[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Shutterbugger

From a GC perspective and from the point of view of reliability / sturdiness of the car, would Fiat Linea Diesel make the cut on Ladakh terrain? I realize that if we are unlucky and a major part needs replacement, it might be very challenging.

Lineas have done well in Ladakh. Last year, Sunny Alan did every sector solo in his Linea all the way from Kochi, despite some very sectors across Ladakh. The starter motor failed, but the Maruti service centre fixed it for him - despite it being some obscure Italian brand - in Leh

[Shutterbugger]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Lineas have done well in Ladakh. Last year, Sunny Alan did every sector solo in his Linea all the way from Kochi, despite some very sectors across Ladakh. The starter motor failed, but the Maruti service centre fixed it for him - despite it being some obscure Italian brand - in Leh

Thanks a lot, HVK. This gives me more confidence to pursuade my husband to take up the challenge of driving our new Linea in Ladakh!! Thank you

[rjalihal]

Hello All,

A couple of my friends and me are planning a trip to Leh in June-July. We will fly down from Bangalore to Delhi and from here we want to drive down to Manali-Leh. For this we plan on the following:-

1) By a cheap 2nd hand car like M800/Santro and use it for the trip. We plan to sack it off upon our return. (if it makes it back!)
2) Rent a car from Delhi and take it.

We do not want a 4wd. A hatch/sedan will work fine. The cheaper the better. Could some one tell me the approx charges for a self driven car (basic) on a per day basis? Will they be willing to rent one for out of state use especially to Leh? We will be touring Leh for 15 days.
We were inspired by Top Gear's India Special to embark on this road trip!

Cheers!
Rohan

[Shutterbugger]

Originally Posted by rjalihal

Hello All,

A couple of my friends and me are planning a trip to Leh in June-July. We will fly down from Bangalore to Delhi and from here we want to drive down to Manali-Leh. For this we plan on the following:-

1) By a cheap 2nd hand car like M800/Santro and use it for the trip. We plan to sack it off upon our return. (if it makes it back!)
2) Rent a car from Delhi and take it.

We do not want a 4wd. A hatch/sedan will work fine. The cheaper the better. Could some one tell me the approx charges for a self driven car (basic) on a per day basis? Will they be willing to rent one for out of state use especially to Leh? We will be touring Leh for 15 days.
We were inspired by Top Gear's India Special to embark on this road trip!

Cheers!
Rohan

I have just finished reading this entire thread of 58 pages (phheewwww...) and am summarizing below what I have picked up along the way regarding the car hire option. I haven't been to Ladakh myself so please also wait for some of the veterans to respond & confirm

* taking a hired cab+driver or hired self-driven car to Leh is ok. However, for moving around in Ladakh, non-Leh taxis are not allowed. You must hire a Ladkhi taxi for this. You will need to check if this restriction applies to self-driven non-Ladakh hired cars as well. I know that this does not apply to own cars which are non-Ladakh registered (as most of the people on this forum do Ladakh in their own cars)

*As an alternative what people do is hire a cab+driver for Manali-Leh or Srinagar-Leh and then hire a Ladakhi cab+driver for the internal Ladakh circuit

* A post on this thread from Feb 2012 mentioned the indicative cost of hiring SUVs in Delhi. My sense is this was a for a self-drive option
a. Ford Endeavour 4x2 Rs.56,000 per week
b. Toyota Fortuner 4x4 Rs.65,000 per week
c. 50% additional surcharge for taking to Ladakh
Hatchbacks or sedans would be much cheaper

* There was another post by vijus_n_n which suggested that there are several operators providing SUVs at Rs 10/km for Delhi-Leh-Delhi

Overall, car rental companies can be very difficult if they know you are driving their car to Manali or Ladakh. One option is to not tell them about your actual destination but then upon return once they see the odometer reading, the cat may be out of the bag anyway.

Hope this helps!

[rjalihal]

Thanks Shutterbugger. It was helpful indeed. Now I have a rough idea of what hatch/sedans will cost for rent. We want to drive ourselves from Delhi to Leh and around. So guess a one off cheap 2nd hand car will have to do (tentative).

Other experts who have done this trip: What is the approx cost of shipping a Mahindra MM jeep from Coorg to Delhi? I understand it will need to be loaded in Mysore as it is the nearest railroad. I visited the IRTC freight charges link and have confused myself. As per the list, Motor Vehicles are classified under LR4 class. But the rate appears to low to be true. if anyone can shed light on this, I will be most grateful. A rough ball park figure will be much appreciated!

Cheers!
Rohan

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by rjalihal

Thanks Shutterbugger. It was helpful indeed. Now I have a rough idea of what hatch/sedans will cost for rent. We want to drive ourselves from Delhi to Leh and around. So guess a one off cheap 2nd hand car will have to do (tentative).

Other experts who have done this trip: What is the approx cost of shipping a Mahindra MM jeep from Coorg to Delhi? I understand it will need to be loaded in Mysore as it is the nearest railroad. I visited the IRTC freight charges link and have confused myself. As per the list, Motor Vehicles are classified under LR4 class. But the rate appears to low to be true. if anyone can shed light on this, I will be most grateful. A rough ball park figure will be much appreciated!

Cheers!
Rohan

If you bring it by truck, it will cost around 20,000. However, you can call up indian railways freight office, and you will get the cost breakdown. It should cost around 10-15K max
If you plan to drive your jeep to ladakh, make sure your cooling system is in top order, as overheating is the biggest danger on the high passes(less air for cooling, and continuous first gear climb at medium-high rpm)

[anachronix]

Folks...

