Culture · Langza, Hikkim and Komic, Spiti & Lahaul
Post a card from Hikkim post office
Write a postcard at one of the highest post offices in the world, a one-room office at about 4,400 m that has served Hikkim since 1983.
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · CommonsHikkim's post office opened in 1983 and serves a handful of high villages with PIN 172114. It handles savings accounts and letters for local families, and in summer also a steady line of travellers posting cards to themselves and their families.
Buy a postcard there or bring one from Kaza, write it at the small table, stamp it and drop it in the box. Mail travels down to Kaza and onwards, so expect it to take weeks. The office closes in winter, and hours can change, so arrive in the morning on a weekday.
Be patient. This is a working post office for villagers first. Let local people go ahead of you, do not crowd the room, and keep group photographs outside the door.
Good for
Also in Langza, Hikkim and Komic
More days here
Photo: Madhumita Das · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Fossil slopes walk above Langza
Walk the slopes above Langza with a local guide to see ammonite fossils from the vanished Tethys sea. Look, photograph …
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Komic gompa at 4,587 m
Visit Lundup Tsemo gompa in Komic, one of the highest villages in the world reachable by road. Slow steps, butter lamps…
Trips through Langza, Hikkim and Komic
Do this on a trip
Each of these trips stops in Langza, Hikkim and Komic. Tell us and we keep a slot for this day.
Photo: Sumita Roy Dutta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Saver
Spiti village homestays: Dhankar to Langza
Shared car to Kaza, then local buses and short taxi transfers
Sleep nearby
Stays in Langza, Hikkim and Komic
Questions
Before you book
Is Hikkim post office the highest in the world?
It is widely described as one of the highest post offices in the world and India's highest. At about 4,400 m, it is high enough that you will feel the altitude.
When is Hikkim post office open?
On weekdays in daytime in summer. It closes in winter and hours vary, so go in the morning and check locally.
How long does a postcard from Hikkim take?
Usually weeks, sometimes longer. Mail travels down to Kaza first and then by road across the mountains.