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Thanks for your suggestions. I did some changes accordingly as below

Day 1. Hyderabad to Narsinghpur (750 KM)
Day 2. Narsinghpur to Greater Noida (770 KM)
Day 3. Greater Noida to Udhampur (660 KM)
Day 4. Udhampur to Srinagar (200 KM)
Day 5. Stay in Srinagar
Day 6. Srinagar to Kargil (200 KM)
Day 7. Kargil to Leh (200 KM)
Day 8. Stay at Leh (getting required permits)
Day 9. Leh to Pangong (156 KM)
Day 10. Pangong to Hanle via Merak, Chusul (162 KM)
Day 11. Hanle to Tso Moriri (159 KM)
Day 12. Tso Moriri to Sarchu (230 KM)
Day 13. Sarchu to Manali (225 KM)
Day 14. Rest at Manali
Day 15. Manali to Mathura (700 KM)
Day 16. Mathura to Chhindwara (760 KM)
Day 17. Chhindwara to Hyderabad (626 KM)

It seems cannot accommodate Nubra, Turtuk in the same trip. Hence, planning to cover only South of Leh in this trip.

These days, are we still required to get permits to travel to Turtuk, Chushul, Hanle and Tso Moriri?

As of October 2017, permits were needed to visit these places.

Permit process was restarted this year due to known reasons

I hope we can get the permit from Leh.

In continuation to my post at 1477 we have almost zeroed in our starting date as 2nd / 3rd June 2018. So far 6 cars are fixed, 2 from Vasai, 2 from Udaipur and 1 from Ludhiana. 2 are Ford Ecosport, 1 XUV 5OO, 1 Creta, 1 Duster and 1 Brezza. We all are very much excited to have this trip. It will be a circular trip. i.e. entering from Srinagar and come out from Shimla via Leh and Kaza. Any one interested can join us. The tentative route is given in my earlier post.

Cheers
Live to Drive

Excellent trip. Just make sure Kunzum pass is open during 1st week of June. Sometimes they may open the pass post 15th June, in case of heavy snow fall

Let me bring back the thread alive, I sat at 9 pm with this thread; thrice read all the tips written by TSK, thanks a lot man, a lot of new places discovered and a whole lot of information has been obtained - that said, I have taken down proper notes like being seated in the class of on of the best lecturers on this earth. So, there goes my list of questions (Our plan is sometime in June end or July beginning):

Car options: Toyota Land Cruiser (Last preference, but looks like the safest choice), Mahindra TUV 3OO (I know it's funny, but I find it suitable for the road and terrain - the vehicle belongs to a friend) and Ford Ecosport 1.4 Dragon Ti-VCT (Yes, the new one, again belongs to a friend)

Running costs isn't an issue but I'll prefer driving a sub 4m SUV (==High GC hatchback) on those narrow roads instead of a full size SUV. Hence, Here goes my list of questions:

• Ecosport Petrol or TUV 3OO diesel?
• Getting a set of all terrain tyres suggested? I am seriously contemplating getting a set of all terrain tyres; especially if it's Ecosport.
• Is it possible to have a Delhi-Leh-Delhi trip in 10 days and still manage to cover a lot (Strict NO to 4WD areas) without doing any cannonball runs? Our plan is Delhi - Kargil - Leh (Pangong, Nubra etc included) - Kaza - Shimla - Delhi, or maybe via Manali.
• With Ecosport petrol, FE can be an issue, is there any problem if I carry 30L of petrol in 2 cans with me?
• Is it necessary to have the car owner or the person on whose name the vehicle is registered in the car? Does taxi guys cause trouble in such cases? Because none of us have the above mentioned cars on our own names.
• Like we read about the cold starting issues in diesel cars, what about the petrol ones?
• Accomodation: Is it advised to make all pre bookings (But deadlines can be missed on this unpredictable route) or hotels etc are easily available with a decent vacancy even in June end or July beginning?

Know its too late to plan for a Leh trip. But need your expert help. Me and wife planning for a 7/8 day drip to Leh from Chennai in June '18. Chennai to Leh by flight and planning to use any local 7 day package for sight seeing. If any one who has used similar local tour operators please suggest good ones. Thanks in advance !!

Hi I think you will have problem if you take some one else's car. the owner has to be there with the car, this is what I have heard from others. Ecosport is a good car but with 2WD so one has to be careful in some of the tracks. Even we have planned for a 25 days trip starting 3rd June from Mumbai. I am having Ecosport Titanium Diesel. We have altogether 6 cars, three from Mumbai, 1 from Udaipur, 1 from Gurgaon and 1 from Ludhiana.

For accommodation we have not booked any thing either, we will do on the spot as we don't know where we might stuck, In Early to Mid June, i don't think will be a problem.

We are doing a Srinagar - Leh - Zanskar - Ladkah - Kaza circuit entering from Srinagar and exiting from Shimla.

If luck permits we might meet there.

Cheers
Keep revving

If your friends are travelling with you, anyone should be fine. ES is a capable little thing in the right hands. OTOH, TUV used to struggle with wheel spin issues at odd angles - there was a retrofit for it I believe later on.

Well, it will be a cannonball run, no 2 ways about it.
Delhi Srinagar - 2 days, Srinagar Leh - 1 day, Leh Nubra Pangong Leh - 3-4 days, Leh Manali 2 days, Manali Delhi 1 day. It would leave you very little room to change plans and all days would need you to start early.

Now if you add Kaza in the mix, add at least 3 more days to the above plan.

On the main routes there shouldn't be a problem with fuel but if you plan to divert from the main routes, you may need to carry extra fuel. That said, most villages usually have a shop selling petrol/diesel in black, so it's unlikely you would run out of fuel.

Not sure about the current situation but since they were doing these things till about last year, I think it might continue this year too.

None will suffer from this issue in June/July. Just be mindful to park it with the nose against a wall or something so the cold air doesn't hit the engine directly.

It would be a good idea to make a list and enquire with the hotels beforehand. Rohtang usually opens in May-end or June and truckloads of people arrive here after that.

Crossposting this 'small but significant info post'here with the hope that it will be useful for many others in the future

Sure Max, if possible, just do communicate the exact dates of your travel.

Actually we are planning to do a cannonball from Delhi to Sonamarg and then Sonamarg to Leh, we are 4 people and all 4 of us are good and well experienced in handling the hard terrains. Taking 15-16 days or even 2 full weeks out of our schedule is next to impossible for us, and none of us want to fly to there.

Okay, suggest me on this one:
If we go on to cover Kalpa, Kaza and Chandrataal; what about that one?


How much is the risk of getting stuck somewhere and missing on the planned / booked dates?

Thanks a lot for sharing Arijith.

Were your car documents checked somewhere by the local taxi guys, or anything similar you noticed anywhere? If so, I will have to drive my car itself then.

No, my car documents were never checked anywhere in J&K by anyone ( taxi union or Police). But my travel was in late September, which is post season.

The only place where car was checked was in a border ( forgot if its J&K to HP or HP to Punjab), and police was interested in checking liquor than documents.

Well, if you are prepared for it, why not? :)
Be mindful of AMS though, gaining too much altitude too quickly can be dangerous. Spend a day at least in Leh before planning to spend a night at Pangong or Nubra. ATB!!

Depends on Kunzum being open. You should be able to cover these 3 in less than 10 days though ex-Delhi.

Maybe shortlist the hotels? Don't book if you want to be flexible.