The Best of Kashmir & Ladakh

Route: Srinagar airport to Dal Lake

Your Kashmir guide and driver meet you at Srinagar airport and take you to the Dal Lake, where a small boat carries you to the houseboat. Srinagar sits at about 1,600 m, so there is no altitude to manage today.

The houseboats date from British rule, when outsiders were not allowed to build on land in Kashmir. A boat is 24 to 38 m long and 3 to 6 m wide, with wood panelling inside. Settle in, then take a shikara, the small wooden paddled boat with a canopy, out onto the water for sunset.

Experience of the Day

–  Met at Srinagar airport by your Kashmir guide and driver.

–  A night on a Dal Lake houseboat.

–  A shikara ride at sunset.

Food

Dinner on the houseboat, with kahwa, the Kashmiri saffron tea, to finish.

Activities to Do

An evening shikara ride on the Dal. Nothing else is planned.

Route: Srinagar – Tangmarg – Gulmarg

Gulmarg sits at 2,650 m. Locals first called it Gaurimarg, the path of the goddess Gauri. Yusuf Shah Chak, who ruled Kashmir from 1579 to 1586, renamed it Gulmarg, the meadow of flowers. Emperor Jahangir came here to collect wild flowering plants for his gardens, and the British later laid out golf courses and started a ski club in 1927.

The gondola runs in two phases. The first climbs from Gulmarg to Kongdoori, at about 3,050 m. The second climbs on to Apharwat, at about 3,980 m, and depends on weather, wind and safety checks. The cable car was shut for a month after a technical fault on 25 May 2026 and reopened on 25 June 2026. Tickets are sold only on the official Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car site, and your guide books them for your date. If the ride is not running, the day turns to a walk across the meadow.

Gulmarg also has the Maharani Temple, built in 1915 by Maharaja Hari Singh for his wife, and St Mary's Church, built in 1902 and reopened after restoration in 2003.

Experience of the Day

–  The meadow at Gulmarg, at 2,650 m.

–  The gondola to Kongdoori, and on to Apharwat if the weather allows.

–  The Maharani Temple and St Mary's Church.

Food

Breakfast on the houseboat; lunch and dinner at the Gulmarg hotel.

Activities to Do

A gondola ride or a walk across the meadow, as the weather decides.

Route: Gulmarg – Srinagar – Shalimar Bagh – Old City – Dal Lake

Shalimar Bagh is the garden Emperor Jahangir built in 1619, and which was extended in 1630. It has three terraces, a black marble throne set over a waterfall on the first, and rows of chinar trees that turn red and gold in autumn.

The Jama Masjid in the Old City was commissioned by Sultan Sikandar in 1394 and finished in 1402. 378 wooden columns hold up its roof, and its inner courtyard measures 114 by 113 m around a water tank. The style borrows from Persian mosques and, in its roofs, from Buddhist pagodas. Your guide walks you through the lanes around it, past the workshops that make walnut-wood carving, papier-mâché and pashmina.

The afternoon ends on the Dal Lake again, among the floating gardens.

Experience of the Day

–  Shalimar Bagh, built by Jahangir in 1619.

–  Jama Masjid and its 378 wooden columns.

–  A paddle through the Dal's floating gardens.

Food

Breakfast at Gulmarg; lunch in the Old City; dinner with noon chai, Kashmir's pink salt tea, at the hotel.

Activities to Do

A garden walk, an Old City lane walk and a shikara paddle through the raad.

Shopping

Old City workshops make walnut-wood carving, papier-mâché and pashmina; your guide takes you to one.

The Human Story: The Floating Gardens of the Dal

The Dal has gardens that float, called raad in Kashmiri. They are mats of vegetation and earth that float on the water, and growers plant them with tomatoes, cucumbers and melons. In July and August the lotus blooms between them. A paddle through the beds is the closest you get to how the lake is farmed.

Route: Srinagar – Sonamarg (80 km) – Zojila – Drass (145 km) – Kargil (about 204 km)

The road climbs out of the Kashmir valley to Sonamarg, about 80 km from Srinagar, and on over Zojila, at about 3,528 m, the pass that opens the gate to Ladakh. Zojila is a narrow mountain road, and the authorities set the traffic timings and direction. Your driver follows them.

