Manali - Leh bus service and schedule

[devashishdhingra]

Originally Posted by Indizen

Were the tents and food in Keylong good?

Tents were ok and the food was decent. It was buffet at night and the hotel staff gave us Bread, Jam and boiled egg for the breakfast.

[shiva33]

this sounds real tempting... what is the quality of the seating in the bus, coz i could hardly notice any in my bike trip.

[shiva33]

HP Tourism Development Corporation .. the buses look clean

[devashishdhingra]

Originally Posted by shiva33

this sounds real tempting... what is the quality of the seating in the bus, coz i could hardly notice any in my bike trip.

Originally Posted by shiva33

HP Tourism Development Corporation .. the buses look clean

As per my experience, this bus is as good is volvo.

[Yogesh Sarkar]

I think the photograph of the interior of the bus is from Volvo! At least that is what the interiors looked like in Delhi - Shimla Volvo!

[roamer]

Yogesh / Dev..nice info.

After Bus reaches at Leh around 7pm, It is upto us for finding the accomodation right?

Can you please provide the details in short for return journey?

[devashishdhingra]

Originally Posted by Yogesh Sarkar

I think the photograph of the interior of the bus is from Volvo! At least that is what the interiors looked like in Delhi - Shimla Volvo!

Yogesh, when i went in 2007, the bus run by HPTDC, was a 2*2 super deluxe, yet as confortable as a Volvo Bus.

Originally Posted by roamer

Yogesh / Dev..nice info.

After Bus reaches at Leh around 7pm, It is upto us for finding the accomodation right?

Can you please provide the details in short for return journey?

The bus started from Manali at about 11:30 am and reached Keylong at about 06:30 pm. Then it left at 04:30am next day from Keylong and reached Leh at 07:30 pm.

Yes, accommodation is upto you to find it there. There is no HPTDC property in Leh as its comes under J&K, yet there are plenty of hotels and guesthouses on Fort road, Old Leh Road, Changspa area etc.

Basically there are 4 kinds of hotel category (A,B,C,D) and 3 kinds of guest houses category(A,B,C).

As far as return Journey is concerned, it depends whether you want to come via manali or srinagar route. In case if you want to come via manali route then the same HPTDC bus can be taken or you can also take taxi for @about 13000Rs or share it at about Rs1200-Rs1500 per seat.

In case you want to come via srinagar route, you can take Jammu and Kashimir state road transport bus from Leh-Srinagar costing about Rs740 and leaves at 6am. I would recommend advance booking of this ticket one or two days before departure and can be booked from Leh bus stand. We did the same in 2007. However, we got a discount and each ticket for Leh- Srinagar costed at Rs.470. Please bear in mind that this is again a two day journey and the bus will take a halt at either kargil or Drass. In our case the bus halted at drass and reached Srinagar next day at 1 pm. You still get plenty of time to utilize the day in Srinagar once you reach by 1 PM.

[shiva33]

I don't think they will run Volvo's.. they are too big for those roads. anyway, since HPTDC are govt run service, they will be good. Apparently my sibling wants to save money by travelling in a bus and blow it on thangka shopping...

[devashishdhingra]

Originally Posted by shiva33

I don't think they will run Volvo's.. they are too big for those roads. anyway, since HPTDC are govt run service, they will be good. Apparently my sibling wants to save money by travelling in a bus and blow it on thangka shopping...

They are good as i have travelled my self in 2007.

Yet if money saving is on the mind, trust me there will not be much difference in comparision to shared taxi as the charge per seat in Manali-Leh bus is Rs1800. That makes Rs3600 for two and unless HPTDC hikes it for next year, which is likely to go to R 2000 per person.

[MudgilSushil]

OK Guys ...let me explain a bit here ...being from Himachal myself, there is a bus service running from ISBT Delhi to LEH ( currently suspended due to closed roads) . I had a word with person in ISBT and they start at around 4 in evening ( not sure of timings ). As for buses goes, they are not volvo's . the bus on the route is a 2X2 , TATA AC bus , modified to look like volvo. These TATA AC's Buses are very much comfortable for such long journeys. in addition, to be on safe side, the Drivers in HRTC are not allowed to run the bus for more than 8 hrs. Generally the drivers are local people only , and know the roads like back of their hands ...HRTC has few volvo's and they are mainly to shimla and manali from delhi ( they start from himachal bhavan ). They generally hire the volvo's from pivate operators and run them under their name since the buses are costly and himachal hasn,t got so much revenue in terms of taxes etc ...

Hope it helps the honourable members ...