[aviator1101]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Understand the constraints with leave, but you may end up not getting time to enjoy the surrounding but with a worry of completing the daily circuit.

Also, you are not having any buffer for any road closures / acclimation related health issues which may arise.

With work commitment, there is no point in thinking twice on the plan, since unfortunate you may not be able to make much changes. However, if any possiblity, do consider to have couple of extra days.

Can you suggest a better/relaxed itinerary? We are planning to rent bikes from Leh and can stretch upto 14 days (including any contingency enroute) Leh to Leh.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

We are planning to rent bikes from Leh and can stretch upto 14 days (including any contingency enroute) Leh to Leh

Would suggest the following -

1,2,3 in Leh - An additional day to get acclimatize since past that its continues travel for you. I am assuming that you will be reaching around day 1 afternoon only to your hotel in Leh. If you are reaching earlier than that, based on how you all are feeling on day 2 evening, you can take a call if to stay one more day in leh or instead proceed to Hunder on Day 3 itself.

Hunder / Turtuk / Sumur - It depends on personal preferences. However, I would have opted to stay at Hunder for all 3 nights.
Then ride to Turtuk and back on one day, and skip staying in Sumur unless you want to specifically do that.

Much easier to plan with bookings and also less hassle and time waste of packing moving, check-in and unpacking.

What I am suggesting is - (Day count mentioning that past Leh)
Day1 - Reach Hunder from Leh, sightseeing around hunder sand dunes in evening after check in at hotel.
Day 2 - Hunder - Turtuk - Hunder.
Day 3 - Hunder - Pangong Tso via Shyok route
On the last day, you can consider staying at Tangste if AMS is a concern or if feeling all fine, can proceed towards Spangmik / Man. With the later, you can cut short on the next days ride time.


Pangong / Tangste / Spangmik / Man - To Hanlne - Not sure which route you are planning -
> Nama - Chusul - Loma
> Nama - Chumathan - Mahe - Loma

But both have non existential stop points till you reach Loma (in case of first) or Mahe ( in case of second route)

We had done the second route last year, that time it was mentioned that the first route was in very bad condition past Razag la war memorial. I am not sure if its repaired past that.

Second route which we did was good road wise, but that has multiple high passes and is very tricky when it drizzles. At Nama, just at the fork there is an army camp and a small village, you do query from them on the road condition and then only proceed.

Especially with bike + load you may struggle if taking the Chumathan route is what I fear. Though I have seen videos on Youtube last year where riders are taking the route after lots of struggle. So its doable, but bit too tricky.

Hanle / Umlingla - Two days mentioned by you in your plan is good.


Hanle to Leh - Drive time is around 5/6 hours with the good roads now. In bike, you may have to add an hour or so, still its pretty much flat for most sections and extremely beauticul around Mahe / Loma.


Once this plan is set, the additional / free days - Based on your preferences I would suggest to check the following -

1. From Hunder - head to Siachen base camp, reach in afternoon, head to Sumur and stay there for the night and then continue to Pangong via Shyok the next day.

2. Stay for a night at Turtuk before returning to Hunder and continuing the same plan next day. Turtuk is a beautiful village and you can spend time around doing nothing there. But do note that the access to village is only on foot from the road. So you will have to park your bike there and walk around. Hence dont carry too much luggage on that day, hence easier if you are still have Hunder room to store luggage.

3. Stay at Hanle for an extra day, again nothing much to do there apart from visiting telescope and monastery . Umling La you would have already done, but I wished I had an extra day there so that I can view the night sky. The night we were there, it was all cloudy and hence we missed the opportunity.

[JohnyRider]

We three friends had been contemplating a Bike trip through Leh Ladakh and other parts of Jammu & Kashmir for more than a year. We are 40 years old and regularly riding Royal Enfield 350, but not used to very long rides. It would be very helpful if someone can help with a good itinerary.

Below are the current options we are thinking about and planning to start by first week of September.

Option 1: Fly from Bangalore to Chandigarh. Rent 3 bikes from Chandigarh and follow the route Manali - Leh -Kargil - Srinagar - Pathankot - Chandigarh. Overall 10 day’s journey with appropriate breaks.

