Ladakh Travel Guide

[bondhutto]

I have booked flight from new delhi to leh on 13 September i will b there and we r grp of 11 people and our return planned on 23 September from srinagar to new delhi and i was thinking to visit pahalgam too so is it possible or not n one more thng srinagar leh highway there is also a lot of places to visit so pls tell me hw shld i plan my tour

Plan like this:
13/9 - Reach Leh, take rest for acclimatization. You can do local siteseeing like Shanti Stupa, Leh Palace etc
14/9 - Cross Khardungla, reach Diskit or Hundar. Night stay at Diskit/Hundar
15/9 - Go to Turtuk. Night stay at Turtuk. En route you can take a small detour to Panamik and back.
16/9 - Back to Leh from Turtuk.
17/9 - Go to Pangong. Night Stay near the lake
18/9 - Come back to Leh
19/9 - Leh to Kargil
20/9 - Kargil to Srinagar
21/9 - Local siteseeing and Pahalgam
22/9 - Local siteseeing and Pahalgam
23/9 - Srinagar to Delhi

***************************************
I have never been to Pahalgam so not sure what is there to see or how much time is needed to see that place. Just kept last two days. But as per my opinion, you would not like places like Pahalgam after seeing Leh (like you would not enjoy Shimla after seeing Manali - always see Shimla before you visit Manali).

When you come back from LEh to Srinagar, en route visit the Alchi Monastery, and Lamayuru Monastery. That's all. Start early from Kargil next day, and enjoy the route to Drass - its too beautiful. Then you'll cross Jozila Pass, Sonmarg and reach Srinagar. No need to stop at Sonmarg - it's waste of time.

 

[shekharites]

Plan like this:
13/9 - Reach Leh, take rest for acclimatization. You can do local siteseeing like Shanti Stupa, Leh Palace etc
14/9 - Cross Khardungla, reach Diskit or Hundar. Night stay at Diskit/Hundar
15/9 - Go to Turtuk. Night stay at Turtuk. En route you can take a small detour to Panamik and back.
16/9 - Back to Leh from Turtuk.
17/9 - Go to Pangong. Night Stay near the lake
18/9 - Come back to Leh
19/9 - Leh to Kargil
20/9 - Kargil to Srinagar
21/9 - Local siteseeing and Pahalgam
22/9 - Local siteseeing and Pahalgam
23/9 - Srinagar to Delhi

***************************************
I have never been to Pahalgam so not sure what is there to see or how much time is needed to see that place. Just kept last two days. But as per my opinion, you would not like places like Pahalgam after seeing Leh (like you would not enjoy Shimla after seeing Manali - always see Shimla before you visit Manali).

When you come back from LEh to Srinagar, en route visit the Alchi Monastery, and Lamayuru Monastery. That's all. Start early from Kargil next day, and enjoy the route to Drass - its too beautiful. Then you'll cross Jozila Pass, Sonmarg and reach Srinagar. No need to stop at Sonmarg - it's waste of time.

Hey bondhutto
You can save a day here from sumur panamik to direct to pangong via shayok if they can leave early
Just completed leh circuit
I did wari la as didn't had fuel to go to to pangong but few of my group did agham shayok
They easily completed the route

Cheers

 

[bondhutto]

Hey bondhutto
You can save a day here from sumur panamik to direct to pangong via shayok if they can leave early
Just completed leh circuit

Cheers

Shekharites, it's not for me, I prepared a tentetive itinerary for @rishita jain .

And yes, I have also done Leh this year and went to Nubra from Pangong via Shyok-Agham-Khalsar route. The route is not for casual travellers and it is not advisable to venture on that road alone. It has massive offroading along the Shyok river, at some point you would need somebody's help to push your bike forward.

 

[shekharites]

Shekharites, it's not for me, I prepared a tentetive itinerary for @rishita jain .

