Taxi Drivers for Spiti Valley & Kinnaur Valley
Like the thread for Ladakh Taxi Drivers, I am starting this thread to collate the list of Taxi drivers from Spiti Valley or Kinnaur Valley. I will request everyone to please keep on adding to the list below. I will keep the main thread updated.
Please post a short description of the driver if possible along with the vehicle he owns and the charges he offers for his services. A picture will be more helpful for anyone to connect with him or her, but that is quite secondary.
If you are traveling to Leh Ladakh, refer to the taxi drivers for Ladakh and Zanskar trip.
1. Tsering at +91-9418208987, +91-7018731609, +918988778987. Based in Kaza owns a Xylo which his driver runs. He is the most humble person on the planet you will ever find and for me, he is nothing less than family. We go long back, more than a decade when I first stayed at his home. You can check the rates with him and can even refer to Discover With Dheeraj or my name, Dheeraj. He knows me very well. He runs Hotel Sakya Abode and a few more hotels too. I am mentioning him because you will not find any trustworthy or reliable person other than him up in the Spiti Valley 🙂 …
2. Chhewang Dorjey: +91-9459228584, +91-8988465809. Based in Kaza, owns a Sumo Spacio. He can come to pick you up from Shimla and don’t charge for it. An excellent driver, patient calm, and composed. Do not get irritated with many breaks and he was with me on my White Spiti Valley trip in March 2014. Highly recommend him if the car suits you. Can refer DoW to him.
3. Arvind Negi from Reckong Peo 07018198609, 09805114609, 09418946449. He is a very good driver. Very highly recommended by DoW members. He drives a Scorpio and Innova Crysta, very highly recommended. Car Numbers: HP 01 AA 2222 (Innova) & HP 01 A 5521(Scorpio)
4. Dilip: 09816003815, 09459563473. based in Kalpa, runs a Scorpio, and is a very very nice down-to-earth driver. Recommended from DoW members. Can refer DoW to him. Car Numbers: HP 01 A 4035 and HP01A2264.
5. Sunny hails from Shimla, English speaking guide cum local taxi driver, and has two Scorpios now, both 4×2 and 4×4 Scorpio. Very highly recommended by DwD community members. Contact number: Call – 7018514206 Whatsapp – 9459192806.
6. Arun Negi: +91-8219209660, +91-8988044493, +91-8894611950, Arun is the brother of Arvind and hails from Recong Peo. Very safe and humble driver. He sometimes takes bookings for Arvind too and but mostly runs his own Innova Crysta. Car Number: HP 01 A 6953.
7. Saleem 9805211177 / 8988087436. Drives an Innova with bucket seats. An awesome driver has very good knowledge of Spiti and Kinnaur Valley and more than 18 years of driving experience in Himachal Pradesh. Car Numbers: HP 01 A 4461.
8. Mukesh Kumar: +91-9857340009/+91-9418340009. Based in Kalpa, He has his own Innova. Very friendly and cordial and his attitude impressed us with feedback as shared by Debasis Sharangi. Can refer DoW to him.
9. Tenzin Chauppel: 09418433973. Runs Scorpio, Apart from being an excellent driver who knows all the roads in and out, this young chap being a resident of Kaza will take you places that non-local drivers would not know.
10. Lobzang: +91-9418442790. A local driver based in Kaza, Spiti Valley. He has been driving for the last 20+ years and is very familiar with the entire region of Spiti, Kinnaur, and other parts of Himachal. He has a White Innova.
11. Tashi: 09418501644. A driver based in Spiti Valley.
12. Chering: 09418840616. A driver based in Spiti Valley.
13. Ranjeet: +91-8629081366, +91-9877008349. He is a friend who needs some support as Corona has affected his business a lot. He is pretty well-versed in the region.
14. Kunzang Tashi & Sonam: 8278893256, 8988278309, 8580821806. They both are Spiti Valley-based local drivers and own two small cars one Alto (HP 0243), a Swift (HP 0338), and a Tempo Traveler (HP 8888). They have been driving in the region for the last 10 years and can help you with Winter Spiti Trips as well as come to pick from Chandigarh or Shimla.
15. Deepak Kumar / Deepu: 9816599700. He was part of our Discover With Dheeraj Spiti Valley Mega Meet 2014 where he was always helpful, opting for the safety of passengers, and gelled up well with the group. He is also one of the reliable drivers of Tsering bhai (#1 above in the list) as well. You can get in touch with him for any Spiti Valley tour.
As of 2024, experienced drivers from Kinnaur and Spiti regions charge about Rs 5000-5200 per day for old Innova/Xylo/Scorpio and Rs 5500-5800 for Innova Crysta. Some of them also offer fixed rates like Rs 45,000 for Shimla to Manali via Spiti in 7-8 days and Rs 55,000 for Chandigarh to Shimla to Spiti to Manali to Chandigarh in 10-11 days.
