[RoadSurfer]

Dear BHPians,

I have made a rough plan for Leh-Ladakh sarting 10th of September. I would like to know from your experience if it is feasible. We are 4 guys and a Scorpio.
Any and all suggestions are welcome.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by RoadSurfer

Dear BHPians,

I have made a rough plan for Leh-Ladakh sarting 10th of September. I would like to know from your experience if it is feasible. We are 4 guys and a Scorpio.
Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Scorpio?
Do Hunder-Pangong via Wari La or Agham shyok(can be open as its september)
This gives you an extra day

Originally Posted by Mafioso

Hi Tanveer, it’s a wonderful thread and thanks for all the details you have listed over a period of time and ensure that novices like us are well informed on the Ladakh trip.

We are planning to travel to Ladakh for the first time and we are planning to ride. Shipping the bikes (two bullets and a duke 200) from Bangalore to Chandigarh via GATI services and from there we ride.

Aug 13 – Land in Chandigarh (get the bikes ready)
Aug 14 - Chandigarh to Jammu
Aug 15 – Jammu to Srinagar
Planning to take the Mogul road as I have heard it is very scenic and less traffic as compared to the NH1A - How is this road and is it safe to ride?
If Srinagar is problematic on Aug 15th try and head to Sonamarg

Skip mughal road around that time. There can be disturbances. Due to tunnel being completed, you can do Chandigarh-Srinagar as road is very good. Or Chd-Anantnag

Aug 16 – Srinagar to Kargil
Aug 17 – Kargil to Leh
Aug 18 – Leh (acclimatization)
Aug 19- Leh to Hunder ( Night stay)
Aug 20 – Hunder to Leh
Aug 21 – Leh to Pangong

[/quote]
Take Wari La. Long drive but worth it and save a day here

Aug 22 – Pangong to Leh
Aug 23 – Leh to Sarchu
Aug 24 – Sarchu to Manali
Aug 25 – Manali to Chandigarh
Aug 26 – Buffer Day (ship bikes back home)
Aug 27 – Chandigarh to Bangalore

Looks good. You can save 2 days now and go to Tso Moriri too!

Two things which we are pondering over are the Aug 15th and the monsoon season. As you can see in the plan we are going to hit Srinagar on Aug 15th and generally there is a feeling there is going to be a trouble on the Independence Day.

And second thing is the monsoon season where we have heard of some horror stories on the Rohtang pass side, of the roads being bad/closed for hours/days, which may make it tough to reach Manali. And if we aren’t able to complete the return journey via Manali then we need to take the Srinagar route which leaves no buffer as it takes 4 days to reach there and since we have booked flights on the 27th and we also need to make arrangements of sending the bikes back, we can’t afford to slip on time.

Any suggestions would help us in a great way as this is the first time we are riding so far north!

Monsoon disruptions cannot be planned. So I advise push hard in the initial part of the trip, and skip Mughal road. This gives you extra buffer days in case there is a landslide near Aut and you waste a day.

[RoadSurfer]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Scorpio?
Do Hunder-Pangong via Wari La or Agham shyok(can be open as its september)
This gives you an extra day

Thanks a lot for the suggestion. It surely will save a day. Which is better route of the two (Wari la and Agham shyok)?

[Mafioso]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Take Wari La. Long drive but worth it and save a day here

Looks good. You can save 2 days now and go to Tso Moriri too!

Thanks Tanveer. How is the road condition from Hunder to Pangong via Wari La? Is it do-able on Bikes and sedan?

Are you suggesting we do Pangong to Tso Moriri instead of getting back to Leh and from there push to Manali?

What would be the route from Pangong?

[Dodge_Viper]

Similar questions:

1) Is Leh-Hunder-Wari La-Pangong(370kms) or Leh-Hunder-Agham-shyok-Pangong(305kms) doable in a day on bikes?

2) Fuel could be an issue as it will be 370+125(till Karu) or 305+125(till Karu). Worst case add another 35kms if Karu fuel availability is dicey.