Below the pass lies Drass, at about 3,300 m, one of the coldest inhabited places in India. The Kargil War Memorial stands about 5 km from Drass town. The Indian Army built it in its present form in 2014, and a pink sandstone wall carries the names of soldiers who died in Operation Vijay in 1999. From the site you can see Tololing, Tiger Hill and Point 4875.

Kargil is a further 60 km on. It is a market town on the Suru River at about 2,700 m, and the night here is an acclimatisation stop on the way to Leh.

Experience of the Day

–  Sonamarg and the climb over Zojila at about 3,528 m.

–  The Kargil War Memorial at Drass.

–  Drass, at about 3,300 m, one of the coldest inhabited places in India.

Food

An early breakfast before the 6 am start; lunch at Drass or Kargil; dinner at the Kargil hotel.

Activities to Do

A quiet visit to the memorial; short photo stops on the pass.

Route: Kargil – Mulbekh (about 40 km) – Fotu La – Lamayuru – Nimmu – Leh

At Mulbekh, a Maitreya Buddha is carved into the rock beside the road. It stands about nine metres tall, and scholars usually date it to about the 8th century. This is the first Buddhist site of the trip, and the first sign that you have left Kashmir.

The road then crosses Namika La and Fotu La. Lamayuru sits at 3,510 m, about the height of Leh. It is one of the oldest monasteries in Ladakh. Its oldest surviving temple, Seng-ge-sgang, is credited to Rinchen Zangpo. Below the monastery the ground is pale and wind-cut, and it is called the Moonland.

From Lamayuru the road follows the Indus valley down to Leh, which you reach by evening. Your Ladakh guide meets you at the hotel.

Experience of the Day

–  The rock-cut Maitreya at Mulbekh.

–  Fotu La, at about 4,100 m, and Lamayuru's Moonland.

–  Arrival in Leh at 3,500 m.

Food

Breakfast at Kargil; lunch near Lamayuru; dinner at the Leh hotel.

Activities to Do

Short visits at Mulbekh and Lamayuru; an early night in Leh.

Route: Leh – Old Town – Leh Palace – Shanti Stupa – Leh

The morning starts with a walk through Leh's Old Town with LAMO, the Ladakh Arts and Media Organisation. It takes two to three hours through narrow lanes, past craft workshops and wood-fired bakeries. In 2008 the Old Town was placed on the World Monuments Watch list as an endangered site.

Leh Palace was built around 1600 by Sengge Namgyal, in the style of the Potala Palace, with nine storeys. When Dogra forces took Ladakh in the mid-19th century, the royal family moved out and the palace was left to decay. The Archaeological Survey of India is restoring it today. From the roof you can see all of Leh.

In the evening, drive up to Shanti Stupa, a white-domed Buddhist stupa built in 1991 by Japanese Buddhist monks as a peace monument, for the sunset view over the Indus valley.

Experience of the Day

–  A two-to-three-hour LAMO heritage walk through Leh's Old Town.

–  Leh Palace, built around 1600 by Sengge Namgyal.

–  Sunset over the Indus valley from Shanti Stupa.

Food

Breakfast and lunch at the hotel; an early dinner before the Shanti Stupa sunset drive.

Activities to Do

Walking Leh's Old Town lanes and craft workshops; climbing Leh Palace's stairs to the roof.

Shopping

Leh's Old Town has small workshops selling Ladakhi crafts and woodwork, visited as part of the LAMO walk.

Route: Leh – Thiksey (19 km) – Shey (15 km) – Hemis (45 km) – Leh

Thiksey monastery stands at about 3,600 m and has twelve storeys. It was founded in the mid-15th century by Palden Zangpo and belongs to the Gelug order. Its 15 m Maitreya statue, installed for the Dalai Lama's 1970 visit, is the largest in Ladakh. Morning prayers begin around 7 am, and you sit at the back and listen to the monks chant in unison.

Shey was the summer capital of Ladakh. The present palace and monastery were built in 1655 by Deldan Namgyal in memory of his father, Sengge Namgyal. Inside is a 12 m copper Buddha, gilded with about 5 kg of gold, made by a Nepalese sculptor with copper from the Lingshet mines in Zanskar.

Hemis was re-established in 1672 by King Sengge Namgyal and follows the Drukpa lineage. Its courtyard shows paintings of the Eighty-Four Mahasiddhas from the 17th century, made with ground mineral pigments.

Experience of the Day

–  Morning prayers at Thiksey monastery, around 7 am.