Planning a trip to Leh/Ladakh this year in August. We need some help with self drive rental from Delhi. I see that Avis has stopped the Endeavour rentals!

Need some suggestions on hiring an Endy from Delhi!

[Shutterbugger]

Originally Posted by rjalihal

Other experts who have done this trip: What is the approx cost of shipping a Mahindra MM jeep from Coorg to Delhi?

Your car may suffer damage in transporting it from Coorg to Delhi. I am not sure its worth the risk. I have an alternate suggestion: if you know of a decent driver who you can trust, have him + 1 companion drive up your car to Delhi and then you can fly into Delhi and drive from there. Just pay for the driver's return journey

I know of someone who used this mechanism to get his car, bought in Chandigarh, to Mumbai. But you have to get a highly trusted driver.

[Shutterbugger]

HVK Sir, much earlier in this thread, you had mentioned that you had uploaded a compilation of all possible routes to Ladakh. Unfortunately I could not find it even in the attachments section. Would you mind re-posting it here for everyone's benefit.
Many thanks!!

[BunnyPunia]

Important News:

Just came back (to and fro via Zoji la ofcourse). For those traveling with family / fair sex, please note that Zoji la timing for traffic flowing towards Srinagar is 6-9am ONLY!

We hit Minmarg at 2pm, just to be shocked with this. J&K police / tourism should have atleast put some kind of notice / issued a release. We had no option but to turn back and stay at Dras which in itself has very very basic facilities. So, if you are traveling back via this route, plan accordingly. The line-up at Minmarg starts at 5am and the barrier will only be lifted at 6am till 9am (towards Sonmarg)

[Rahulk76]

Originally Posted by BunnyPunia

Important News:

Just came back (to and fro via Zoji la ofcourse). For those traveling with family / fair sex, please note that Zoji la timing for traffic flowing towards Srinagar is 6-9am ONLY!

We hit Minmarg at 2pm, just to be shocked with this. J&K police / tourism should have atleast put some kind of notice / issued a release. We had no option but to turn back and stay at Dras which in itself has very very basic facilities. So, if you are traveling back via this route, plan accordingly. The line-up at Minmarg starts at 5am and the barrier will only be lifted at 6am till 9am (towards Sonmarg)

Thanks for the important information. Any idea what is the timing from Sonamarg -> Zoji la ?

[BunnyPunia]

Originally Posted by Rahulk76

Thanks for the important information. Any idea what is the timing from Sonamarg -> Zoji la ?

We did Delhi-Srinagar on Day 1 and left Srinagar at 7am on Day 2, crossing Sonamarg at around 9:45am (after breakfast). The barrier was open at that time. I guess, once the vehicles are down from Minmarg side, they let the vehicles go from Sonmarg side.

These are the current timings and may get revised once roads / paths become wider (after snow melts)

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by BunnyPunia

We did Delhi-Srinagar on Day 1 and left Srinagar at 7am on Day 2, crossing Sonamarg at around 9:45am (after breakfast). The barrier was open at that time. I guess, once the vehicles are down from Minmarg side, they let the vehicles go from Sonmarg side.

These are the current timings and may get revised once roads / paths become wider (after snow melts)

These timing restrictions prevail at the beginning of the season after which they are relaxed.

[Shutterbugger]

Guys, given I am planning to go to Ladakh either this year or the next, I went through this entire thread and kept taking note of what advice and info folks had to share as. I have organized these notes and put together the attached document which I think covers a lot of the basic info. The intention is for this to be some sort of an FAQ for Ladakh newbies like me who come to this forum to get gyan. I saw that a lot of generic questions were getting repeated which can be avoided through this document...at least that's my endeavour

Of course there will be a lot of detailed info shared in response to very specific route queries which I have left out since they are very specific to one's circumstance/needs. I have also aggregated scattered info on hotels for everyone's benefit.

There might be some odd snippets included here which are more pertinent for me (such as the detailed accounts of folks' experience travelling in a Linea (I own one) )

I look up to the veterans to provide their comments or corrections on any of the content included here. Once a sizeable number of comments are received and a wholesome update of the document is required, I shall do that and re-post it.

Thanks in advance for your comments

[rjalihal]

Originally Posted by Shutterbugger

Guys, given I am planning to go to Ladakh either this year or the next, I went through this entire thread and kept taking note of what advice and info folks had to share as. I have organized these notes and put together the attached document which I think covers a lot of the basic info. The intention is for this to be some sort of an FAQ for Ladakh newbies like me who come to this forum to get gyan. I saw that a lot of generic questions were getting repeated which can be avoided through this document...at least that's my endeavour

Hello Shutterbugger, I want to thank you for the attached planner. If you don't mind I have downloaded it and have distributed it to my fellow companions. We are yet to decide on how to transport the jeeps to Delhi (there are 2 as of now). We are passing off of purchasing a 2nd hand temporary car as that is working out expensive. Nonetheless we are still keeping our options open. I will be posting here more frequently as we plan to travel to Leh by the 1st week of June. So yes, as the planning unfolds, I shall post more and more queries here. Also, this site BCM Touring is pretty tripped out. They too have a lot of suggested itineraries for Leh. Link to that site is http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/ladakh-zanskar-f24/

Cheers!
Rohan