All you wanted to know about traveling to Leh – Ladakh

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Preparing for a trip to Leh – Ladakh can be daunting and often frustrating affair due to lack of reliable information available on and off the internet. However help is here, presenting to you the best collection of articles, tips and information that you need to plan your adventurous and exciting trip to Leh – Ladakh.

Ladakh Travel Guide

Leh - Ladakh Destination Guide

Preparing your Car for Ladakh

Preparing your Motorcycle for Ladakh

Accommodation in Ladakh and along the routes to Ladakh

Manali - Leh road status, 2009

Download able GPS Track of Manali - Leh, Tso Moriri and Nubra Valley

Driving Direction to Ladakh

List of things to Carry for a trip to Ladakh

High Altitude: Acclimatization and Illnesses

Phone services in Ladakh

Renting Motorcycles in India

Manali - Leh bus service and schedule

Transporting motorcycle by train

Maps of Ladakh and Zanskar region

MAP: LADAKH and ZANGSKAR

MAP; Manali-Leh Road

MAP : Pangong Tso And Tso moriri

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Ladakh map courtesy Bharat (click to enlarge)

[nfsnfs]

wow , that pic ^^ is fantabulos . Tiggy where did you click that pic from ?

On serious note , is this map valid , with the places listed ? .Just wanted to be sure ,so that ppl might not be trouble following this .

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Bharat made it, for more check this thread Leh and spiti circuit map

[Prasham]

Good map... YS why don't you help bharat to put up some more details from pensila to padum? That would make this map much more comprehensive.

[KurtRules]

Hi All,
This is Vaibhav here. ive just joined ur community ( once again )!! ) . I had joined in last year too, but be4 i could really get along with you guys, I had to travel out of the country for half a year .. Anyhow thats that.

Lemmi introduce myself first. I m vaibhav sabharwal, working as a software engineer in infosys....from delhi....and a huge biker freak!!. I have been travelling to all parts of Himachal since 2003, though bought a new bike last year ..

I have been following BCMTouring since 2007 begining and am really fascinated with the love all u guys have for the himalays...guess we r a group of like minded people!!

been to manali so many times ovr many weekends from chd (where i work) but due to some reason or the other, cudnt go up to Leh and endure my fantasy....

But i have planned a ride to leh->khardung la->pangong->nubra valley nd back via srinagar .. ( Same ol silk route)!!!) .... I m plannin it in July after persisting my manager to spare me a coulple of dayz off!!!

I cudnt find any1 to go wid me, so i guess i ll be goin alone! I just needed some help on the clothing and equipment i shud carry + My bike is a CBZ Xtreme, so wud i need spare fuel in jerry cans from tandi and the last question, is a CBZ capable of making it?....

I hope for a reply very soon from u guys and wish we can do many such rides together in the future to come!!

Amen!

[darkside_of_d_sun]

@Vaibhav: Welcome back! A CBZ-X should do the Ladakh circuit with ease unless its in a jacked-up state! For all the other queries please refer to the Ladakh Travel Guide.

Cheers,
Shamik

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Vaibhav welcome to BCMTouring, there shouldn't be a need to carry spare petrol unless your bike is in a bad condition. With regards to your route, well not sure if that is how you have planned it, however an FYI, Nubra valley is located on the other side of Khardung La. So it ought to be Delhi-Manali-Leh-Khardung La-Nubra-Khardung La-Leh-Pangong Tso-Leh-Srinagar

[KurtRules]

hi yogesh

thanx for the info, ... though i was just penning down the places i intend to travel, not in any order though ... Anyhow, i ll move this discussion to the introduction section, might as well tel ya more bout me ... wat say?

[tsk1979]

I would like to put forward and alternate Manali Delhi route, which is more scenic, less traffic and has more of 4 lane NH1
Normally people do this
Delhi-Chd-Ropar-Manali
Alternate route is as follows
1. At ambala do not take diversion to chd, instead proceed towards Amritsar
2. Cross the Shambhu toll check post into punjab, if your vehicle is diesel fill up at the second BP pump(its a huge pump) on the left after toll post. Diesel is cheapest in PB, and that pump is among the best in punjab.
3. Carry on all the way to Doraha. How will you know you have reached Doraha? Well on the left there will be a big McDonalds. Doraha comes after Khanna and is the last major town before Ludhiana
4. At doraha there is a flyover over the canal, don't climb that, instead take the narrow bylane on the left and proceed for 200mts till you reach the canal.
5. Take right turn, and drive longside the canal all the way to ropar. Excellent scenic road is bad in some patches but mostly devoid of traffic and a hoot to drive
6. Reach Ropar city. Here its a bit tricky. You come across a barrier sort of thing through which trucks cannot pass. A very narrow road crosses the canal into the city towards left, but you have to take right there, hit the main road(30mts), take left go a few hundred meters, and take right across the railway crossing to merge with Chd-Manali road.

Why is this route better?
Consider the travel times
1. Ambala-Chd = 1 hour
2. Ambala-Doraha = 50 minutes
3. Doraha-Ropar=1 hour
So you save 20 minutes and instead of driving on single road and traffic infested roads you drive on dual carriageway for the first part, and a little used excellent canal road on the second leg!

Detour Number 2:
This can be taken by both Chd-Ropar people and other route people since it comes after Ropar.
A few kms after ropar you come at a toll gate of NHAI where they charge 10rs. The road after the toll gate is horrible. Why do people take that road? Because you bypass two railway crossings.
However if you are not running short of time, don't take the toll road. Instead take the left to the canal just before toll gates. Often the toll fellows put stones on the left road so that people are forced to take toll road(its illegal to put stones like this).
So you may be wondering why should you take a road which has 2 railway crossings(its actually same railway track)?
The reason is that you can see a canal crossing a river on a bridge. Parallel to your road the canal flows, on the way is a river, and they make the canal go over the river on a bridge. Its one of the coolest things you will see. Amazing scenic route.