Sakya Abode Kaza – An Enriching Experience in Spiti Valley

7.5 Awesome to stay

Sakya Abode is one of the finest places to stay in Spiti Valley. The enriching experience you get at this hotel is just too good to be real. Every time I travel to Spiti Valley, there is no other place where I stay than Sakya Abode or Snow Lion

• Value for Money Spent 7.5
• Cleanliness / Hygiene 7
• Comfort & Spacious 7
• Service & Hospitality 10
• Food Quality & Taste 7
• Location 6.5
• User Ratings (9 Votes) 6.4

I rarely stay at the same hotel or guesthouse twice but Sakya Abode Kaza – Spiti Valley is one such place I love most that every time I am in Kaza, I stay only with Sakya Abode or Sakya Homestay or Kumphen.

All of them are run by a gem of a person named Tsering who not only believes in cultural values of Spiti but respects the environment, tourism, and concern about doing his bit for the local society, equally. Out of all homestays in Spiti, it is one of the good ones.

Spiti Valley has its headquarters in Kaza and due to which it has a varied number of hotels or guest houses or homestays suiting to various budgeting needs. However, what makes Sakya Abode Kaza so special is that it is value for money, the locals running it are concerned about their surroundings respects it. Above all the warmest of hospitality, you will receive from Tsering and his staff including Motu Bhai 🙂 🙂

Complete review of Sakya Abode Kaza – Spiti Valley

So, if you are traveling to Spiti Valley and looking for a decent, value for money stay in Kaza for you or your family where you find yourself lost among many options on offer, then believe me and head to Sakya Abode Kaza or Sakya Home Stay any given day or time when you are in Spiti Valley.

It is such a nice place to stay at a price on offer that we once awarded Sakya Abode, our DwD Community’s: Devil’s Den Award too. Along with Sakya Abode, Tsering also runs a couple of homestays by the name of Sakya Homestays and one hotel named Kumphen. The hotel Kumphen is almost there in the complex of Sakya Tangyud Monastery in Kaza. All of them are near each other and have separate kitchens.

As I have said, there are many options of stay in Kaza, but today I will share my enriching experience of Sakya Abode and Sakya Homestays I had over the last few years of my visit to Spiti Valley.

What does Sakya Abode Offer?

Despite being popular among many travelers, Sakya Abode & its homestays continue to offer better and better quality topped with great hospitality with every passing year. Hats off to the dedication & efforts put in by Tsering & his team to continuously offer this enriching experience to the travelers in the Himalayas.

All this comes at a great VFM price range of Rs 1500-2000 per day based on the season and time you traveling. With the experience of staying at so many properties in the Himalayas over the last decade, I can easily say that it is quite decent in return for the enriching experience you live at Sakya Abode including the hospitality and support on offer to you.

The only concern I see is the limited room sizes sometimes, and hence, if you are planning to fit in way too many in one room, it could be a difficult prospect. Max of three people will be OK with an extra bed on the floor. However, since it (including Homestays) is built on traditional grounds & architecture, it is much warmer than other properties run by Tsering in Kaza including Kumphen.

I will start writing the detailed travel tale of my last winter trip to white Spiti Valley soon but before that let me share the detailed review of Sakya Abode Kaza today.

You can travel to Spiti Valley via Kinnaur or make a Spiti road trip from Manali side.

Pictures

First and foremost, as my trademark saying goes pictures are better than a thousand words…

Price & Bookings

You can get in touch with Sakya Abode using the below contact details:

The price ranges from Rs 1500-2000 per day based on the season and time you travel. You can refer my name or Discover With Dheeraj name, and I am sure whatever best price Tsering can offer you will be given to you. He is more than a friend to me, so I can assure he will be able to offer best he can for you 🙂

Location

As you reach Kaza from Kinnaur side, keep going straight on Kaza – Losar road. Just before the Sakya Tangyud Monastery or Kaza Petrol pump, Sakya Abode lies on the road towards left. The Kumphen Hotel lies in the complex of Sakya Tangyud Monastery and Sakya Homestays are nearby too. Sakya Abode is near the water stream.

Parking

Parking has to be done on the road for Sakya Abode, but you will find a safe place somewhere near the hotel to park your car. There isn’t much problem with parking in Spiti Valley.

Personal Experience at Sakya Abode Kaza

As I have already said, my experience has always been fantastic every time I stayed with Tsering in Sakya Abode or his homestay. Apart from Tsering, all the members in the team I have interacted with, including the ever so nice Motu Bhai, have been accommodating, supportive and were always present there whenever there was any need.

The rooms, especially in Sakya Abode and Sakya homestays, were very cozy despite cold conditions of October and even March too. You will not go wrong with Sakya Abode among all the accommodation options in Spiti Valley.