Drivers who are inexperienced in the roads of Spiti Valley or Kinnaur Valley or who are from lower hills like Shimla/Manali who have not done many roads in Spiti or who are totally from plains like Chandigarh and Delhi may offer less price per day but then their inexperience, skills, and warmth could pose a question in some challenging water crossing or bad road condition section. They may charge a little higher than others because most of these will come and pick you up from Shimla, Manali, or Chandigarh from Kinnaur or Spiti which incurs charges to them. But, if you want experienced drivers of these regions who have seen it all, you will have to pay the premium for their expertise and extra cost to pick you up from your starting point.
Well, I always recommend traveling via local Spiti Kinnaur drivers listed in the recommended list above because:
This is the list of other drivers who have got good reviews, but they may be coming from lower hills with less experience.
1. Prem Singh: +91-9816828913,+91-7018049103 & +91-9418505013, Runs Tempo traveller. He has 20 years of driving experience. As a fellow member shares below, “He was always graceful. Ready to stop wherever we find a good spot, responsible. Punctual. We visited his home in Kalpa. He was like our family member in the Himalayas. Now also he is in touch with us.”
2. Anil Thakur: 9816594411. A driver dased in Shimla but has experience in Kinnaur and Spiti region.
3. Bunty Negi: 8219793098, 8988530619. A driver dased in Kalpa and has good driving experience in Kinnaur and Spiti region. Multiple people have sent good reviews about him.
4. Ramesh Kumar: 8894570848, 9459493766. Has a 7-seater Xylo with the middle and back seats facing the front.
5. Khem Raj Verma: 9816374964, 9857320041. Owns Toyota Etios. Can be reached at his brother’s number too: Ram Krishna Verma (M No. 9736051710).
6. Sonu – 9459105448, 9817719405. Based in Shimla and drives Tavera car.
7. Nittu Sharma – 9418344252, 8642055000. Based in Shimla and drive an Innova.
8. Dharamvir: 9418174848, 9816074848. Drives a rear seat front-facing Xylo.
9. Mukesh(Monty) Sharma: 9816053050, 9459953121. Based in Shimla, owns an Innova.
10. Bhanu: 9418661109. Owns an Innova.
11. Maddy: 9816917405, 7018276564. Owns an Etios Platinum, HP01B4333.
12. Vijay Bazeer: +91-9816638100. He is based out of Sangla Valley and owns an Innova. Jayanth Padmakumar wrote, “He has good knowledge of the region & roads, went above and beyond to make their trip a memorable one.”
13. Rahul: +91-9816549006,+91-9817203338. Many good reviews were sent to me for him. He works mostly with Arun Negi and Arvind Negi brothers in the above list.
Please note that this article is in the process of getting moved from our forums to a blog article for better maintenance and submission of driver reviews. All reviews have not been copied yet from the forums, and it will take some time to move them completely. You can refer to the more detailed list of drivers at the link to the forum here where you can find some more drivers and review details too.
Please share your driver details and your travel experience with them. It will be helpful for both drivers to improve as well as fellow travelers to directly connect with the right drivers for their Kinnaur Valley and Spiti Valley trips.
In case you feel some driver mentioned on the list is not actually driving himself anymore and only runs tours as a tour operator, then plz let me know so that we can move them from the list to some other section or in case you have had a bad experience with any of these drivers from Spiti Valley and Kinnaur Valley, please do share that too so that a fair warning can be given to them before removing them from the list.
You can send the reviews to my email.
In this section, I will list down reviews or testimonials I get from various avid readers of the Discover With Dheeraj blog and DwD Community Members.
As per traveler Lahar Bhasin who shares feedback for SunnySunny’s network and connect across the Shimla to Kaza route is a great benefit…He has a solution to every problem. From confident driving to good places to eat and clean toilets, you can leave all the decisions to him.
As per traveler Aroop Banerjee who shares feedback for DilipOur trip to Kinnaur/Spiti valley from 12th May to 19th May’19 was just awesome, and yes, it was partly because of the guidance of Mr. Dalip. In 7 days, we cover almost every part we planned from Kalka to Kaza and return to Kalka, including Pin valley and Gue monastery. Dilip is a wonderful person by nature, knowledge, and terms of driving experience. I found him a man of punctuality with full of commitment. Every traveler in the valley would love to have him as the best escort while traveling through this unknown terrain. We traveled on his Scorpio Car HP 01A 4035 in our entire journey. YES, finally he is one of the best uncles to my 9-year-old son to recall.
I hope the above list of taxi drivers for Spiti Valley And Kinnaur Valley covering Shimla to Kinnaur to Kaza, Spiti Valley, and Manali to Kaza will help you in planning a fabulous trip to Spiti and Kinnaur.
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