And yes, I have also done Leh this year and went to Nubra from Pangong via Shyok-Agham-Khalsar route. The route is not for casual travellers and it is not advisable to venture on that road alone. It has massive offroading along the Shyok river, at some point you would need somebody's help to push your bike forward.

View attachment 624764

Hey bondhutto
Sorry didn't saw that
How was agham shayok? While coming from nubra to pangong few of my gang went through agham shayok and Me and few friends went through wari la as I have already seen route of agham shayok
To my experience wari la is nightmare for riders .all you can see is wild yaks till the top and no people for practically 4 hours .when headed for wari la the bridge was broken over there so we asked a jcb operator to lift our bikes on it and then headed for it.one of the best thrilling experience I have had

 

[bondhutto]

We did not dare to explore Wari La - may be next time.

Agham Shyok was awesome riding experience. We went from Pangong to Nubra. I'll remember the ride for my lifetime.

 

[shekharites]

We did not dare to explore Wari La - may be next time.

Agham Shyok was awesome riding experience. We went from Pangong to Nubra. I'll remember the ride for my lifetime.

Wari la is kinda awesome .full of wild yaks at the top of summit .kinda fun and like been there done that for me
Just wanna see what's so no no about about wari la do I did that

Cheers

 

[Vikram M N]

Seeing your rides from nubra to Pangong and having read about a road which connects to Tso Moriri from Pangong. Thought we'd make few changes to our plan.

The below is our initial plan. we'll go ahead with this if nothing else works out.
Jul 30 - Thur- Chennai Train
Jul 31 - fri - train journey
Aug 1 - sat - reach Jammu
Aug 2 - sun - Jammu to Srinagar
Aug 3 - mon - Srinagar to Kargil
Aug 4 - tue - Kargil to Leh
Aug 5 - wed - Leh (Permits, sightseeing)
Aug 6 - thur - Leh - Sumur
Aug 7 - fri - Sumur -Leh
Aug 8 - sat - leh to pangong
Aug 9 - sun - pangong to leh
Aug 10 - mon - Leh to Keylong
Aug 11 - tue - Keylong to Manali
Aug 12 - wed - Manali to Chandigarh
Aug 13 - thur - Chandigarh to Delhi
Aug 14 - fri - Train from Delhi at night
Aug 15 - sat - train journey
Aug 16 - Sun - Reach Chennai

Between Aug 6 and Aug 9 can you guys suggest a way so that we could cover Tso Moriri, Tso Kar too.
For Eg.
Aug 6 - Leh - Sumur
Aug 7 - Sumur to Pangong (i'll take your suggestion as to which way to take)
Aug 8 - Pangong to Tso Kar (Is it possible, if so which route)
Aug 9 - Tso Kar to Leh

We are a group of 7 people, so we definietly aren't alone. Read your posts about how bad the road is. Couple of years back , i did Spiti Valley. Old Tibet Road was horrible, is it going to be like that or even worse.

i'm waiting for your suggestions...

 

[Vikram M N]

Can someone please advise to my above question.

 

[Vikram M N]

i'm still waiting for suggestions...

 

[bondhutto]

i'm still waiting for suggestions...

Sir, nothing specific to suggest. The plan looks overall ok. The only thing to keep in mind is - August is full monsoon time. So inquire about the route before you go out. The Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Kargil route is frequently closing down at certain stretches due to rainfall and landslide. So, expect delay en route, and keep one or two buffer day in between to adjust.

You do not need any "permit" as such. There's a form available at any photocopy shop at Leh. Collect 4-5 forms there. You just need to fill it up and submit to the checkpost at different places. It's good to carry one or more identity card and photocopies, but nowhere you'd be asked to produce that.

Last but not the least, recently Leh has been a point of concern due to the hostile attitude of the Taxi Union. They are randomly stopping and attacking people and their vehicles who are coming on their own. They are putting pressure to the local administration to ban all private vehicles - two or four wheelers - to roam within Ladakh. Anyone who reaches there have to hire bullet or taxi from Leh. Not sure if the Authority has yet given in or not. It's good to inquire before you start.