Manali-Leh-Manali / Travel partners required - shared taxi or self drive

[Ashish Agrawal]

my wife & I are planning to visit to leh this June - July.
Dates are a bit flexible, (unless something unavoidable comes up) for about 15 days.

We will be starting from Surat & reaching Delhi & plan to take up a Volvo ( Rajnational express) the best option to reach Manali.

Thereafter, prefer to hire a taxi on sharing basis, ensuring that it takes 2 days reach to Leh along with night halt at sarchu/keylong.
I called up a tour operator & Taxi union stand in Leh to figure out the details & they said a sharing taxi would cost 1500 per head & they start at 2 AM in the night & reach the destination by 6 PM.
I am least interested in doing the Manali Leh highway in such a hush neither wanna use bus service for this route. It dosent make of sense of spending so much time & money not being able to enjoy the scenic beauty.

Could somebody advise on finding shared Taxi option that has been stretched over a period of 2 days.
Or Group of ppl can pool together to hire a taxi, share the costs.
OR may be we can hire Self driven vehicles from Delhi, etc etc


Similar such trip can be planned for sightseeing in & around Leh by hiring a Taxi & sharing the costs.
The intinerary can be worked out.
"PPl looking for leh trip on shared travel costs basis OR self driven vehicle basis, pls write back to me, if interested".

As Prasham Quotes
"Moreover for sightseeing in ladakh, numerous travel agents in Leh offer shared service, Last year Pangong Tso was around 1000 INR while Tso moriri was around 1500 INR while for nearby monastery its better to hire a taxi charging around 1000 INR for the whole day. So its not costly as you think, moreover you don't need to book in advance for these"

While I spoke to the union stand & Travel agent, they only said, you have to hire a private Taxi only for each of the local excursions. They do not arrange to find partners for you.
Could you be a bit more elaborative about such agents or contact details who can arrange one.

[anupmathur]

There's a Volvo bus service from Manali to Leh.
Would be the most comfortable way to do the journey.
No idea how much time they do it in.

[popsha]

As far as I know there is no Volvo service from Manali to Leh. Volvos are too big and too low for these terrains. The Volvo service to McLoedGanj has been rerouted to start from Dharamsala as it was difficult for the bus to take u-turns in Dharamsala - McLoed route.

Will find out about the shared taxi in Leh issue and get back.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by popsha

As far as I know there is no Volvo service from Manali to Leh.

I'm talking about what we SAW. 15th July 2007.

[Prasham]

Thats news sar...

@ Ashish:

From your post I have understood that you are planning to do this trip on moderate budget of around 10k per person, Right ?

Now for this option I would suggest you to take a train all the way to Jammu (the famous jammu tawi), then reach Leh through Srinagar Route. After you watch all the must do spots in Ladakh (For 15 days, you might even consider Zanskar & Dha Village) return through the highly acclaimed Leh-Manali route by Shared Taxi. You shall find various types of taxis in Leh (ones that do the route in 14-16 hours while others who do it over 2 days with stop at sarchu). Book the one you prefer.

If you go through Manali-Leh route, its likely that you might have to face "fierce AMS" as you might be climbing more than 1000 mts in a day and sleeping at the highest point of the day. In simple words Avoid it.

Hope this helps.

Prasham

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Topic moved to India travel partner section for a better response.

Ashish once in Leh you can find people posting flier at food square and at cyber cafes to find fellow travelers interested in doing excursions. In the morning you will find taxis at the Leh taxi stand waiting for passengers, you can get a seat in them.

[Ashish Agrawal]

I have clearly indicated I am not at all interested in using a bus service between Leh & Manali & neither hire a Taxi that does this route in 18 hrs stretch.

What is the point is spending such beautiful route in a bus or a jeep that starts at 2 AM in the night ?

I did rather fly from Delhi to Leh.
Initially, I had plans to fly to Leh, but after reading several reccomendations for a must Manali - Leh route, I decided to go in for a road journey.

I have read several posts wherein ppl have indicated about the shared Taxis, running between Manali & Leh covered over two days, with halts at sarchu/ keylong.

Somehow I have not been able to gather some credible information on the same.
would someone inform about the shared taxi running between this route spread over two days ?????

Or may be there are other ppl who wish to cover this stretch over a period of 2 days, can join in

[popsha]

In Manali places like hotel Khyber have fliers from travelers who want to share a taxi to Leh just like it happens in Leh for Pangong and Nubra.

Some places to find such ads
- Johnson's Cafe
- Mom's Kitchen
- Hotel Khyber

[Prasham]

While I was in Leh last year, I found a "notice board" on almost every reputed travel cos. office for their search of passengers for their shared vehicles...

They won't confirm it on phone... So no use untill you reach there in person... Moreover if you can afford, better do Delhi - Leh by air while do the Leh-Manali road trip on the return. This way you can also get reliable info on the trip...

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by Ashish Agrawal

would someone inform about the shared taxi running between this route spread over two days ?????

As with shared taxis anywhere, there is no advance booking.
Get to Manali and you'll certainly find the ones that do the route in 2 days.