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Safely got back from Leh without any hiccup with Safari 4x2. We didn't face any problem neither from vehicle/road nor from local taxi. Roads are fairly good, with very limited small water crossings, little traffic on road and hotels are cheap (highly negotiable), no prior booking required. Below the detailed itinerary:

29/08/2015 - S - Day 01 – Delhi-Udhampur Fantastic road, traffic jam near Delhi and Ludhiana. Jammu to Udhampur road a delight to drive.
30/08/2015 - S - Day 02 – Udhampur-Srinagar Road is OK, no traffic jam.
31/09/2015 - M - Day 03 – Srinagar-Kargil Roads is good till Sonmarg, however we faced two massive traffic jam. It was raining when we reached Zojila, no major problem for Safari.
01/09/2015 - T - Day 04 – Kargil-Leh Good scenic road throughout.
02/09/2015 -W - Day 05 – Leh Acclimatization and permits for Hanle. Getting permit is a 10 min job. Self declaration copies for Nubra, pangong and Tso moriri.
03/09/2015 - T - Day 06 – Leh-- Khardung La - Diskit - Hunder Kardungla is easily manageable with high ground clearance vehicle. Hunder is truly amazing.
04/09/2015 - F - Day 07 - Hunder-Panamik-Leh Very good road road to Panamik. However, disappointed with the hot water spring but the road was scenic.
05/09/2015 - S - Day 08 – Leh-Pangong Tso Overall good road, apart from few bad patches near Changla.
06/09/2015 - S - Day 09 - Pangong Tso - Chushul - Tsaga La-Loma-Hanle Easily manageable dirt road till Tsaga La. After that very good tarmac road till Hanle.
07/09/2015 -M - Day 10 - Hanle - Karzok Awesome road from Hanle -Mahe.
08/09/2015 - T - Day 11 - Korzok- Sumdo - Tso Kar - Debring - Sarchu - Jispa Easily manageable dirt road till Debring. Awesome More plain till Gata loop. Road becomes bad after that.
09/09/2015 -W - Day 12 - Jispa – Tandi -Rohtang-Manali Roads are bad in patches,overall good road.
10/09/2015 - T - Day 13 – Manali - Delhi Good roads, 14 hours easy drive.

Finally dream came true... Leh'd

Hi All,
Had couple of queries

*While going from Chushul to Loma(en route Hanle) is it advisable to go through Tsaga la or via Kakasang La, Mahe and Nyoma.

*While going from Udaipur to Amritsar is it advisable to go through Hanumangarh-Faridkot-Amritsar or Hanumangarh-Bhatinda-Amritsar.

Vehicle will be XUV 500 2WD.

Shortest one is via Bhatinda > Faridkot > Tarn Taran but I am not sure on the conditions now for the road from Faridkot to Tarn Taran

But if you are not staying in Amritsar then better is Faridkot > Jalandhar > Dasuya > Pathankot

With a 2WD vehicle it is better to go via Tsaga La. 4WD is needed at a few places on the Kaksang la route.

Not anymore. 2WD high GC vehicle can do it. More than 4WD I would worry about the tires due to the road type(rocks thrown and then a roller done).
If you do not have tough A/T tires, do not do this route whether 4WD or 2WD does not matter.

Thanks Tanveer, this is good news. It will reduce a lot of travel time.

Finally got back from the Road Trip of Dreams, 10 people in an XUV and a Thar. Water crossings had little or no water, roads were being rebuilt after the monsoons, experienced excellent roads to okay to extremely poor roads during the entire journey, people were extremely helpful, absolutely no hostility from anyone including the dreaded Taxi Mafia (infact the guy checking the cars was helping). Absolutely no problems with the vehicles (not even a puncture). Hotels offering discounts even at the slightest hint of bargaining.

Below is the final itinerary which was followed for the journey:

12 Sept. (Sat) - Shimla to Manali, Stay in Manali
13 Sept. (Sun) - Manali to Sarchu, Stay in Sarchu
14 Sept. (Mon) - Sarchu to Leh, Stay in Leh
15 Sept. (Tue) - Leh Local Sight Seeing / Shopping
16 Sept. (Wed) - Leh to Pangong (Spangmik), Stayed at Spangmik
17 Sept. (Thurs) - Spangmik to Nubra, Stayed at Nubra valley
18 Sept. (Fri) - Nubra to Leh, Stayed at Leh
19 Sept. (Sat) - Leh to Srinagar, Stayed at Srinagar
20 Sept. (Sun) - Sight Seeing in Srinagar, Stayed at Srinagar
21 Sept. (Mon) - Srinagar to Pathankot, Stayed at Pathankot.
22 Sept. (Tue) - Pathankot to Shimla.

