About this Blog: Chicham Bridge, located at an altitude of 13,596 feet above the sea level is the highest suspension bridge in Asia and is also a major attraction near Kaza town. Located in Spiti Valley, the bridge connects the villages Chicham and Kibber. Read this blog to know more about the place and our experiences there.

Spiti Valley is a place of several superlatives. Earlier we visited the highest post office in the world along with the highest village connected by motorable road. This day we were supposed to explore the highest suspension bridge in Asia. And then the highest polling station in the world! Our Spiti Valley trip had been an enjoyable roller coaster of sorts. The journey was terrifyingly beautiful. Continuing our Spiti trip, we were going to visit Chicham Bridge, one of the major attractions of Spiti valley these days.

Chicham Bridge – The Highest Bridge in Asia

Located at a staggering altitude of 4037 m (13,596 feet) lies Chicham Bridge, one of the most spectacular bridges you will find in the world. It is also the highest suspension bridge in Asia connecting two villages of Spiti valley – Chicham and Kibber. It is located about 20 km from Kaza, the main town of Spiti Valley.

Chicham Bridge was inaugurated in 2017. It had taken almost 14 years to construct the bridge and had cost an amount of approximately INR 485.50 Lakhs! And now this bridge has gradually become a rage among the travelers.

The bridge is 114 meters long and is built over a deep gorge about 1000 feet deep known as the Samba Lamba Nallah. Before this bridge was constructed the villagers used a dangerous ropeway to cross this gorge. Quite naturally, this bridge brought relief to the local villagers of Chicham and Kibber.

You can cross the bridge (while coming from Kaza) and travel onwards towards Losar and Chandratal Lake. In fact, construction of this bridge had cut off the traveling distance to Losar from Kaza by 40 km. 

Reaching Chicham

We had spent the previous day at Langza admiring and exploring the remote corners of Spiti Valley. We started our journey early in the morning from Langza and arrived at Kaza. However, instead of staying at Kaza, we decided to spend the night at Key village. We drove forward towards Key, found a homestay to stash our luggage and then continued with our Spiti exploration for the day. It was going to be a long day!

We left Key village and drove towards Chicham. As usual, the visual splendor of the Spiti roads were distractingly beautiful. I kept looking out of the window and clicking pictures. We also stopped at various places just because we found the mountain peak looking quite gorgeous, or simply because the bend of the road was too dramatic to miss.

The distance from Key to Chicham is merely 8 km. After driving for about 25 minutes (with a few photo breaks in between), we could see a glimpse of a few houses in the distance. Well, that was Chicham village. At Spiti, the villages are so spread out. And soon we could see the yellow-colored suspension bridge hanging in the air.

Exploring Chicham Bridge

We crossed Chicham Bridge on the car and went to the other side of the bridge. In spite of being off-season, Chicham had a considerable number of tourists at that time. The bridge itself looked quite impressive with colorful prayer flags fluttering in the wind.

Soon we walked to the middle of the bridge and I looked down to see the 1000 feet gorge below. It looked like an endless abyss. I wonder how the villagers used to travel a cross this stretch on a rickety ropeway earlier!

There were a few people on the bridge taking photos and we had to wait for sometime for our turn to get a crowd-free bridge. This reminded me of all the Instagram-vs-reality videos I had seen!

We spent some time at Chicham Bridge, took some beautiful photographs and then started towards our next destination – Kibber.

Chicham Village

Chicham village is located about 22 km from Kaza town and is at an altitude of 4150 metres (13,615 ft). The village is separated from Kibber village by a deep gorge called Samba Lamba Nallah, on which the Chicham Bridge is built. Chicham village consists of a few houses and looks quite picture perfect, just like all the other villages of Spiti Valley.

How to reach Chicham Bridge?

You can access Chicham Bridge from Kaza easily by car. The bridge is located about 20 km from Kaza town. You can visit Key, Kibber and Chicham on a day trip from Kaza.

You can also visit Chicham while coming from Manali. If you are driving from Manali, the road bifurcates at a place called Kiato. One road goes via Pangmo and Rangrik to Kaza and the other via Chicham Bridge to Kaza. This new road via Chicham Bridge had reduced the distance to Kaza by almost 40 km. However, this road has some rough patches.

Can I stay at Chicham village?

There are no hotels or guest houses at Chicham village. There are only a couple of homestays available. You can stay at a local house as their guest for a nominal charge. Please note that Chicham is a small village with very basic infrastructure. You will definitely receive warm hospitality, but please do not expect luxury there.

In Conclusion

Chicham Bridge is another impressive attraction in Spiti Valley. Being close to Kaza you can do it as a day trip from there. After visiting Chicham Bridge, we continued our journey towards Kibber, Gette and Tashigang village. And that was another adventure on the road altogether.

Have you visited Spiti Valley? Or are you planning to do so? We have a series of articles that can help you plan your trip. If you still have further questions, you can ask us in the comments below.

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