After Sach Pass: Killar to Lahaul or Kishtwar, which way on?

From Killar there are two roads on, and both follow the Chenab. Upstream is the Killar–Thirot–Tandi road through Pangi into Lahaul, then on to Manali. Downstream is the cliff road to Gulabgarh and Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir. Riders call it the toughest part of the whole trip. Both are mostly single-lane and close in bad weather.

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What are the two roads out of Killar?

Killar, about 46 km below the top of Sach Pass, sits above the Chenab. The Chamba to Killar guide gets you there. From Killar, one road runs along the river through the length of Pangi. The Tribune and the BRO call it the Sansari–Killar–Thirot–Tandi road, 125 km long. It gives you two ways on:

• Upstream (east) to Lahaul: Killar, Thirot, Tandi, then over to Manali.
• Downstream (west) to Jammu and Kashmir: Killar to Sansari, then the BRO’s Kishtwar–Sansari road through Gulabgarh to Kishtwar.

Both are mostly single-lane, with unpaved stretches. The Tribune describes the road as running “along a deep river valley with steep slopes and precariously hanging rocks”, and says winter avalanches and monsoon landslides often block it.

What is the road to Lahaul and Manali like?

Long, and mixed. A 2019 group of riders went from Killar to Sissu in Lahaul in a day. They called the Killar–Tandi stretch “a mix of good, bad and OK”, with water crossings and slush. They left late, at about 11 am, after a puncture, rode in rain most of the day, reached Tandi at dusk and stopped at Sissu at about 8:30 pm. The next day, Sissu to Manali, was “mostly good”.

This is the route to take if you want a loop that comes back to the plains through Manali instead of retracing Sach Pass. Fuel matters here: the same group described Bairagarh as their last fuel stop before Tandi, roughly 180–200 km on.

What is the road to Kishtwar like?

It’s the famous one. The section west of Killar to Gulabgarh is cut into the cliffs above the Chenab. A rider who crossed Sach Pass on a Yamaha R15 called Killar to Gulabgarh, about 45–50 km, “the toughest section of my whole ride”. He rode for about an hour without seeing anyone. From Gulabgarh to Kishtwar, about 70 km, he found the road “a mix of bad and OK”.

Beyond Kishtwar, the road climbs over Sinthan Top towards Anantnag in Kashmir. He reported that it deteriorates badly 25–30 km before the pass on the Kishtwar side, and is fully paved on the Anantnag side.

The BRO maintains the 112 km Kishtwar–Sansari road through its Project Sampark, and clears it after snow. In January 2026 it took several rounds of clearing, of up to 4–5 feet of snow, to reopen it.

Which way should you choose?

What should you sort out in Killar?

• Fuel. Don’t count on a pump in Pangi. Riders found the next fuel at Tandi going east, and at Kishtwar going west.
• Signal. One rider advised a BSNL SIM for the Gulabgarh side, as other networks drop out.
• A bed. Killar is the place to sleep after the pass. See stays in Killar.
• Paperwork. Expect police check posts on the Jammu and Kashmir side. One rider was stopped at Ishtiyari and asked what he was carrying.
• Daylight. Start early. Neither road is one to finish in the dark.