[Prime]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

This is a secret google route. If you wear google glass, it will automatically send pass phrases to the mountains, and they will move out of the way

Hi Tanveer,
We are planning a trip (our first one) to Leh during the last week of September. Following is the itenary, kindly confirm if I have captured/planned the stretch correctly.
Vehicles: Dezire and Rapid
Total No of People: 08 (4 in each)
Day 1: Aurangabad to Jaipur (1300kms)
Day 2: Jaipur to Patnitop (900kms)
Day 3: Patnitop to Sonmarg (261 kms)
Day 4: Sonmarg to Leh (337kms)
Day 5: Leh to Diskit to Pangong Tso (300kms)
Day 6: Pangong tso to Hanle (233kms)
Day 7: Hanle to Karzok to Sarchu (400 kms)- or do I halt in karzok.
Day 8: Sarchu to Sach Pass (270kms)-- Is it Doable in Dzire and Rapid
Day 9: Sach Pass to Kaza (330kms)
Day 10: Kaza to Shimla (450kms)
Day 11: Shimla to Jaipur (600kms)
Day 12: Jaipur to Aurangabad (1300kms)
Driving Period: 5:00 am to 8:00 pm only.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
Regards,
CB

[akp]

Originally Posted by Prime

Hi Tanveer,
We are planning a trip (our first one) to Leh during the last week of September. Following is the itenary, kindly confirm if I have captured/planned the stretch correctly.
Vehicles: Dezire and Rapid
Total No of People: 08 (4 in each)
Day 1: Aurangabad to Jaipur (1300kms)
Day 2: Jaipur to Patnitop (900kms)
Day 3: Patnitop to Sonmarg (261 kms)
Day 4: Sonmarg to Leh (337kms)
Day 5: Leh to Diskit to Pangong Tso (300kms)
Day 6: Pangong tso to Hanle (233kms)
Day 7: Hanle to Karzok to Sarchu (400 kms)- or do I halt in karzok.
Day 8: Sarchu to Sach Pass (270kms)-- Is it Doable in Dzire and Rapid
Day 9: Sach Pass to Kaza (330kms)
Day 10: Kaza to Shimla (450kms)
Day 11: Shimla to Jaipur (600kms)
Day 12: Jaipur to Aurangabad (1300kms)
Driving Period: 5:00 am to 8:00 pm only.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
Regards,
CB

I think you need to study tsk's thread, together with his map (and possible some of the other Leh travelogues also) much more carefully and change your plan completely - specially Days 5 to 10.

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by Prime

Driving Period: 5:00 am to 8:00 pm only.

Until Tanveer posts his reply, let me post my views on this. How many drivers per car?

Day 2: Jaipur to Patnitop (900kms)

If you start at 5 from Jaipur, i doubt if can reach Patnitop on time.

Day 3: Patnitop to Sonmarg (261 kms)

Easily doable, recommended.

Day 4: Sonmarg to Leh (337kms)

Will be a stretch, i prefer Sonmarg to Lamayuru at max. In the task of reaching Leh by eve you will miss out a lot of scenic views.

Day 5: Leh to Diskit to Pangong Tso (300kms)

Not possible, which route do you plan to take, with the cars you will be driving, you might have cross Khardungla twice, Leh to Diskit and back to Leh and then reaching Pangong on the same day is not recommended.

Day 6: Pangong tso to Hanle (233kms)

Doable

Day 7: Hanle to Karzok to Sarchu (400 kms)- or do I halt in karzok.

Plan a halt in Korzok, or atleast Tso Kar/Pang.

Day 8: Sarchu to Sach Pass (270kms)-- Is it Doable in Dzire and Rapid
Day 9: Sach Pass to Kaza (330kms)

I hope you know they are opposite directions, add one more day if you comfortably want to do this.

Day 10: Kaza to Shimla (450kms)

Keep atleast 2 days for this.

For this Itinerary you need atleast 4-5 more days, preferably 7-10 more days. You need to be clear if you just want to touch the places, or you really want to enjoy the places and explore them. Plan a few buffer days in between, you will need them if you really want to stick to your plan.