Leh is so addictive. I am already planning another road trip the next year.
Julley!!

Congrats on completing your trip, looking forward to seeing a travelogue soon clap:. Did you take the agham shyok route or the wari la route ? Some colleagues want to do this route in october. They have a 2WD duster and a punto. Is it possible to take this route and save a day or is it better to simply take the pangong-leh-nubra route ?

Thank You Bullrun. Planning a Travelogue very soon.
I was keen on taking the Wari La route but had to come back to Leh as we didnt take fuel along.
While getting my car washed in the Mahindra Service Centre, Leh I even inquired from a few local people including 2 taxi drivers, they told that the Wari La route is doeable in a high GC vehicle, but everyone was skeptical about taking the Agham-Shyok route, I was told that the road is not good, even locals dont take that route often and help may not come soon in case any issue arises.
We did Pangong-Leh-Nubra in a day easily with a 2 hour stop in Leh, started from Pangong at 8:30 AM and reached Nubra at 8:00 PM with photo breaks enroute Leh to Nubra.

Dear TSK,

At the outset want to thank you for "The Ultimate Guide" which helped us (My wife and I) to complete our drive from Bengaluru to Leh and back. Left on 17 Aug and got back on 20 Sep 15, a day before my 62nd birthday (An advance birthday gift to self). Route to Leh via (halts) -Pune-Amdavad-Okha-Gandhinagar- (via Mehsana/Abu road)Ajmer-Jaipur (Our Course Reunion) Amritsar(Wife's Home town)-Udhampur- Ramban-Srinagar-Dras-Leh and around. Came back (halts)-Srinagar-Macleodganj-Chandigarh-Gwalior-Nagpur-Hyderabad-Bengaluru. 9473 Kms in 34 days-a thrilling drive that will last us a lifetime.
My car-Ritz, our aim to complete 10000 kms but fell short.

Thank you for your time spent and dedication in compiling such a comprehensive Guide.

Col Jude Mayne (Retd)

We guys completed the Leh circuit in the month of October and the experience was just beyond words, for now posting a pic taken at Khardung La on 4th of October.

Folks,

Need your input. I am planning to do a Manali trip starting 20-24th November. Places i want to cover would be Kullu-Manali,Shimla,Rohtang,Baralacha etc

Can someone let me know what is the latest status of roads to Rohtang and barlacha?

Are they open ?

Regards,

Hey Shabzhere.
It has already started snowing in upper to mid hilly areas and by then the snow cover would be really thick. The winter season has already set in here in Himachal. The roads are maintained by BRO and AFAIK they may not allow vehicluar traffic beyond Marhi, 16 Km before Rohtang Top. The Manali Leh Highway is shut down in winters and no vehicular movement is allowed, that means you will not be able to visit Baralacha Pass too.

As of 1 year ago (Oct 2014), needed to switch on 4WD at some of the hairpins on the way up, primarily because of the loose rocks factor. Don't know if the road has improved during the last year.

Hello All.

After a much awaited and well deserved wait, it is my turn finally to hit the Leh-Ladakh road from Delhi! To be very honest, myself, along with 6 of my best pals from graduation days, are pretty excited (literally jumping) just on the mere thought of this roadtrip.

However, due to our stringent schedules, we have no more than 5 days for the entire roundtrip from Delhi. (Delhi - Leh/Ladakh - Delhi).
We're planning this trip starting 20 Jan 2016, from Delhi, via Road, all the way to Leh/Ladakh and back to Delhi by the evening of 25 Jan 2016 - hiring a Self Driven Mahindra Scorpio.

Since 4 out of 6 pals live abroad, preparing the itinerary for this tour is on my shoulders and I need the expert advise from the GURUS who have done this trip already.

What I'm looking for:
A basic itinerary spread over 5 days (Delhi - Leh/Ladakh -Delhi), which suggests the best places to visit, rough distances, timeframes, permit information, important things to look out for etc. please:

Request all the experts to throw some light on this newbie and make this tour of mine - an experience of a lifetime!

Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Vinay.