3) Is staying at Karu recommended? As Pangong-Karu-Keylong in a day is a considerable stretch.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by RoadSurfer

Thanks a lot for the suggestion. It surely will save a day. Which is better route of the two (Wari la and Agham shyok)?

Wari La is better, Agham-Shyok is shorter, but it often turns into a nightmare of epic proportions

Originally Posted by Mafioso

Thanks Tanveer. How is the road condition from Hunder to Pangong via Wari La? Is it do-able on Bikes and sedan?

Are you suggesting we do Pangong to Tso Moriri instead of getting back to Leh and from there push to Manali?

What would be the route from Pangong?

Yes, Wari la is doable in a sedan in summer. Post september snowfall risk is there. From Pangong to Tso moriri, you go via Karu and then turn towards Tso moriri at upshi, unless you want to do chushul circuit, which requires lot of reserve fuel

Originally Posted by Dodge_Viper

Similar questions:

1) Is Leh-Hunder-Wari La-Pangong(370kms) or Leh-Hunder-Agham-shyok-Pangong(305kms) doable in a day on bikes?

Nope

2) Fuel could be an issue as it will be 370+125(till Karu) or 305+125(till Karu). Worst case add another 35kms if Karu fuel availability is dicey.

3) Is staying at Karu recommended? As Pangong-Karu-Keylong in a day is a considerable stretch.

Never done it. You can push till Sarchu from Pangong if you start early, but not worth riding so hard.

[Motard_Blr]

Hi tsk,

thanks for the super informative thread! It's been extremely helpful in planning my trip to Leh next month. It's very kind of you to have documented your trips and shared the information publicly and I am very grateful for it.

We are 3 guys. We are flying into Chandigarh on 9/7 morning. The plan is to collect our Zoomcar Scorpio and start the same afternoon on the Srinagar - Leh route. We plan to return via Manali.

I would appreciate you and others to have a look our tentative plan and help us out. All distances and times INSIDE Kashmir & Ladakh are based on your map on the 1st page of thread. Other distances and times are from Google maps.

1. We plan to leave CG in the afternoon. Is it feasible to reach Jammu (350 km)the same night? Should we stop somewhere closer like Pathankot?
2. Our overnight stop is planned to be at Kargil. That is about 11 hours away. Again, is this feasible or should we plan a stop at Sonamarg instead? It would be about 3 hours closer than Kargil.
3. Regardless of where we stop overnight on the way, we plan to reach Leh towards evening of 11/7.
4. We have to reach CG by 19/7 night. There cannot be any change here as our return flight is on 20/7.
5. So we effectively have 12/7 to 16/7 for trips inside Ladakh.
6. We still aren't sure about being allowed to drive our Zoomcar outside of Leh, so we are thinking of renting bikes for other visits. We prefer the freedom of driving/riding ourselves rather than hiring a taxi.
7. I realise that 5 days isn't much time. Do you think that the plan to visit Nubra and Pangong Tso is feasible without being hectic?
8. We are currently allowing a 1 day buffer to allow for safety.
9. Is it feasible to visit Tso/Kar circuit and proceed towards Sarchu (night stay) instead of returning to Leh?

I would really appreciate all your advice and suggestions to smooth out our plan.

Thanks!

[jkrishnakj]

So , would you be hiring a local Cab / taxi for the sightseeing after you reach Leh by your zoomcar? There is another thread that talks about the difficulties if you take a self drive rental car.

The reason i ask is because, me and two other colleagues of mine are leaving Bangalore on the 28th July. Our original plan was to fly to Chandigarh and rent the zoom car, but given the atrocities that you read, caused by the Leh taxi association, we finally decided to drive to Leh from Bangalore.

[Motard_Blr]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

So , would you be hiring a local Cab / taxi for the sightseeing after you reach Leh by your zoomcar? There is another thread that talks about the difficulties if you take a self drive rental car.

