Location: Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India

Altitude:  4,300 metres (14,100 ft)

Access: Only by road, and completely dependent on weather and route conditions. Drive up from Manali – Rohtang Pass – Gramphoo – Losar – Batal. If your time of arrival at Batal (from which Chandra Taal is almost an hour’s drive [don’t be fooled by the signboard showing '14 km'] and a further half-hour walk away beyond a few smaller lakes) falls in the evening, go on to Kaza, a full-fledged town, and drive back down to Batal the next morning to take the road towards Chandra Taal.

Alternatively, you can do the other circuit and drive about 400 km from Shimla to Kaza, and depending on your headway, continue on to Batal.

Accommodation: Pre-booking is recommended; contact us at opendurbar@gmail.com for getting in touch with Manali-based camp owners for ensuring a comfortable yet mind-blowing experience. 

Our experience is laid out in full, mind-blowing detail right here! Click!

Chandertal

Chandertal Lake – named for the moon

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In fact, if you feel lazy about clicking (yet) another link, here is the text:

We left from Delhi on 6th June, and attended our awesome friend’s wedding in Kullu. Next up, we crossed Rohtang and stayed in a great hotel booked by our next-Himachali-friend-to-be-married in Keylong.

The view till then had been spectacular, but we had a choice to make about our onward journey. At our 2nd friend's wedding, we were lightly cautioned by the locals against taking our (very reliable) Honda Amaze to Spiti/Chandra Taal. Four of our college friends were already in a Tempo Traveler, so we parked our car at Koksar and joined them in it.

The ride to Kaza (the main town in the Spiti valley) took the best part of the day, but we arrived in time to take in the sunset. Then began the wait for moonrise, which my trustworthy as ever SkyView app predicted to be around 11:30 pm. It was time for (amateur) night-sky photography!

The photos themselves are two dimensional digital reproductions; the sensation of time was visibly suspended as the moon rose and rose, until the town of Kaza was bathed bright with moonlight. I’m irresistibly reminded of the Buddhist mural painted in white across the valley.

After a good night’s sleep, we loaded ourselves back into the Traveler and headed to Chandra Taal. Retracing the road we had taken, we re-crossed the town of Losar, and turned towards Chandra Taal from Batal.

Before I forget, we called Sunny (a good friend of our 1st friend who had gotten married in Kullu), and he generously booked tents for us at very agreeable rates in his camp at the base of Chandra Taal. This is the kind of unique bonhomie one gets to experience in Himachal (and in India).

Onward, then, to Chandra Taal! We made good progress mainly due to Sanjay, our guide and driver. His experience came in really handy on the loose dirt path leading up to Chandra Taal. On the way, a young couple were unfortunately stranded with a rare faulty Royal Enfield Bullet, popular with bikers on Himalayan roads. We took them along and ensured they got a tent when we crossed the campsite along the way.

Oh, man, the steep drive to the final parking lot is DUSTY! Stay slow to avoid getting caked in red soil like our friends who rode the rooftop!

This steep stretch leading upwards to the Chandra Taal parking is about a kilometer or so long. Along the way are numerous lower lakes and a view of the lake-river system down through the valley. It is best to reach as early as possible: you WILL need time to emulate what 4 of us did.

The green banks of grass pale in comparison to the dark green water of the moon lake. After splashing around a bit, Pradeep, Nimesh, Nitin and I embarked on our circumambulation.  It is an hour of utmost beauty, and the way is (or was, thankfully for us at the time) easy. Melting snow feeds the estuary-like beginning of the lake, and on the other side are the ubiquitous pyramids of flat stones piled atop each other. We added our own, with the sun setting behind snow capped peaks far down towards the west. It was only in January 2017 that I went higher: Bandipur in Nepal, near Pokhara and the Annapurna Dhaulagiri range.

But as is often my wont, I digress. Let me take you back to Chandra Taal.

We climbed down in the twilight, and were warmly received by our host – I forgot his name, but I’m sure we will remember it when our group gets together and conversations lead hither. A great dinner later, we stayed to watch the Milky Way and the Big Dipper revolve into view. Our DSLR took great long exposure shots of the bright moonlit valley & sky.

It is inadvisable to attempt an overnight camp at Chandra Taal itself, unless you’re an experienced outdoors person. Even then, take care whenever you find yourselves in the remote reaches of the Himalayas!

Next morning we descended, picked the couple’s Royal Enfield Bullet (more like rolled it downhill) and reached Manali in the evening. Of course, our Amaze reached slightly earlier due to traffic at Rohtang Pass. We retired to Old Manali and regrettably returned to Delhi’s heat the next day; memories etched into our brains till death wipes them clean.

So as not to end on too low a note, here is a 2021 road trip video to Himachal Pradesh, towards Churdhar peak in Sirmaur district:

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