Kinnaur is about 235 km from the state capital, Shimla located in the northeast corner of Himachal Pradesh ordering Tibet to the east. It was a part of erstwhile Bushehr state which had its capital at Kamru in Sangla Valley. Later, the capital was shifted to Rampur Bushehr. Kinnaur is known as a beautiful valley with the slopes covered with thick wood, orchards, fields and picturesque hamlets. The old Hindustan-Tibet Road passes through the Kinnaur valley along the bank of river Sutlej and finally enters into Tibet at Shipki La pass. This was the ancient trade route between India and Tibet and even today hundreds of Indian traders every year cross Shipki La and enter into Chinese occupied Tibetan
regions for the trade.
Kalpa is a popular tourist destination in Kinnaur which 1s one of the oldest settlements of this region. It was the District Headquarter of Kinnaur earlier and 1t has all the characteristics of a heritage village. Kalpa came into prominence in the wake of British Governor General Lord Dalhousie’s visit in the 19th century. Kalpa is dramatically located close to the foot of 6050 meter high Kinner Kailash. It offers spectacular sight early in the morning as the rising sun touches the snowy peaks of Kinner Kailash with crimson and gold light. Another important places are Rekongpeo which is the current headquarter of Kinnaur, Sangla valley which is one of the most beautiful valley with apple orchards, dry fruits and saffron.
This valley further leads to the last border village named Chitkul where the Parikarma trek of Kinner Kailash Mountain ends. Chango is at the end of Kinnaur district towards Spiti and this is a prominent apple section of Kinnaur, near to Nako Village. Nako is a picturesque village, situated in isolation with a huge lake and monastery of Guru Padmasambhava. The people of lower and middle Kinnaur practice both Hindu and Buddhism as religion and the religion of upper Kinnaur is mostly Buddhism, having the institution of Lamaism. They mostly follow Mahayana Buddhism and almost every village has a monastery. There are several trekking routes from Kinnaur to Pin Valley of
Spiti, Rohru region of Shimla and Uttrakhand which attract tourists
from all over the world.