The reason i ask is because, me and two other colleagues of mine are leaving Bangalore on the 28th July. Our original plan was to fly to Chandigarh and rent the zoom car, but given the atrocities that you read, caused by the Leh taxi association, we finally decided to drive to Leh from Bangalore.

The plan is to park the Scorpio at the hotel and hire bikes and camping equipment to travel to other destinations such as Nubra valley and Pangong Tso.

[sumzup]

Hello Bhpians,
I am planning to drive to Leh/Ladakh during the first week of August with three more friends of mine in a Skoda Yeti from Bangalore. We are flexible on the starting date by a couple of days either side if anyone would like to tag along with us in their vehicle/s.

The details of the trip is being worked out and of course there is loads of information on this thread and couple of other threads, and we are planning to use all that in our travel plan. We have kept three weeks for this trip and maybe we would pull a few days back if all goes well.

It is going to be an exciting wait till August for the journey of the lifetime.

Cheers

[rrsteer]

I see mostly everyone doing Srinagar - Leh - Manali. What if I want to do Manali - Leh - Manali only? Is it not advisable? - say with a 4 year old Kid and 60+ parents?

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

I see mostly everyone doing Srinagar - Leh - Manali. What if I want to do Manali - Leh - Manali only? Is it not advisable? - say with a 4 year old Kid and 60+ parents?

Spend two nights in Keylong, start early, and reach Leh the same day. While coming back you can stay in Sarchu, not while going

[Ani0404]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

I see mostly everyone doing Srinagar - Leh - Manali. What if I want to do Manali - Leh - Manali only? Is it not advisable? - say with a 4 year old Kid and 60+ parents?

You get more time to acclimatise yourselves as increase in altitude is very gradual from Srinagar - Leh when compared to Manali - Leh. Try having an extra night stay in Keylong, as mentioned by Tsk1979, rather than staying in Sarchu or Pang. Take it easy as AMS could ruin the trip. Spend the first day in Leh just taking rest. It helps a lot.

I did Hyderabad - Srinagar - Leh - Manali - Hyderabad last month with my parents. My parents are also 60+. They did it. Make sure the kid is not straining himself/herself a lot by jumping around.. AMS hits when one exerts himself more.

[sbhaduri]

Anybody from this group travelled jammu - srinagar - leh in the last few days. Has the highway opened and what is the condition now. We are supposed to travel in that route on 23rd/24th july. Any info by recent travellers appreciated.

[navsjab]

Originally Posted by Mafioso

Aug 13 – Land in Chandigarh (get the bikes ready)
Aug 14 - Chandigarh to Jammu
Aug 15 – Jammu to Srinagar
Planning to take the Mogul road as I have heard it is very scenic and less traffic as compared to the NH1A - How is this road and is it safe to ride?
If Srinagar is problematic on Aug 15th try and head to Sonamarg
Aug 16 – Srinagar to Kargil
Aug 17 – Kargil to Leh
Aug 18 – Leh (acclimatization)
Aug 19- Leh to Hunder ( Night stay)
Aug 20 – Hunder to Leh
Aug 21 – Leh to Pangong
Aug 22 – Pangong to Leh
Aug 23 – Leh to Sarchu
Aug 24 – Sarchu to Manali
Aug 25 – Manali to Chandigarh
Aug 26 – Buffer Day (ship bikes back home)
Aug 27 – Chandigarh to Bangalore

Two things which we are pondering over are the Aug 15th and the monsoon season. As you can see in the plan we are going to hit Srinagar on Aug 15th and generally there is a feeling there is going to be a trouble on the Independence Day.

....
Any suggestions would help us in a great way as this is the first time we are riding so far north!

Hey, Mafioso. I am planning a similar itinerary coming from Kolkata. Since I will be in a Thar, monsoon is not a major concern for me. However, for the 15th I have heard of issues too. Was suggested to hold at Udhampur and proceed on 16th from there.

Any suggestions you gathered at your end?