Option 2: Join a 10 days trip organised by an Agency (Golden Eagle Expedition). Fly from Bangalore to Delhi. Transfer from Delhi to Manali via Bus. Start bike trip from Manali , explore Leh , nearby places. Trip end at Sonmarg and agency will drop us in Srinagar.

Volvo Bus →Manali (1N)→Sarchu (1N)→Leh (1N) →Nubra Valley (1N)→Pangong (1N)→Leh (1N) →Wakha (1N)→Sonamarg (1N)

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by JohnyRider

We three friends had been contemplating a Bike trip through Leh Ladakh and other parts of Jammu & Kashmir for more than a year. We are 40 years old and regularly riding Royal Enfield 350, but not used to very long rides. It would be very helpful if someone can help with a good itinerary.

Below are the current options we are thinking about and planning to start by first week of September.

Option 1: Fly from Bangalore to Chandigarh. Rent 3 bikes from Chandigarh and follow the route Manali - Leh -Kargil - Srinagar - Pathankot - Chandigarh. Overall 10 day’s journey with appropriate breaks.

Option 2: Join a 10 days trip organised by an Agency (Golden Eagle Expedition). Fly from Bangalore to Delhi. Transfer from Delhi to Manali via Bus. Start bike trip from Manali , explore Leh , nearby places. Trip end at Sonmarg and agency will drop us in Srinagar.

Volvo Bus →Manali (1N)→Sarchu (1N)→Leh (1N) →Nubra Valley (1N)→Pangong (1N)→Leh (1N) →Wakha (1N)→Sonamarg (1N)

You can’t rent a bike from Himachal and ride to leh. Union issues.

Fly to leh, rent bikes locally and since it’s three of you, spend the time now to plan and chart your own route. Forget all these agencies. Finish your trip and fly out of leh again. There is enough to ride and see within Ladakh rather than spending that time getting in and out.

Suhas has written out a pretty detailed set of ideas for a nice tour a couple of posts above. Why don’t you read that and start with that base to plan things?

[JohnyRider]

Thankyou! We have decided to explore within Ladakh and gone through the threads as you suggested. We are now one more step closer to our trip - Booked tickets for first week of September to Leh & back to Bangalore. Below is the basic plan and we are still working on detailed routes, accommodation etc.

07:10 AM - 08 September: Arrival at Leh Airport, check in @ hotel and reserved for Acclimatisation
09 September - Leh Local sightseeing
10 September- Khardungla Pass, Nubra Valley
11 September - Hundar, Turtak
12 September - Pangong
13 September - Leh
14 September - Kargil
15 September - Leh
16 September - Return to bangalore

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by JohnyRider

07:10 AM - 08 September: Arrival at Leh Airport, check in @ hotel and reserved for Acclimatisation
09 September - Leh Local sightseeing
10 September- Khardungla Pass, Nubra Valley
11 September - Hundar, Turtak
12 September - Pangong
13 September - Leh
14 September - Kargil
15 September - Leh
16 September - Return to bangalore

There is nothing much to visit in Kargil. Kargil and surrounding is best visited when you go towards Srinagar.
Instead I suggest you go to Hanle from Pangong, which is one of the best places in Ladakh.

[JohnyRider]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

There is nothing much to visit in Kargil. Kargil and surrounding is best visited when you go towards Srinagar.
Instead I suggest you go to Hanle from Pangong, which is one of the best places in Ladakh.

Thankyou! Can you please guide with Process to apply for Inner Line Permit?

[Ketan]

Originally Posted by JohnyRider

Thankyou! Can you please guide with Process to apply for Inner Line Permit?

There isn't an 'inner line permit' to visit Ladakh region now. They are calling it Green Tax/Fees now which you can get online on the following website.
https://www.lahdclehpermit.in/
edit: click on the 'domestic' button on top right to enter the form that you need to fill with the details of travel.

[JohnyRider]

Got a query on bike rental in Leh - My plan is to book 3 bikes in advance for 9-10 days, let me know in case of any good contacts.

Should I consider going directly to one of the rental sites in Leh once I reach there and pick the bikes of our choice. In that case I’m bit worried about the availability of bikes.

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by JohnyRider

Got a query on bike rental in Leh - My plan is to book 3 bikes in advance for 9-10 days, let me know in case of any good contacts.

