How to Prepare Your Sach Pass Itinerary

In continuation with the previous article where I covered some important factors that you should consider while traveling to Sach Pass; In this article I will lay down an example of Sach Pass Itinerary. I will explain the travel plan differently based on the number of days in hand and preferred route. For the sake of this article, I will use Delhi as the starting point of the journey. If however you are traveling from a different city, then your journey for first and last day will be different. It could be longer or even smaller based on where you stay. Another assumption made here is that you will be traveling by your own vehicle, either a car or motorcycle. If you intend on traveling by public transport then the entire plan will change details of which I have covered in a different article HERE.

Third and the last assumption is that you are only planning to travel to Sach Pass and return home. However if you are including Sach Pass in your plan to travel to either Ladakh or Spiti, then too this itinerary will only be valid until you reach Sach. Return journey will not be applicable; as from Sach Pass you will travel on to either Ladakh or Spiti.

Sach Pass Itinerary

I have tried the keep the itineraries mentioned below as detailed and comprehensive as I can but of course; not everyone can follow these to the last detail. Your final travel plan will depend on several factors like total number of days available, your mode of travel, budget constraints if any etc. In case you cannot follow either of these itineraries, feel free to ask me in the comments section below and I will be happy to answer.

Sach Pass Routes

The most common way to travel to Sach Pass is to do it in form of a circuit. There are three routes that you can take to reach Sach Pass. First and most common is via Dalhousie and Bairagarh. Second route is via Manali, Keylong, Udaipur and Killar. Third and the least common route is from Patnitop via Kishtwar. In this article I have covered only the Dalhousie and Manali routes but if you want to cover Kishtwar then the travel plan will be different.

• Dalhousie/Chamba – Tissa – Bairagarh – Kalaban – Satrundi – Sach Pass – Killar – Udaipur – Keylong – Khoksar – Rohtang Pass – Marhi – Manali
• Dalhousie/Chamba – Tissa – Bairagarh – Kalaban – Satrundi – Sach Pass – Killar – Batwas – Keeru – Kishtwar – Doda – Patnitop – Udhampur – Jammu
• Dalhousie/Chamba – Tissa – Bairagarh – Kalaban – Satrundi – Sach Pass – Killar – Batwas – Keeru – Kishtwar – Chhatroo – Achabal – Anantnag – Patnitop – Udhampur – Jammu

Sach Pass Itinerary for 3 Days

I know, it sounds kind of nearly impossible but you can actually travel to Sach Pass and back to Delhi in 3 days. However it will mean long crazy hours of riding or driving; and you will only be able to cover one side of the journey. Itinerary followed will be as mentioned below.

• Day 1: Delhi to Bairagarh
• Day 2: Bairagarh to Sach Pass to Bairagarh
• Day 3: Bairagarh to Delhi

To travel this way, first thing you will need to ensure that you start from Delhi sometime around 2 to 3 in the morning. You will have about 15-16 hours of road ahead of you so any later than this and you will struggle to make it to Bairagarh before dark.

Take NH1 and continue all the way till Pathankot. From there, do not take the road either towards Dalhousie or Chamba. This is the longer route and will add more kilometers to the journey, increasing the travel time. Rather; travel towards Chamera Dam / Lake and continue towards Koti. From Koti, it is a straight run to Bairagarh via Tissa. Ensure that you keep your breaks to bare minimum throughout the day; you really have no time for sightseeing along the route. This will see you reaching Bairagarh by evening where you can stay at any of the couple of hotels available. You can also check in to the HPPWD forest rest house if the caretaker allows.

On Day 2, take an early start again from Bairagarh; reach Satrundi via Kalaban and register yourself at the check post there.  Drive carefully and reach Sach Pass top. Descend back to Bairagarh after spending some time there. Total distance covered will only be around 120 to 130 kilometers however due to bad conditions of the road; it will easily take you anywhere between 6-8 hours to make a round trip from Bairagarh; depending upon your breaks and speed. On Day 3, you will reach back Delhi via the same route you took to get to Bairagarh. Or if you plan to explore a bit more, you can head to Chamba or Dalhousie and cover those while on your way back home. The most important thing here to ensure an early start of all days. You will also be reaching Delhi late in the evening.

Sach Pass Itinerary for 4 Days

If you have exactly 4 days in hand, mentioned below are a couple of itineraries that you can follow to travel to Sach Pass. Travel time will again be long so an early start on all days is advised.

Sample Itinerary 1

• Day 1: Delhi to Bairagarh
• Day 2: Bairagarh to Sach Pass to Killar
• Day 3: Killar to Sach Pass to Bairagarh / Chamba / Khajjiar
• Day 4: Bairagarh / Chamba / Khajjiar to Delhi

Following this plan, your travel on Day 1 and Day 4 will more or less be the same as I mentioned in 3 days itinerary. The only difference is that on Day 2, rather than returning to Bairagarh, you will cross Sach over and reach Killar for night stay. On Day 3, you will cross over Sach again and either come back to stay at Bairagarh again or if you want to; you can also descend down further to Chamba or further to Khajjiar. This will also reduce your travel time on Day 4.

