Tour De Leh

Here is quick travel planner for Leh trip. For travelogue on my Leh trip follow links at the end.

Tips for planning your travel:

1. At least reserve 2 weeks for the Leh trip from Delhi - Delhi, else you won't be making justice to trip
2. Try to avoid flying to Leh, so that you get slowly acclimatised to high altitude regions. More over Manali - Leh gets listed in one among the Top 5 Best Road trips in the world. Some thing not to be missed.
3. Leh should be your base camp. After reaching Leh, spend atleast 2 days in Leh getting acclimatized. Its also opportunity to explore Leh city and time for shopping.
4. Do not take mountain sickness for granted, neither take it too seriously. Just follow simple rules to avoid mountain sickness and carry enough medicines, just in case you need them. Try to avoid drinking cold water as much as possible.
5. Be prepared to see all four seasons in a day - sunny, rain, cold, snow... weather can change within 5 minutes.
6. ATMs: There is only one State bank of India ATM machine in Leh, and you generally see long queue. Try to go at night, if you dunt want to waste your time in queues. A couple of more ATMs might have opened by now, but do not expect to find any ATMs when you go out of Leh.
7. For visiting Khardung La and Pangong Lake you need permission letter from DC office in Leh. During your two days of acclimatisation in Leh, try to finish of this formality.
8. Leh is decently commercialised and you can buy anything that you might have missed to pack in your travel bag. But do not expect the same when you go out Leh. Carry basic needs like energy bars, water etc... when ever you are travelling.
9. Avoid renting bike at Manali/Srinagar for road trip to Leh. The bikes you get would be 3 - 4 years old with absolutely zero maintenance. Do not be surprised if it breaks down right after 1 KM ride :)
10. You can hire bike in Leh to roam around Ladakh. Take a test ride before you finalise. If you are riding around Ladakh, make sure you got good quality warm hand gloves, socks ( not just ordinary cotton once) and jacket. Your hands might just get freezed as you keep riding for long time.

General Itinerary for Leh Trip:

1. From Delhi either you can travel through Manali or Srinagar. You take Manali route for onward journey and return thru Srinagar or vice-verse
2. From Manali or Srinagar its minimum 2 days trip. Can be done in 24 hours in one stretch, but doesn't make any sense for traveller :)
3. Make Leh as your base camp. Travelling around Ladakh can be briefly be drawn like star map with Leh in centre. There are four routes going out of Leh.
a) Leh - Tanglang La - Serchu - Rohtang Pass - Manali route
b) Leh - Changa La - Pangong - spangmik
c) Leh - Khardung La - Nubra Valley - Diskit - Hunder
d) Leh - Lamayuru - Kargil - Drass - Sonamarg - Srinagar

Route (a) and (d) can be covered when you get into and away from Leh. Reserve atleast 3 days each for onward and return trip. At least 2 days in Leh, and 2 days each for Route (b) and (c). So thats minimum 12 days iternary. If you got more time then spend more days at your places of interest and time for your favorite adventure activities like Rafting, trekking, Cycling.


How to get there and away:


Bus: From Delhi/Chandigarh you get over night buses to Manali. Try to avoid private buses and your best bet would be Raj Travels ( you can book online). From Manali you get buses which reaches Leh in 2 days with over night halt around Keylong. Bus is not a bad option because I heard it stops at all exciting places and let people enjoy the landscape.Buses generaly leave early morning around 6 AM,  so make sure you are in Manali before that time.

The same is true when you going via Srinagar.

Train: No train service to Leh. Nearest you can find is Jammu station ( if you going thru Srinagar). From Jammu travel to Srinagar and then to Leh on road.

 For Manali route the nearest station is Kalka. Try to avoid this as much as possible. Because from kalka to Manali its good 200 Kms in ghats and u would doing this during day time, instead take a over night bus from Delhi itself so that morning you can be in Manali.

Air: 

2 flights every day from Delhi to Leh.

Stay: Tents and Hotels available along the routes and in Leh. No need to book in advance, just checkin where ever you feel like. But do not expect to find accmd at every 25 Km, some times it might take 100+ Km to find tents. So do your research well on where you intend to stay. Tents generally costs between 150 – 1500/- depending on your luxury and bargaining skills

Food: Maggie/Omlette, Maggie/Omlette, Maggie/Omlette :). That’s your safest bet all through the trip. You can find people setting up small tents along the way catering Maggie/Omlette for travellers. You will find few resto’s as well where you can get multi cuisine food. But when you are on road trip its more exciting to stop at Tents, talk to local people and have local food, then sitting in resto with all good ambience.

Medical: Carry lots of glucose, vitamin tablets and mountain sickness tablets. Drink as much water as possible even if do not like it. As far as possible avoid cold water and have hot water. ( In tents you can ask for hot water). In Leh the only medical facility is government hospital. Its pretty descent and staff there are quite helpful and efficient. You can reach out for Amry camps, but have some considerations for Indian Army and approach them only if its case of Life and Death.

Links to my travelogue:

1.Bng to Leh - 3000 KMs in 4 days 4 nights
2. Biking from Leh to Lamayuru
3.Rafting and Pangong Lake
4.Silk route