Should I consider going directly to one of the rental sites in Leh once I reach there and pick the bikes of our choice. In that case I’m bit worried about the availability of bikes.

September is towards the end of the season and the rush will be much lower. There are a lot of bike rental places inside Leh and you should be able to check and get the bikes. Himalayan seems to be the hot bike over there. You see a huge number of them with all bike rental folks.

One of the places you could visit is Drass and the Kargil War Memorial there. But if you are going to Hanle as suggested earlier, you can skip this.

I would suggest getting portable oxygen cylinders, depending on how well you do with the height and acclimatization. At least get the portable cans. Safer would be to carry a slightly bigger cylinder on rent that you can return once you are back in Leh.

[kartikv1]

Hi All,

I will be attempting the Leh ladakh circuit in following plan -

8th Aug - Pick up wife and kid from Srinagar Airport
9th Aug - stay in Srinagar
10th Aug - stay in kargil, sightseeing in Sonamarg
11th Aug - Kargil to Leh
12th Aug - Leh Local
13th Aug - Leh - Hunder
14th Aug - Hunder - Turtuk - Hunder
15th Aug - Hunder - Pangong Tso (Via Shyok Route)
16th Aug - Pangong Tso - Leh
17th Aug - Leh - Srinagar
18th Aug - Proceed back to Delhi

I have following options for cars -

1) I have a 2015 make Nissan Terrano - which has pending clutch (almost worn completely, barely working) and suspension work worth 40k - I'm yet to decide if I want to get this done or just sell it, since its 8 year + old, in Delhi NCR. I do not foresee any incremental resale value due to this work or any added value if I use in NCR. This 40k worth of repairs will be only for Leh Ladakh trip. I'm hesitant of spending so much on this 8 year old car, where i believe there will be further repair required in the near future.

2) BMW 330i sport (2021 make) - I really want to take this car, have driver earlier extensively in Hills - up to Chopta Uttarakhand (near Kedarnath). I believe I can easily reach leh. Is the rest of the circuit nubra valley and pangong tso possible in this car? what else we can try with this car.

3) Honda Jazz Diesel (2016 make) - not very keen on this car, as I do not like its driving characteristics. If I take it, it will be only because of not being able to use any other option.

4) Buy another vehicle urgently, as for this trip both me and my wife have already planned/approved leave of 2 weeks +. Will not get another opportunity for a year. If we exercise this option, needless to say will exchange Nissan Terrano with the new vehicle. Option here is to buy a vehicle readily available without waiting time. Any ideas which cars are available right now.

[akp]

Originally Posted by kartikv1

Hi All,

I have following options for cars -

1) I have a 2015 make Nissan Terrano - which has pending clutch (almost worn completely, barely working) and suspension work worth 40k

2) BMW 330i sport (2021 make)

3) Honda Jazz Diesel (2016 make)

4) Buy another vehicle urgently,

I would say option 1 looks the best among the four. Both 2 and 3 have low ground clearance, not quite something you want in those regions.

Let's say you buy a new car worth 15L and keep it for 15 years. Then you are effectively going to spend a minimum of 1L per year, in fact more, just on the car. So if by spending 40k, or even up to 1L for that matter, you can use the Terrano for another two years, it will still make very good sense. You also need to take into account the reduction in resale value for these two years of usage and add that to your effective expense before taking a call. But even then, option 1 might be the best.

[humans]

One quick query for experts here, how much extra fuel should one should carry when going from Tangtse (Last petrol pump) to Pangong, Hanle, Umling La, Hanle, Tso Moriri, Tandi (Next petrol pump) for WagonR. The fuel tank is 35L in WagonR and distance to be covered without petrol pump is more than 900 KM.

And installed the Julley Tourist App, but any other app or accounts on social media channels which provide the accurate road condition in Leh region?

[logicalidiot]

Asking this as I did a quick search but couldn't find anything relating to it. Sorry if it's been discussed before.

Is there any known bike rentals which provides one side rentals and I can drop the bike in Leh instead of returning all the way back? Preferably starting from Chandigarh. If there are known good agency packages, you can suggest that too but my preference would be to go without any agencies. TIA!

[Leoshashi]

Which route is currently advised if one is driving to Leh from Delhi? How is the condition of the Manali-Leh highway?