[Dodge_Viper]

Originally Posted by pcpranav

yes, unfortunately in these volatile conditions, best to ignore the Mughal road.

Not sure if Srinagar city tour (i.e. visiting popular tourist spots) also gets affected by these disturbances ?

Yes it does. As curfew is imposed almost immediately. Have had a bad experience last year. These days, Srinagar is to be avoided for the best. Its always better to stay at Sonmarg.

[RCD]

Specifically to your plan, I would suggest that it is better to finish Zangskar before you enter Leh so that on your return you can drive to Sarchu and reach Manali (the route and details are in the previous post as mentioned)

Thanks for suggesting doing Zangskar while driving up from Srinagar to Leh. Had not thought of it myself.

One question, is there any special permission required for going to Zangskar ? If not, I shall surely follow your suggestion.

regards,

RCD

[sumzup]

Originally Posted by RCD

Specifically to your plan, I would suggest that it is better to finish Zangskar before you enter Leh so that on your return you can drive to Sarchu and reach Manali (the route and details are in the previous post as mentioned)

Thanks for suggesting doing Zangskar while driving up from Srinagar to Leh. Had not thought of it myself.

One question, is there any special permission required for going to Zangskar ? If not, I shall surely follow your suggestion.

regards,

RCD

If you are going through the valley there is not much required but do carry lots of copies of your identity proof along with the originals so that you can show it at all the hotels where you are going to stay and also at the checkposts(I have not done that leg so I really can't say more). You don't need permits to go around Jammu/Srinagar, Sonmarg, or Zangskar and to enter Leh as well.

[creative420]

A friend of mine is doing a Ladhak trip in June, along with his wife. He's renting a self-drive car from Leh to drive around. Please provide me a few budget options for the following:

Leh (4 nights)
Nubra (2 nights)
Pangong (1 night)
Tso Morri (1 night)
Kargil (2 nights)
Sri Nagar (Day Boarding option?)

P.S.: Do note that the room cost should be pretty affordable. Something in under 2K range

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by creative420

A friend of mine is doing a Ladhak trip in June, along with his wife. He's renting a self-drive car from Leh to drive around. Please provide me a few budget options for the following:

Leh (4 nights)
Nubra (2 nights)
Pangong (1 night)
Tso Morri (1 night)
Kargil (2 nights)
Sri Nagar (Day Boarding option?)

P.S.: Do note that the room cost should be pretty affordable. Something in under 2K range

For Leh I can recommend New Royal guest house which is at a nice location and was less than 2k per night. Rooms are nice and have a good view and food is homely.
We stayed there for 2 nights last year.
For Pangong you can take Royal camp, but rates are mostly 3.5k plus per night there as it is peak season. You can find cheaper ones there too, but they are far from the lake edge and some are not too clean.

[The Adventurer]

Hey folks,
Got a few questions regarding driving to Leh in July (from Kochi)

Is July third week a safe time to drive to Leh and Himachal?
With the uncertainties in Srinagar, (And since I've already been there once before), my only option is to drive in and out through manali. I have about a month's time for this drive (to and fro Kochi) and I want to cover places properly. Will the monsoons spoil sport? Are there landslides etc in Himachal? Manali, Kasol, Dharamsala etc.

Is it worth driving all the way to Kargil and Zangskar?
When coming from manali, is Kargil and zangskar worth the 4 days I will take to and fro?

Will it be difficult to get accomodation without booking?
Since it's ladakh, I doubt if I can confirm bookings for sure. Do these tented camps get fully booked? I know its peak season.

Does it get crowded in july?
Pardon me for asking this, but I hate south Indian hill stations during their season. It's jam packed, rents high and gets dirty.


I am weighing 2 options.
1 Ladakh via manali, covering himachal hill stations, and possibly a bit of rajasthan and punjab on the way.
2 Bhutan and Sikkim including North Sikkim in detail.
I am also confused as to which would be a better drive that suits july end and the monsoon. I'd like to hear from these who have driven on both these routes

Thanks in advance!