My suggestion is if you cannot add more days, just drop a few places like Sach Pass and Spiti valley.

[julupani]

Originally Posted by Prime

Day 1: Aurangabad to Jaipur (1300kms)
......
Day 12: Jaipur to Aurangabad (1300kms)
....

I assumu you will go to Dhule, then take NH6 towards Surat until you hit the GQ near Surat and then onwards to Jaipur.You could take the Aurangabad-Dhule-Indore-Lebad-Neemuch-Chittorgarh-Jaipur route and save on about 300kms on both the above days.

You could take the Aurangabad-Dhule-Indore-Lebad-Neemuch-Chittorgarh-Jaipur route and save on about 300kms on both the above days. If you are concerned about road quality, this stretch too is entirely 4-way after you hit Dhule. except for about 30kms after MP-RJ border to Chittorgarh.

For reference: http://goo.gl/maps/shAfO

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Prime

Day 1: Aurangabad to Jaipur (1300kms)
Day 2: Jaipur to Patnitop (900kms)

Jaipur to Patnitop will take not less than 16-17 hrs. Add almost 24 hours of continuous driving the previous day, and it's not doable.

Day 3: Patnitop to Sonmarg (261 kms)

Okay.

Day 4: Sonmarg to Leh (337kms)

Expect 15 hours of driving time in a sedan. How accustomed are you to driving in tough Himalayan terrain?

Day 5: Leh to Diskit to Pangong Tso (300kms)

No acclimatization, no time for getting permits? And Leh>Diskit itself is an 8-10 hour drive. Diskit to P'Tso is a full day's drive again, even for a 4wd off-roader.

Day 6: Pangong tso to Hanle (233kms)

Okay. Depends on whether you'll get permits for Hanle.

Day 7: Hanle to Karzok to Sarchu (400 kms)- or do I halt in karzok.

Karzok>Sarchu itself takes >12 hours.

Day 8: Sarchu to Sach Pass (270kms)-- Is it Doable in Dzire and Rapid

You got inspired by this thread?

Day 9: Sach Pass to Kaza (330kms)

And where on the top of Sach Pass do you plan to spend the night?

Day 10: Kaza to Shimla (450kms)

You won't even cover half that distance in 1 day.

Day 11: Shimla to Jaipur (600kms)
Day 12: Jaipur to Aurangabad (1300kms)

Again, 1300 km to be covered in 15 hours max...

Driving Period: 5:00 am to 8:00 pm only.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

Double the number of days and you can barely fit in the itinerary. Your present plan is absolutely not feasible.

[Prime]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Jaipur to Patnitop will take not less than 16-17 hrs. Add almost 24 hours of continuous driving the previous day, and it's not doable.
We assume to halt at Vadodra
Okay.

Expect 15 hours of driving time in a sedan. How accustomed are you to driving in tough Himalayan terrain?

No acclimatization, no time for getting permits? And Leh>Diskit itself is an 8-10 hour drive. Diskit to P'Tso is a full day's drive again, even for a 4wd off-roader.

Okay. Depends on whether you'll get permits for Hanle.

Karzok>Sarchu itself takes >12 hours.

You got inspired by this thread?

And where on the top of Sach Pass do you plan to spend the night?

You won't even cover half that distance in 1 day.

Again, 1300 km to be covered in 15 hours max...


Double the number of days and you can barely fit in the itinerary. Your present plan is absolutely not feasible.

Thanks for your reply sir. We also have a Plan B, in case this isn't feasible. The control factor for us is the number of days (max 12 days only we get).

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Prime

We are planning a trip (our first one) to Leh during the last week of September.

A separate thread with the same query was also opened by the member here. I would suggest that moderators merge that thread into this one, to keep things together.

[khoj]

This is what I call a truck driver's holiday which lets one boast of the places they drove to (but had no time to explore). Sure Leh etc will always be more of drive through destination but there are a lot of places in your drive path where you guys could stay for a couple of days and relax. After all that is what holidays are about but then that's my way of looking at things and thereby my two cents.