Dining Room

I have always loved the way the dining of Sakya Abode has been set up and wonderfully done. It feels like an authentic Himachali dining room of Spiti Valley. There is a small setup of Internet Cafe too in the dining room itself. The Kaza market is also at a walking distance if you know the right shortcuts, else by road you need to take your car.

Rooms to sleep

Rooms in the guest house are small, basic YET quite comfortable, nice, very cozy and of course, very clean. The best thing was at such a remote location you are getting this kind of homely experience, which is a kind of luxury in itself for a person like me.

Rooms are small (but can fit max three people) with attached bathroom having hot water supply and on request room heaters can be arranged.

If somehow you could not get a booking or room at Sakya Abode or his Homestay, you can check with Tsering for rooms at Hotel Kumphen. I felt pretty cozy in the rooms of Sakya Abode on my trip to Spiti Valley in winters.

Eating at Sakya Abode

In the case of Sakya Homestay, you will need to come down to the restaurant or dining room of Sakya Abode hotel for food.

The quality of the food is quite good and homely. The cook, especially at Sakya Abode Kaza, has a great gift to cook some delicious food. I loved the food there, and in fact, we had food always in the hotel itself, sharing some gup-shups with Motu Bhai or Tsering Bhai. Motu Bhai is just a call away and will always be present for you to take care of anything required. He is a bit shy but accommodating 🙂 🙂

An ample garden or lawn space is also present in Sakya Abode. It is good to bask in the sun on a cold day and read some good books they have available for reading in their hotels.

Well for booze lovers, the Liquor shop is there in the Kaza market but does take care and be away from liquor in initial days so as to acclimatize properly. Otherwise, liquor can hamper the acclimatization which can lead to AMS.

Hospitality

The hospitality we received from Tsering has always been exceptional. They always took care of most of our on the fly requests too. Thanks to them that they even opened the hotel just for my friend and me when I went to Spiti Valley in March in the year 2014 in difficult circumstances of extreme cold and lack of their staff too.

They were always present there for us, no matter what, and took excellent care of us in such extreme cold. It was hard to believe in this unreal world, but that is what we went through.

Tsering also guided us for executing our DoW Causes, a step towards Responsible Travel by DoW, in the villages of Lalung and Kibber.

Medical Help

For any medical assistance, you will have to approach the Hospital in Kaza, which is very near to Sakya Abode, hardly 5-10 minutes of walk. In case of extreme emergency, you need to get to Shimla mostly or Reckong Peo, whichever is suggested by doctors in Kaza. Locals all over Spiti Valley rely on the hospital facilities of Kaza.

In the season of Spiti, you may travel to Kullu hospital as well to seek medical assistance.

ATM

There is an SBI ATM in Kaza, and for all the SBI Account Holders, the adjacent branch of SBI has also installed a couple of POS where also you can withdraw money in case ATM is facing some issues. This can be an issue in many remote parts of the Himachal Pradesh especially the tribal belts.

Petrol Pump

Kaza also has an Indian Oil petrol pump, very near to Sakya Abode, which they claim to be the highest petrol pump in the world 🙂 …

Activities and Attraction In-Around Sakya Abode Kaza

Kaza is considered as the base for exploring the entire Spiti Valley, so there is no shortage of places or attractions to visit around. You can pay a visit to Ki, Kibber, Hikkim, Komik, Langza, Pin Valley, Dhangkar, Tabo, Gete, Tashigang, etc.. It needs an entire dedicated Travel Guide to list them all and provide details. I am working on that comprehensive travel guide, should be up in a couple of months.

Then, you can try some hikes to nearby villages as well from Kaza. If interested, you can also try Mountain Biking, Camping, Rafting in Spiti River, and gears/equipment for such activities are available for rent too at Sakya Abode, or they can arrange.

Rafting in Spiti Valley has been started by Tsering only. They can arrange the downhill mountain biking rides too for you, if required 🙂

Conclusion

In the end, I will again say that Sakya Abode Kaza is a great value for money option for a stay in Spiti Valley. In terms of return, you get from the stay, support of staff, and decent food, you will not go wrong.

Hospitality is one of the best you will receive and it is one of the properties to have bagged our community’s Devil’s Den Award, you will surely be getting an enriching experience in Himalayas of Spiti Valley 🙂 🙂

Have a travel question?? You can subscribe to my YouTube channel and leave a comment to ask your travel questions about traveling to the Himalayas.

I hope that as more and more people visit Spiti Valley, Sakya Abode Kaza continues to provide this excellence in hospitality and amazing services to the people traveling to this part of Himalayas.

If you know your friends or family are planning a trip to Spiti Valley, do share this article with them to help them make a memorable trip. You can also refer to the most common itinerary of Spiti Valley in the infographic guide below.