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by The Adventurer

Hey folks,
Got a few questions regarding driving to Leh in July (from Kochi)

Is July third week a safe time to drive to Leh and Himachal?
With the uncertainties in Srinagar, (And since I've already been there once before), my only option is to drive in and out through manali. I have about a month's time for this drive (to and fro Kochi) and I want to cover places properly. Will the monsoons spoil sport? Are there landslides etc in Himachal? Manali, Kasol, Dharamsala etc.

Is it worth driving all the way to Kargil and Zangskar?
When coming from manali, is Kargil and zangskar worth the 4 days I will take to and fro?

Will it be difficult to get accomodation without booking?
Since it's ladakh, I doubt if I can confirm bookings for sure. Do these tented camps get fully booked? I know its peak season.

Does it get crowded in july?
Pardon me for asking this, but I hate south Indian hill stations during their season. It's jam packed, rents high and gets dirty.


I am weighing 2 options.
1 Ladakh via manali, covering himachal hill stations, and possibly a bit of rajasthan and punjab on the way.
2 Bhutan and Sikkim including North Sikkim in detail.
I am also confused as to which would be a better drive that suits july end and the monsoon. I'd like to hear from these who have driven on both these routes

Thanks in advance!

From my experience on driving on the roads to Manali, Leh and also in Sikkim, rainy season is quite bad and risk of landslide is really high. If you are travelling with family it can be a hazard as people often get stuck for days. If you want to cover this stretch, best time is only till July first week or after Aug 20th. In the monsoon period it is fraught with risk. Though in the high altitude regions the rainfall is much lower there is the risk from freak cloudbursts like the one which devastated Leh a few years back. Though this was a very rare event with weather becoming very unpredictable these days you should not take take the risk. Even the road till Manali often gets closed in the rains.
It is best to avoid driving on these roads in this period. If you still want to come to Leh only in this period, come by flight and then visit places like Nubra and Pangong.

[RCD]

[quote=creative420;4192889]A friend of mine is doing a Ladhak trip in June, along with his wife. Please provide me a few budget options for the following:

Leh (4 nights)

Sri Nagar (Day Boarding option?)

At Leh I would reccomend the Oriental Guesthouse, Changspa. Tel:+91 1982 250-516 or 253-153 [3]. 'ladakhoriental@yahoo.co.in' Run by a very hospitable Ladakhi family. Quiet place with a nice courtyard. Food is made of fresh vegetables, grown in the courtyard garden. ( Stayed here both times we went, you can walk to the Shanti Stupa from here, like I did ).

In Srinagar I would reccomend a House boat on Nageen lake. Owner Gulam Hussain. Phone number 9622926754. You can park your car in his property, and walk to the house boats. Food cooked and served by the family. We were 5 of us traveling so had the entire house boat ( 3 bedrooms ) to ourselves.

I was not happy with any of the other places I stayed at in your list, so am leaving them out.

[The Adventurer]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

From my experience on driving on the roads to Manali, Leh and also in Sikkim, rainy season is quite bad and risk of landslide is really high. If you are travelling with family it can be a hazard as people often get stuck for days. If you want to cover this stretch, best time is only till July first week or after Aug 20th. In the monsoon period it is fraught with risk. Though in the high altitude regions the rainfall is much lower there is the risk from freak cloudbursts like the one which devastated Leh a few years back. Though this was a very rare event with weather becoming very unpredictable these days you should not take take the risk. Even the road till Manali often gets closed in the rains.
It is best to avoid driving on these roads in this period. If you still want to come to Leh only in this period, come by flight and then visit places like Nubra and Pangong.

Oh Yikes!
Then I'm writing off North East. Ladakh looks relatively dry.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by The Adventurer

Oh Yikes!
Then I'm writing off North East. Ladakh looks relatively dry.