Sample Itinerary 2

• Day 1: Delhi to Bairagarh
• Day 2: Bairagarh to Udaipur via Sach Pass & Killar
• Day 3: Udaipur to Manali via Rohtang Pass
• Day 4: Manali to Delhi

I will really not recommend this itinerary as the travel time on each day is crazily long. If you are however up for it then on Day 1 you will make it to Bairagarh after 16 hours of travel. Start by first light of the day from Bairagarh; cross Sach Pass; reach Killar and continue all the way to Udaipur to stay there for the night. It will easily be about 8-10 hours of journey. From Udaipur, exit on Leh Manali highway just before Keylong and reach Manali after crossing Rohtang Pass which will again take you about 10-12 hours. From Manali, you will return back to Delhi on Day 4.

Sach Pass Itinerary for 5 Days

This in my opinion is the minimum required time for a visit to Sach Pass from Delhi. This will drastically reduce your travel time and you will be able to enjoy the journey better. A couple of sample itineraries are as mentioned below.

Sample Itinerary 1

• Day 1: Delhi to Dalhousie
• Day 2: Dalhousie to Bairagarh
• Day 3: Bairagarh to Sach Pass to Bairagarh
• Day 4: Bairagarh to Khajjiar
• Day 5: Khajjiar to Delhi

Following this plan, you will reach Dalhousie on Day 1, a journey of about 10 hours. On Day 2, you will continue to Bairagarh and stay there for the night. Your Day 3 will be a day trip and you will return to Bairagarh by evening after visiting Sach Pass top. You will not cross over towards Killar but this however will give you sufficient time to enjoy the journey better on Day 2, 3, 4. On Day 4, start by about 9 AM from Dalhousie and reach Khajjiar via Chamba and Jot. Long travel hours will be limited to only Day 1 and Day 5.

Sample Itinerary 2

• Day 1: Delhi to Bairagarh
• Day 2: Bairagarh to Killar
• Day 3: Killar to Chamba
• Day 4: Chamba to Khajjiar
• Day 5: Khajjiar to Delhi

The only difference in this itinerary from the one above is that on Day 1, you will make it all the way till Bairagarh; on day 3 rather than returning to Bairagarh, you will cross over to Killar and stay there for the night. Please do note here that this will increase your travel time on Day 3 as from Killar, you will return back to Chamba via Sach Pass and Bairagarh.

Sample Itinerary 3

• Day 1: Delhi to Bairagarh
• Day 2: Bairagarh to Killar
• Day 3: Killar to Udaipur
• Day 4: Udaipur to Manali
• Day 5: Manali to Delhi

Following this itinerary, you will be able to complete the Chamba – Sach Pass – Manali Circuit. On Day 3, from Killar head to Udaipur and stay there for the night. It will be a relaxed journey and travel time will not be that much. If you would however rather spread it out, you can also head straight to Keylong, Tandi or Khoksar and halt there for the night which will reduce the total travel time on Day 4. Crossing Rohtang La, you will reach Manali from where you will return to Delhi on Day 5.

All the itineraries mentioned above are from the point of view of minimum required time. Any additional days added here will make the journey more relaxed and pleasurable. For example, if you have 6 days in hand, you can journey in the following manner.

• Day 1: Delhi to Dalhousie/Chamba
• Day 2: Dalhousie/Chamba to Bairagarh
• Day 3: Bairagarh to Killar
• Day 4: Killar to Udaipur/Keylong/Jispa/Tandi/Khoksar
• Day 5: Udaipur/Keylong/Jispa/Tandi/Khoksar to Manali
• Day 6: Manali to Delhi

All the places mentioned above for Day 4 are stop points on Manali Leh highway except for Udaipur which is Pangi vallley. As per your own convenience, from Killar you can choose to stay at any of these places and reach Manali the next day from there. In a similar manner, as the number of days here increase, you will be able to add more halt points.

A major question that comes when planning a trip to Sach Pass is the Kishtwar route which in my opinion deserves to be discussed separately in a different article; which I will post in next few days.

For information on hotels and guest houses where you can stay for the night while traveling to Sach, please refer to the previous part of this article where I have discussed the same with name and numbers of some recommended hotels. Read How to Plan your Trip to Sach Pass.

These are just sample itineraries that I could come up for different number of days but of course, there could be several other variations. If any of the above mentioned travel plan suits you, you can follow it or if you have any further questions you can ask me in the comments section below or at our Community Forum and I will be glad to answer.