Driving Spiti in your own car, with a convoy behind you

What it is not

It is not a fee for joining a queue of cars behind a lead vehicle. What you are paying for is three teams on the road with you for the whole expedition, the places you sleep, and the food on the table at either end of the day. Take those away and you are simply driving to Spiti alone with company, which you can do for nothing.

What travels with you

• The medical team. An expedition medic in the convoy, with oxygen and a trauma kit in the support vehicle, checking oxygen levels and pulse every morning and evening, and a plan to get anyone down fast. Altitude is the one thing on this route that does not negotiate.
• The mechanical team. A mechanic and a support vehicle with spares, tools, a tow rope and a shovel. Your car is checked the evening before we leave and looked after all week. A puncture, a flat battery or a wheel in the snow is a stop, not the end of your trip.
• A driver when you need one. Tired, unwell, or simply finished for the day? One of our drivers takes your wheel, or you ride in one of our vehicles and somebody else brings yours along. Nobody drives these roads exhausted.
• Where you sleep. Every night booked and paid for — heated camps and family homestays, chosen and checked before the season, not whatever has a room free at nine at night.
• Breakfast and dinner, every day, including in the villages above Kaza where nothing is open in winter. Lunch on the road is your own.
• The guide, the route and the permits. A lead guide who has driven every stretch this season, sets the pace and makes the call when weather closes in — plus Inner Line Permits for everyone in your vehicle.
• The photographer, and your edited gallery afterwards. You drive; we keep the memories.

What car can do this road

More cars than people expect, and fewer than the internet suggests. The Shimla–Spiti road through Kinnaur is tarmac for most of its length, with broken and unpaved stretches beyond Kaza and up to the high villages.

• Ground clearance matters more than four-wheel drive on the main route. A well-driven hatchback has made it to Kaza in summer many times over. It is the last day-drives — Komic, Hikkim, Langza, the Chicham road — that punish a low car.
• In winter, bring four-wheel drive. Ice in the shaded bends and fresh snow on the high sections are not a two-wheel-drive proposition, whatever tyres you have. We will say so plainly when you enquire.
• Tyres, brakes and a spare. Check them before you come, not in Rekong Peo. Carry a full-size spare that is actually inflated.
• Service it first. Our mechanic will look over your car the evening before we leave, but he is there to keep a sound vehicle running, not to rebuild a neglected one at 3,800 metres.

Tell us what you drive when you ask for a place. If the car is wrong for the season, we would rather say so in an email than at Nako.

What it costs, by expedition

Two figures per trip: the car and its driver, then every other person in it.

So on the winter Spiti circuit a couple in one car is ₹50,000, and a family of four is ₹90,000 — against ₹156,000 for four seats. One person driving alone pays ₹30,000, less than a seat, but carries their own fuel and does all the driving. The full price page is what a Montera expedition costs.

What we ask of you

• Drive to the convoy's pace. The guide sets it, and it is set by the slowest vehicle, the weather and the altitude — not by how good the road looks.
• Keep the vehicle behind you in your mirror. That is the whole system. Nobody gets left on a bend alone.
• Come to the briefing. Every driver gets one before we leave: the day's route, the stretches that need care, the radio and the stopping drill.
• Say when you have had enough. There is no prize for pushing on. That is what the spare driver is for.

Why not just drive it alone?

In September, if you have mountain driving behind you and a week's slack in your plans, you can, and it will be a fine trip. The convoy earns its keep in the places where being alone stops being romantic: a road closed for six hours with nowhere booked at the other end, a guest whose oxygen reading drops on day four, a wheel that will not come out of the snow at Langza with the light going. Those days are the reason there is a mechanic in one vehicle and a doctor in another.

And in January, driving to Spiti alone is a different question entirely. Read is Spiti safe in January? before you decide.

Questions we are asked

Can I drive my own car with a guided group?

Yes, on any of the five expeditions. You pay for the vehicle and its driver, plus a smaller charge for each other person in it — from ₹30,000 for Spiti in winter to ₹70,000 for the fourteen days across Zanskar and Ladakh. Your fuel is on top; everything else is the same as a seat.

What car do I need for Spiti or Ladakh?

Ground clearance matters more than four-wheel drive on the main Spiti road, and a well-driven hatchback has reached Kaza in summer many times. For any winter departure, and for the high village drives above Kaza, four-wheel drive is required. In summer an SUV is enough, 4x4 or not.

What do I have to carry in my own car?

A tow strap, snow chains, an air pump, a tyre puncture kit and a jump starter, plus antifreeze coolant topped up before you leave. Winter departures need AT tyres on all four wheels.

Is self-drive to Spiti safe?

In summer, with mountain driving experience and slack in your plans, yes. The risks are a road closed with nowhere booked, altitude sickness with no medic, and a breakdown where there is no help. Travelling in a convoy is what removes those three.

Do I still need permits if I drive my own car?

Yes, and we arrange them. Permits for everyone in your vehicle are included, so the papers for the checkposts are in one place and in order, with your car number already on the checkpost list.