Anyway coming to the route

Aurangabad to Jaipur could instead be Aurangabad to Kishangarh, unless you have planned to explore/stay in Jaipur, which looking at you schedule is definitely not going to be the case.

From Kishangarh you can take the Mega Highway to Bhatinda>>Moga>>Jalandhar onwards to Pathankot and further to Patnitop.

This will save the extra 110 kms from Kishangarh to Jaipur and then the time guzzling Jaipur Delhi and onwards trip via the GT road to Pathankot.

On the return trip too you could do Shimla-Delhi-Agra. and then Agra-Jaipur-Aurabgabad OR Agra >> Gwalior>>Shivpuri>> Guna>>Indore>> Aurangabad

This will give you brownie points to claim that you have been to Agra too.

Also from Aurnagabad do not venture towards Surat etc but from Dhule drive to Ratlam >>Neemuch>>Chittorarh(bypass)>>Bhilwara(alternat e stop instead of Kishangarh) >>Kishangarh. This is an excellent stretch of highway. The road condition is at par with the NH8 minus the traffic.

Originally Posted by Prime

Day 1: Aurangabad to Jaipur (1300kms)
Day 2: Jaipur to Patnitop (900kms)

Day 11: Shimla to Jaipur (600kms)
Day 12: Jaipur to Aurangabad (1300kms)
Driving Period: 5:00 am to 8:00 pm only.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
Regards,
CB

[amit_purohit20]

Originally Posted by Prime

We have been planning the following trip...
Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
Regards,
CB

You are very greedy indeed in making your itinerary.

Originally Posted by khoj

This is what I call a truck driver's holiday

Oh its uncontrollable what a term, truck driver's holiday!

Well I have been to Leh and I bet even if you do this trip as per your plan you will come empty handed and not feeling satisfied.
Do keep some time to absorb yourself in the nature.

As SS traveller has said most of his directions he has given would still not be achievable from me. Although I also have done 17+ hours a couple of times.

Aren't you increasing your probability of accidents with such a itinerary? Sorry not to discourage you or sound negative but please give full importance to safety on Himalayan roads.

You need to do more homework for your itinerary. Plan for contingency. Plan for acclimatization. One cannot cover whole of Ladakh in one trip and you are also planning to cover Himachal?

In himalayas I would not prefer to go beyond 150-175 kms/day max. Roads are horrendous and it takes its toll on your vehicle and you. As you are driving in cars I would surely suggest you to go more slow for your lack of ground clearance. Also plan to increase your ground clearance before you go for this trip.

I wish you a safe and pleasurable journey.

[Prime]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Until Tanveer posts his reply, let me post my views on this. How many drivers per car?

We are 4 drivers in a car who are experts in driving on highways but not much experts in mountain driving.
I am also working on re-planning the trip and reserving Kaza and Pangong for our next trip, hopefully. For this year I am restructuring the trip from Aurangabad-Manali-Leh-Kargil-Srinagar. I shall post the detailed itinerary.

[Prime]

Originally Posted by amit_purohit20

Aren't you increasing your probability of accidents with such a itinerary?

Since we are having 4 seasoned drivers per car, the strategy was to cover the highway stretch in quick time, thereby giving us some more time for the mountains.

Originally Posted by amit_purohit20

Sorry not to discourage you or sound negative but please give full importance to safety on Himalayan roads.

As i have mentioned in my opening post, this would be our first ever experience to see snow, hence the calculation were overboard. As you mentioned, safety would always be our primary objective.

Originally Posted by amit_purohit20

One cannot cover whole of Ladakh in one trip and you are also planning to cover Himachal?

I have sketched out Plan B wherein I dropping certain portions.Will post it shortly.

Originally Posted by amit_purohit20

Also plan to increase your ground clearance before you go for this trip.

Point Noted.

Originally Posted by amit_purohit20

I wish you a safe and pleasurable journey.

Thanks a lot brother.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Prime

We are 4 drivers in a car who are experts in driving on highways but not much experts in mountain driving.
I am also working on re-planning the trip and reserving Kaza and Pangong for our next trip, hopefully. For this year I am restructuring the trip from Aurangabad-Manali-Leh-Kargil-Srinagar. I shall post the detailed itinerary.