Yes probably the safer choice. When we had gone to Sikkim in July first week a few years back, the rains were just starting and the roads were starting to get closed. We saw landslides happening in front of our eyes both on the road to Kalimpong and also on the road to Nathu La. Some of those landslides were really big and scary with boulders the size of cars falling down. We were lucky to get through safely but when I look back now I feel it was an undue risk.
After July 7th the road to Nathu la gets closed mostly and is opened only for emergency for Army. It reopens after the monsoons in Aug end.

[dinesha]

Hello All !

I am planning a road trip to Leh during first week of June with Kids (12 & 14) and wife via Srinagar and return via Manali. I was wondering if it was to safe to Drive through "Jammu-Srinagar-Sonamarg" sector?

Upon inquiry some tells me that it is absolute safe in highways. On the other hand some tells me that one has to Join the Army convoy between "Jammu-Srinagar"and Srinagar-Sonamarg" and apparently both these convoys start at midnight and goes non-stop. If this is true than upon arriving at Srinagar one has to wait until midnight to join next convoy to Sonamarg.

Please advise?

[Dodge_Viper]

Originally Posted by dinesha

Hello All !

I am planning a road trip to Leh during first week of June with Kids (12 & 14) and wife via Srinagar and return via Manali. I was wondering if it was to safe to Drive through "Jammu-Srinagar-Sonamarg" sector?

Upon inquiry some tells me that it is absolute safe in highways. On the other hand some tells me that one has to Join the Army convoy between "Jammu-Srinagar"and Srinagar-Sonamarg" and apparently both these convoys start at midnight and goes non-stop. If this is true than upon arriving at Srinagar one has to wait until midnight to join next convoy to Sonamarg.

Please advise?

It is absolutely not worth the risk at all. Do not put yourself and your family in danger. There is no confirmation about army convoys. Please do not depend on it. The biggest problem in Srinagar is conflicts happen at any second. 3PM all will be good,3:05PM all hell will break loose. Having experienced this situation first hand, hence my 2 cents. Stick to Manali for now. You can easily do Kargil from Leh.

[ToyotaFan]

I wanted to inquire about the Agham shyok route from Nubra to Pangong. When I went in 2014 I heard the whole route is in shambles (as has been described by Tanveer in this thread) and it was not recommended to go even with an SUV. Now recently I have come across many travel agents with trips taking tourists via the same route in a single day from nubra to pangong. I did the same via leh in a single day and it took me 9-9:30 hours to cover. I think this route should be faster. Any idea how the route is at present? I read somewhere that a few new bridges have been made on the route? I might use this route in end June or July this year.

[carbookie]

I am planning to drive a zoom car to Leh next week from Srinagar route?

Is it safe to pass through Srinagar?
Is it safe to do some sightseeing in Srinagar?
Is it safe to drive to leh in Zoom car?
Is it safe to use zoom car locally in Leh?

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by carbookie

I am planning to drive a zoom car to Leh next week from Srinagar route?

Is it safe to pass through Srinagar?
Is it safe to do some sightseeing in Srinagar?
Is it safe to drive to leh in Zoom car?
Is it safe to use zoom car locally in Leh?

First, check before the journey whether the roads to Leh are open or not, as they typically open after May 20th.
I dont advise passing through Srinagar - lot of feedback already shared by everyone in previous posts.
As per my last Info, you can drive the car till Leh but you cannot take it for sightseeing to places like Nubra and Pangong and you will have to take local taxis.
Local driving in Leh should not be a problem.
But situation changes every season there and it is best to check with a local before you head out on your journey.
The road to Leh from Manali side is very broken and holds numerous challeges - non-existent roads for 100s of kms, steep inclines, mud, slush and snow. You have to be very confident to drive on these roads and have to know the car well and it has to be reliable.
Please check and prepare well before your trip .
Apart from this thread which has a wealth of info, you can also check Dheeraj's website www.devilonwheels.com which also has a ton of info.
As per the link http://devilonwheels.com/srinagar-leh-highway-status-2017/
The highway has been opened from Srinagar side on May 5th. Manali side is not yet open.
Have a safe trip!