Spiti Ladarcha Festival Group Tour with Chandratal

Ladarcha Fair is the biggest annual event in Spiti, held in the third week of August in Kaza, right after Independence Day. This departure is timed so your Kaza days fall during the festival season. The exact daily programme is announced locally each year, so we keep the Kaza days flexible to give you the best possible festival experience.

It can happen, because the daily schedule is set locally and can shift. Even then, the trip is fully worth it on its own. You still get the complete Spiti circuit, three nights in Kaza, the high villages, the Kibber and Chicham heritage belt, Kunzum Pass and Chandratal. The festival is the bonus, not the whole trip.

Three nights give you more time for the fair, gentler acclimatisation at altitude, and a fuller look at the high villages and the Key, Kibber and Chicham belt. It also means your stay is booked in advance during a week when Kaza fills up fast.

Before 1962, Ladarcha was a trans-Himalayan trade fair held on the Ladarcha ground near Chicham village in upper Spiti, where traders from Ladakh, Tibet, Kinnaur and Spiti met to barter. The old fair ended after the 1962 war closed the border, and it was later revived as a cultural festival at Kaza. On this trip you walk that same Kibber and Chicham belt where the old gathering once happened.

We plan for it on every departure, but Chandratal is condition based. Access depends on road clearance, weather and local permissions, and camping is only at the designated campsite near the lake, not at the shore. If it is not safe or not accessible, we move the stay and route to the safest available alternative and keep you informed.

This batch is built around the third week of August, so it sits right after Independence Day. Depending on how the calendar falls that year, you may be able to line up part of the trip with the long weekend and use fewer leave days. Share your dates and we will help you work the leave around the 12 to 21 or 13 to 22 August departures.

Entering from Shimla through Kinnaur lets you gain height slowly over a few days, which is the safer way to reach Spiti. Exiting towards Manali over Kunzum Pass and Chandratal completes the full loop without backtracking, so you see the whole circuit rather than the same road twice.

The package includes 7 breakfasts (Day 3 to Day 9) and 7 dinners (Day 2 to Day 8) on the MAP plan, tied to your stay nights. Lunches, snacks, beverages and the meals during the Volvo journeys are not included, so carry some cash for those.

Yes. The route is built to acclimatise you gradually, the group is supported on the ground throughout, and a coordinator stays in touch. It is a real high altitude circuit with long drives, so come prepared, but first time Spiti travellers do this trip comfortably.

Yes. The route is built to acclimatise you gradually, the group is supported on the ground throughout, and a coordinator stays in touch. It is a real high altitude circuit with long drives, so come prepared, but first time Spiti travellers do this trip comfortably.