Your plan is totally impractical. That said, if you are game for driving long distances, here is the fastest iterary I can recommend to you
1. Jaipur - Udhampur area
2. Udhampur Area - Sonmarg(or somewhere between Srinagar and Sonmarg)
3. Sonmarg - Leh (14 hours of driving)
4. Leh permits
5. Leh - Diskit
6. Diskit - Pangong via Wari la
7. Pangong - Tso moriri (12 hours via Upshi)
8. Tso moriri - Jispa
9. Jispa - Mandi
10. Mandi - Jaipur

This is the fastest you can do

[Prime]

Dear Bhpians,
Thanks for your earlier comments. We have now revised our schedule and dropped excess baggage. Now the schedule looks as follows:
Day 1: Aurangabad (Dep: 14:00) to Jaipur (Arr:8:00)-1300kms (Includes Night Driving)
Day 2: Jaipur (Dep: 10:00) to Jammu (Arr:20:00)-800kms (Via Rewar, Jind, Ludhiana)
Day 3: Jammu (Dep: 9:00) to Srinagar (Arr:16:00)-300 Kms (Via Ramban)
Day 4: Stay In Srinagar.
Day 5: Srinagar (Dep: 7:00) to Kargil (Arr: 17:00)-200 Kms (Via Drass)
Day 6: Kargil (Dep:7:00) to Leh (Arr:17:00)-220Kms (Via Lamayaru)
Day 7: Stay in Leh.
Day 8: Leh (Dep:7:00) to Pang (Arr:17:00) - 175 kms
Day 9: Pang (Dep:7:00) to Keylong (Arr:17:00) - 180 Kms
Day 10: Keylong (Dep:7:00) to Manali (Arr:15:00)-120kms
Day 11: Stay In Manali.
Day 12: Manali (Dep: 7:00) to Chandigarh (Arr:15:00)-300kms (Via Mandi)
Day 13: Chandigarh (Dep: 5:00) to Jaipur (Arr:12:00)-500 Kms (Via Karnal,Rewar)
Day 14: Jaipur (Dep: 13:00) to Aurangabad (Arr:7:00)-1300kms- Includes Night drive.
Kindly post your comments on and feasibility. Does it still seem a truck driver's holiday?
Rgds,
CB

[Ahmed]

Originally Posted by khoj

This is what I call a truck driver's holiday which lets one boast of the places they drove to (but had no time to explore). Sure Leh etc will always be more of drive through destination but there are a lot of places in your drive path where you guys could stay for a couple of days and relax. After all that is what holidays are about but then that's my way of looking at things and thereby my two cents.

Anyway coming to the route

Aurangabad to Jaipur could instead be Aurangabad to Kishangarh, unless you have planned to explore/stay in Jaipur, which looking at you schedule is definitely not going to be the case.

From Kishangarh you can take the Mega Highway to Bhatinda>>Moga>>Jalandhar onwards to Pathankot and further to Patnitop.

This will save the extra 110 kms from Kishangarh to Jaipur and then the time guzzling Jaipur Delhi and onwards trip via the GT road to Pathankot.

On the return trip too you could do Shimla-Delhi-Agra. and then Agra-Jaipur-Aurabgabad OR Agra >> Gwalior>>Shivpuri>> Guna>>Indore>> Aurangabad

This will give you brownie points to claim that you have been to Agra too.

Also from Aurnagabad do not venture towards Surat etc but from Dhule drive to Ratlam >>Neemuch>>Chittorarh(bypass)>>Bhilwara(alternat e stop instead of Kishangarh) >>Kishangarh. This is an excellent stretch of highway. The road condition is at par with the NH8 minus the traffic.

Being an Aurangabadi, I confirm that the above mentioned route is the best possible option. My brother in law just came back from this route and has given very good reviews.

[Prime]

Originally Posted by Ahmed

Being an Aurangabadi, I confirm that the above mentioned route is the best possible option. My brother in law just came back from this route and has given very good reviews.

Hi Ahmed,
Its a surprise to find a TBHpian so close by. Lets meet over the weekend.