Leh Ladakh Tour: Things To Remember

Overview

Ladakh is famous for Leh tourism, especially the bike trip to Leh and you can reach Ladakh in two ways. One is that you can directly start towards Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir or you can opt for a drive from Manail, Himachal Pradesh. The most popular way to reach Ladakh is Manali because this route brings two advantages- one is that you can slowly get acclimatized because of gradual increase in slope and the other is that the route is very beautiful and serene.

Now the total duration of this tour to Ladakh can be completed in 7 to 10 days. Otherthan Manali, you have a flight route to Srinagar, but if you are choosing flight or want to do winter exploration then reach Leh and ensure that you stay there at least for 2 days to acclimatize. But before the journey there are some important points to be noted for ladakh visit :

Stay in Ladakh

The most common stay points of Leh are Leh city, Nubra Valley, Pangong Lake. You can find many hotels in these stay points and most of them are open year long. In the Pangong Lake area the hotels might be closed because of security reasons, so do check out prior to the trip. The overall cost of your trip depends on the stay which you are choosing.

What do you need?

After you are sorted out with the stay, the next most important thing to notice is to be prepared mentally and physically. As you will be moving to high altitude regions you may be feeling altitude sickness, so in order to tackle those problems you must ensure that you adapt to that place by taking at least 2 days stay in Leh without any activity. This will help you in acclimatizing to the area. Though you may not be doing many physical activities, it is good that you are physically fit in order to enjoy the place.

Some essentials

Apart from this, there are some essentials to pack for the Leh tour. With regard to clothes, you can prefer different layered clothes that are warm and comfortable. Do take your own first aid box for self protection during emergencies and it should have Diamox tablets that will help prevent acute altitude sickness. The shoes are perfectly fine and comfortable in order to travel long hours. Apart from these, you must keep every booking ticket of your hotels so that you are not in a hurry at the last moment. With regard to permits, there are certain checkpoints like South Pullu and North Pullu, where you must show your permits. So make sure you are ready with your required permits and it is recommended to take different copies of them so that you don’t miss them. You can take some refillable water bottles so that you can fill them now and then as soon as you get the springs. Since the high altitude tours are unpredictable with respect to electricity, you must carry power banks and other essentials so that you are ready to travel.

Best time to visit

The best time to visit Ladakh is from May to September so that you can see both snow and the spring vegetation. As mentioned earlier, you can start either from Manali or from Srinagar. By road you can get many buses from Delhi or Chandigarh which will directly drop you in Ladakh. After reaching Ladakh you can rent a bike at the local market and ensure you keep all the necessary things along with you while you travel on the bike.

Permits and other information

With respect to permits, if you are moving towards Nubra Valley or Pangong Lake from Leh city then you must require an Inner Line Permit, which you can get in Leh city. Inner Line Permit can be provided in Leh District Collector Office or in Tourist Information Center, which can cost you around ₹400 per person. After the permits, if you are interested in mobile phone connectivity then you must take a postpaid connection in Leh Market as there are only postpaid connections available in Ladakh. If you have a BSNL sim, then the connectivity of it is wider but for others you can use other sim cards for postpaid connections. Now road conditions in Ladakh are very uncertain as at one point you can find a well laid one and at other a pothole road, so make sure you drive properly with utmost care. If you plan the tour and remember all these points then the tour to Ladakh would become a memorable and adventurous experience.