First and last, highest and deepest

The Spiti Valley in northern Himachal Pradesh is a land of superlatives. In the Kinnaur Valley, close to the Chinese/Tibetan border is the 'last village in India', a tiny place called Chitkul. At 3,450 metres above sea level, Chitkul has the cleanest air in the whole of India. Politicians have decided to re-define it as the 'first village in India' which sounds more positive, depending on your direction of travel. Komic Village (4,587 metres) boasts the world's highest restaurant and at nearby Hikkim you can send your postcards from the highest post office in India. Certainly, the landscape is another superlative. Dry, barren and utterly treeless it is like the landscape of Ladakh and has the same Buddhist culture with ancient murals in the gompas of Tabo and Nako, a centre of Vajrayana Buddhism dating back 1,000 years. The Chicham Bridge, spanning a vertiginous 300-metre gorge is the highest suspension bridge in Asia. River deep, mountain high. With less than 4,000 visitors in 2022, numbers have more than doubled and continue to rise, so if you are seeking superlatives, don't leave it too long.