.
Overview
Where Kinnaur turns dry
Below Nako, at Khab, the Spiti River meets the Sutlej and the road forks: NH5 back down to Shimla, NH505 up into Spiti. In the space of an hour the orchards and pines of lower Kinnaur are gone and the slopes are bare rock.
Nako had about 570 residents in the 2011 census. Wikipedia gives its altitude as 3,625 m; other guides say 3,662 m. The temple complex is credited to the translator Rinchen Zangpo, the same man tradition credits with founding Tabo in 996 CE.
The lake
Small, still and ringed with willow and poplar. You can walk around it in half an hour. A rock near the shore carries a mark that people revere as a footprint of Padmasambhava, with a small shrine built over it.
In winter
The lake freezes hard. Ice skating has been held on it, and news reports from December 2022 show people skating on the frozen surface. The village is very quiet and facilities are thin in those months.
Things to do
An afternoon and a morning
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Walk around the lake
Late afternoon for reflections, early morning for stillness. Stay off the ice in winter unless locals are on it.
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The old temples
Four mud-walled temples from the 11th century, with painted interiors and clay figures. They are fragile and usually locked. Ask in the village for the caretaker, and do not use flash.
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The village lanes
Stone and mud houses packed tight, firewood and fodder on the flat roofs, prayer wheels at the corners. Walk clockwise past the mani walls.
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The viewpoint above the village
A path leads up past chortens to a ridge with prayer flags, looking down on the lake and across to the peaks on the Tibet border, including Reo Purgyil, Himachal's highest.
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Khab confluence
Where the Spiti joins the Sutlej. You can often see the two colours of water running side by side.
Practical info
Before you go
Best time
May to mid October
Guides agree on May to mid October for open guesthouses and mild days. The road stays open in winter, weather allowing, but few places to stay do.
Getting there
Just off NH505
Roughly 100 km from Reckong Peo and a similar distance from Kaza, with Tabo in between. The stretch below Nako, around Malling, is known for landslides and slow going.
Altitude
Your first night above 3,500 m
Coming from Kalpa you gain about 650 m of sleeping height. Expect to feel it on the stairs. Drink water, keep the evening easy, and tell someone if a headache gets worse instead of better.
Permits
Border area
Indian citizens need only ID. Foreign nationals need a Protected Area Permit for this stretch, and it is checked.
Cash and phone
None to speak of
No dependable ATM. Bring cash from Reckong Peo. Mobile signal is weak and comes and goes.
Build your packing list
Tell the builder where and when you are going and it gives you a list you can tick off.
Open the Packing List BuilderGo with Charkadam
Nako, with a group
Nako is on the route of our Winter Spiti Circuit, on the day the road leaves Kinnaur for Spiti. The trip page has the current day-by-day plan.
* Indicative starting price. The trip page shows the price for each date.
Questions
Nako, answered
About 3,625 m according to Wikipedia. Some guides quote 3,662 m.
Nako is in Kinnaur district, in the Hangrang valley. It is the last major village before the road crosses into Spiti at Sumdo.
Yes. In deep winter the lake freezes hard enough that people have skated on it.
Yes, if you have the time. It is quiet once day visitors leave, and sleeping here helps you adjust before Tabo and Kaza.
Keep reading
Guides nearby
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Facing Kinner Kailash
Kalpa
Orchards, old Kinnauri houses and the sunrise across the Sutlej gorge.
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996 CE and still in use
Tabo
A thousand-year-old monastery, caves in the cliff above, and an easier night than Kaza.
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Spiti's base town
Kaza
The market, the cafes, the fuel, and the day trips to the high villages.
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The whole valley
Spiti Valley
The route in, the monasteries, the high villages and how to handle the altitude.
