Team-BHP - Which winter destination for a road-trip from Jaipur?

Hi,
I am planning to take my Thar for a winter drive from Jaipur. I haven't driven in snow before and it would be just me and my wife so didn't want to attempt something as extreme as Spiti or Ladakh.

Any recommendations for reasonably manageable yet not too mainstream places? The options we are debating between are Munsiyari/Narkanda/Sissu region. Any suggestions between these or any other places we should evaluate?

Thanks in advance!

Quote:

Originally Posted by animeshc (Post 5652829)

We are planning for a week long trip to Narkanda. Plan is to drive as much possible till Kaza and trace back the route. Considering it's going to be second week of November and we are not in a 4X4[XUV 700 FWD] it is going to be interesting to say the least :) .

Check out this link : https://vargiskhan.com/log/category/lahaul-spiti/

Though we are planning/booking through different person/agency the link above contains some good information about the road conditions etc. All the best and do keep us informed on what you decide.

Quote:

Originally Posted by somspaple (Post 5652853)

We are planning for a week long trip to Narkanda. Plan is to drive as much possible till Kaza and trace back the route.

Hey @somspaple, did you make the trip? Any updates?

I'm planning to go to Himachal till I can without the road becoming too extreme in my XUV700 AWD during the last week of december.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hash (Post 5675558)

Hey @somspaple, did you make the trip? Any updates?

I'm planning to go to Himachal till I can without the road becoming too extreme in my XUV700 AWD during the last week of december.

Hi @hash, yes - we completed the trip. For onward journey we were lucky as we did not get stuck on the road due to landslides. Landslides are frequent and pretty much daily occurrence. BRO works hard to clear the landslides within few hours.

Originally we wanted to complete the circuit and return from Manali side - but we couldn't cross over to Manali at Losar because of snowfall further ahead. We had to trace back the route - but on return journey we encountered road blocks due to landslides at couple of places. Ended up spending 4-5 hours on road couple of times.

I guess Kaza is accessible even in December - at least that's what our host at Kaza informed us.

I would suggest have couple of days as buffer. And needless to say prepare for extreme cold. In our journey we did not encounter snowfall. But the temperatures will be hovering around freezing point as you climb up and I guess at one point the night temperature at Kaza was -10 degree Celsius!

For most parts the roads are good and have pretty good network coverage as well[both Airtel/Jio]. If you decide move forward from Kaza, there are no paved roads [roadwork is in progress]. If you have side foot step on the XUV, it might have endure bit of damage otherwise with XUV 700 AWD it would be a breeze. All the best!