Mumbai - Leh - Mumbai

[Karthik_Ram]

Hi All
I am glad I got to know of this forum through one of my relatives, and I found the articles and travelogues really intriguing and helpful.
Me and a few cousins (4 of us in total) are planning on a road trip from Mumbai to Leh and back with an Avenger, Thunderbird and Hyundai Xcent, in the beginning of September. We have done some research and put forth this itinerary.

Day 1: Thane, Mumbai to Ratlam - 640 km

Day 2 : Ratlam to Jaipur - 517 km

Day 3: Jaipur to Chandigarh - 523 km

Day 4: Chandigarh to Dharamshala - 247 km

Day 5: Dharamshala to Bir - 64 km
Bir to Manali - 175 km

Day 6: Manali to Sarchu - 223

Day 7: Sarchu to Tso Moriri - 228

Day 8: Tso Moriri to Leh - 220

Day 9: Stay at Leh for local sightseeing

Day 10: Leh to Pangong Tso - 225

Day 11: Pangong Tso to Leh - 225

Day 12: Leh to Sarchu - 250

Day 13: Sarchu to Mandi - 346

Day 14: Mandi to Rishikesh - 391

Day 15: Halt at Rishikesh -

Day 16: Rishikesh to Jaipur - 500

Day 17: Jaipur to Ujjain - 578

Day 18: Ujjain to Thane, Mumbai - 618
Day 19: buffer
Day 20: buffer

Due to time restrictions, we have kept just 2 days as buffer.


Or Alternatively,

Day 14: Mandi to Noida- 445 (Will visit relatives)

Day 15: Noida to Jhansi - 435 km

Day 16: Jhasi to Indore - 529 (Visit Relatives again)

Day 17: Indore to Thane - 563

Day 18: Buffer
Day 19: buffer
Day 20: buffer
We would love to hear your suggestions on the route. Also any tips and other places to see and visit on the way would be much appreciated.

 

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Any particular reason you want to take the route via Ratlam?

As far as your rest of itinerary is concerned, you’re rushing through Ladakh in an attempt to add Rishikesh and Dharamshala. My suggestion would be to avoid that. Focus on Ladakh for now or add at least 5-6 extra days to your plan.

In order to visit Tso Moriri, you will need Inner Line Permit issued by the DC Office (you will also need permit to cross Rohtang Pass from Manali, it is available online). Add to that, spending a night at Sarchu and after that Korzok (Tso Moriri) is an open invitation to AMS (read more about it here Ladakh AMS Survival Guide.)

My suggestion would be to take the Srinagar route to Leh, then visit Nubra Valley, Pangong Tso and finally Tso Moriri, before making your way down to Manali.

Alternatively, do Manali – Jispa, then Jispa – Leh (start at 5 in the morning).

Also in order to do Leh – Tso Moriri – Tandi or vice versa (fuel pumps are at Leh and Tandi), you will need enough fuel for 550 km or buy fuel in black (read Fuel availability in Ladakh and Zanskar).

 

[Karthik_Ram]

Any particular reason you want to take the route via Ratlam?

We have a huge time constraint of 22 days in September. We planned to cover as much as distance possible in the first leg of the journey with 9 to 10 hours of riding everyday. So we were planning initially to go from Mumbai to Chittorgarh which was 800+ kms. We have now put Ratlam as our first halt which is fairly doable in our opinion.

As far as your rest of itinerary is concerned, you’re rushing through Ladakh in an attempt to add Rishikesh and Dharamshala. My suggestion would be to avoid that. Focus on Ladakh for now or add at least 5-6 extra days to your plan.

Rishikesh we added in our route for the bungee jumping and rafting, and Dharamshala for the sights only. But fair point about Ladakh, I'll run this by my cousins.

In order to visit Tso Moriri, you will need Inner Line Permit issued by the DC Office (you will also need permit to cross Rohtang Pass from Manali, it is available online). Add to that, spending a night at Sarchu and after that Korzok (Tso Moriri) is an open invitation to AMS (read more about it here Ladakh AMS Survival Guide.)

My suggestion would be to take the Srinagar route to Leh, then visit Nubra Valley, Pangong Tso and finally Tso Moriri, before making your way down to Manali.

Alternatively, do Manali – Jispa, then Jispa – Leh (start at 5 in the morning).

Also in order to do Leh – Tso Moriri – Tandi or vice versa (fuel pumps are at Leh and Tandi), you will need enough fuel for 550 km or buy fuel in black (read Fuel availability in Ladakh and Zanskar).

We figured riding with stoppages in between in the route we planned, would get us acclimatized for Leh and Tso Moriri. But seeing the altitude change, it does seems like a hard cause of concern, I think we will consider spending some more time in Leh before heading to Tso Moriri as you suggested.