Love the grand shamba la and village of kalpa. . Quick, get there while it is still unspoiled by tourism! There has been a building boom of new hotels since we were there in 2016. Hotel is immaculate, staffed with wonderful people and serves excellent food. Gracious owner , Prithvi, helped us arrange excellent safe driver to take us through amazing spiti valley to leh, He was open to switching us when we didn’t like s couple of the hotels he had booked. Unfortunately hard to match standard of grand shamba la .. it is so top notch.

Location – The hotel is located on the road to Roghi village. Though the hotel can be seen from the road, access is through a narrow road which leads to the small parking area of the hotel. From Rekong Peo its about 30 minutes drive.

The Hotel – The hotel structure consists ground + 6 floors which the top floor being the library. The library is well stocked. Each floor has 4 rooms with 2 facing the majestic and scenic Kinner Kailash Ranges. The ground floor houses the reception area and the dining area where all meals are served. Behind this there is a dining area for buffet meals with a small open courtyard. The bar i.e. Yeti Sports Bar and the meditation room i.e. Yeti Retreat can be accessed from this area. The meditation room is a must visit and one can enjoy the solitude and calmness which it provides. Though this room can be used for group activities like meditation, yoga, lecture, etc.
Once we reached the reception we were warmly received by Yashpal and checked in and offered apple juice. The apple juice was freshly made and was very different from the normal apple juice which is available in the markets.

We met Mr. Prithviraj, the owner of the hotel who stays next door. It was good to chat with him to know more about the area and its people. Through him we got to know the road on which the hotel is located was once 1 of the 3 silk routes through which India and China did their trade.

There are 2 beautiful tankha paintings in the hotel. A bigger one is in the Yeti retreat and a small one is in the library next to the door leading to the deck to view the ranges.

Rooms : Our room was on the 5th floor and facing the other side not facing the Kinner Kailash Ranges. The rooms felt a bit cramped as they were small and had a double bed, table, chair, heater and a TV unit. The rooms had a balcony where one can sit and enjoy the scene. Opposite to the bed the room had big French window which opened to a balcony and also another wall had French windows. We were hardly in the room as we were out sightseeing or sitting in the deck area of the library facing the Kinner Kailash ranges. We stayed here for 2 nights and spend both the evenings watching the majestic ranges. The bathroom was equipped with had a geyser for hot water.

The only drawback of the room on the higher floor is that the climb up is tiring as Kalpa is on a higher elevation. So be careful and take your time to reach your room.
Food : All meals were served buffet style on the ground floor. The breakfast had a wide variety which included juices, tea/coffee, eggs, puri, vegetable, fruits, etc. The dinner also had a wide variety which included soups, vegetables, rice, chicken curry and a sweet. Hot chapatis were served on the table. Generally tourists do not opt for lunch as most of the time they are busy sightseeing. We had an option of having lunch in Rekong Peo, but could not find a decent restaurant so we came back to the hotel to have a Chinese lunch.

They do offer room service and on two evenings which we spend there we had ordered some snacks and tea with a special request they it should be served on the 6th floor on the deck, facing the Kinner Kailash ranges, which was adhered to.
The food was simple but tasty. We did not try the sport bar but the bar seemed to be a cosy place.

Staff – The staff was friendly and very very helpful and always on their toes. They were always cheerful and enquired if they could do anything.

Activities – As Kalpa is a touristy place, the place to visit are (i) a spot known as “Suicide Point” and the name does not do justice and I was told no one has committed suicide here. It was so named for marketing purpose only. Its about 6 kilometres from the hotel. The road is quite narrow and dangerous as it is situated on very high elevation. This place is beautiful which is a deep depression in the middle of the mountain with a high peak and a seemingly bottom less pit. The narrow road ahead takes a turn to the left and from this place one can see the beauty of this place. We could not sight the bottom here. (ii) Further about 5 kilometres from Suicide point, is the village named Roghi which is the last village on this road. (iii) Rekong Peo which is located below Kalpa is a small trading town which is accessed by nearly villages and small towns for their supplies. One can spend some time loitering around the market. We could not find a proper place to have our lunch here so we went back to the hotel for lunch. There are shops where sell dry fruits. I particular liked the dried apples. (iv) while talking to Prithviraj during lunch he suggested we should visit village Tashi Gang which is about 8 kilometres from the hotel and further down visit a big meadow. It took us about 15-20 minutes to visit Tashi through winding roads and it was funny as we did not find a single person in the village though it was about 3 pm. There is a spot near the police station on the main road as the road turns left which offers beautiful vistas of the beautiful mountain ranges. On one side is a barren landscape and on the other side is the snow covered mountain ranges which the tree cover at lower level with River Sutlej bifurcating the two ranges. (v) Tibetan monatry which is about 5 minutes walk from the hotel. This monastery was built by ancestors of Prithviraj, the owner of the hotel.

Conclusion – The time spent here was enjoyable with good food and good people.