Current status: Chandratal is open, but the season is closing fast. As of late August, the lake is accessible via both the Manali and Kaza sides, campsites are running, and the road is in its final stable window before the seasonal shutdown begins. Chandratal typically closes to visitors by early to mid October, when the Batal diversion road and Kunzum Pass become unsafe with the first serious snowfall. If you have been putting off a Chandratal trip this year, you have roughly five to six...

October is the one month where almost every kind of Indian destination is at its best simultaneously. The monsoon has cleared but the landscapes it left behind are still green. The Himalayan passes are still open, for now, before the winter closures begin. The heat across most of the country has broken. Rajasthan's peak season is just beginning. The beaches are drying out from the monsoon and the water is clearing. It is, without much competition, the most forgiving month to travel in India....

Most answers to this question will mention monasteries, high altitude, remote roads, and Buddhist culture. All of that is true and none of it is the real answer. The real answer is simpler and harder to explain at the same time. Spiti Valley is famous for making people feel like they have left the planet. In summer, the landscape is unlike anything else in India. Bare rock faces in colours that shift between rust, ochre, grey, and brown depending on the time of day and the angle of the light....