–  Shey Palace and its 12 m gilded copper Buddha.

–  Hemis monastery's courtyard and its 17th-century Mahasiddha paintings.

Food

An early breakfast before departure; lunch and dinner at the hotel.

Activities to Do

Sitting in on the Thiksey prayer session; a walk through Hemis's painted courtyard.

Route: Leh – Khardung La (40 km) – Khalsar – Diskit (about 120 km from Leh) – Hunder (8 km)

The road climbs from Leh through two military check posts, South Pullu and North Pullu. Your guide handles the permit paperwork, and you carry your passport. Khardung La is 5,359 m by GPS survey. Signs at the top claim about 5,602 m, and the claim to be the world's highest motorable road is out of date, since higher roads now exist in eastern Ladakh. Stay at the top for no more than 15 minutes; the air is thin and colder than you expect, even in summer.

The descent runs through Khardung village to Khalsar and on to Diskit, the headquarters of Nubra, about 120 km from Leh. Diskit monastery was founded in the 14th century by Changzem Tserab Zangpo, a disciple of Tsong Khapa, and belongs to the Gelug order. On the ridge beside it stands a 32 m Maitreya statue; building began in April 2006, and the Dalai Lama consecrated it on 25 July 2010.

Hunder is 8 km beyond Diskit. Its cold-desert dunes stretch for about 7 km between the two villages, at around 3,050 m. Come in the late afternoon, when the light is soft and the wind has dropped.

Experience of the Day

–  Khardung La at 5,359 m, the first high pass of the Ladakh leg.

–  Diskit monastery's 32 m Maitreya statue, consecrated by the Dalai Lama in 2010.

–  The sand dunes at Hunder in the late-afternoon light.

Food

Breakfast at the Leh hotel; lunch en route or at Diskit; dinner at the Nubra hotel.

Activities to Do

A short stop at the Khardung La summit; a monastery visit at Diskit; an optional camel ride at Hunder, or simply watching from the dunes.

The Human Story: The Camels of Hunder

The double-humped camels here are not native to Ladakh. Silk Road traders brought them across the passes, and when the trade route closed in 1950, many were left behind in Nubra. A count in 2015 found 211 animals, including 21 calves. Hunder families began offering camel rides in 2003, and the income helped the herd recover. The picture is mixed: owners say nose reins can cause minor bleeding, and the valley has no dedicated vet service, so the ride here is optional and brief, and you can watch from the dunes instead.

Route: Hunder – Diskit – Turtuk (about 80 km) – Hunder

The road follows the Shyok River north-west from Hunder, about 80 km to Turtuk, close to the Line of Control. Turtuk sits at about 3,000 m, lower than Leh, and is one of the northernmost villages in India. Its people are Balti Muslims, a culture quite different from the Buddhist villages of the rest of Ladakh. The village was opened to visitors in 2010.

Stone lanes run between apricot and walnut trees, and Turtuk is known as Ladakh's biggest apricot grower, with the harvest in July and August. The Balti Heritage House and Museum in the upper part of the village keeps old tools and textiles. Your guide also shows you the village's natural freezer, a traditional ice store, and the walk to the waterfall if you have time.

Lunch is in a village home or guesthouse. The drive back follows the same river, and you are in Hunder by evening.

Experience of the Day

–  The Shyok road north-west to Turtuk.

–  Balti village life among apricot and walnut trees.

–  The Balti Heritage House and Museum.

Food

Breakfast at the Nubra hotel; lunch in a Turtuk village home or guesthouse; dinner at the hotel.

Activities to Do

A guided village walk, the museum, the natural freezer and, if time allows, the waterfall walk.

Route: Hunder – Khalsar – Agham – Shyok village – Durbuk – Tangtse – Pangong Tso

The route runs direct along the Shyok River without returning to Leh first. Between Agham and Shyok village the road crosses a stream at Rong Nallah, which swells as the day warms, so the drive starts early to cross it before about 10 am. Your guide knows the current state of the road and adjusts the timing.

The vehicle fills up at Diskit before the drive, since fuel is scarce on this road. Tangtse, the last town before the lake, has another pump.

Pangong Tso sits at about 4,250 m and runs more than 130 km long, most of it inside China. You arrive at Spangmik in time to watch the lake change colour, blue to green to near-black, as the light moves across the water in the evening.

Experience of the Day

–  The Shyok Valley road, direct from Nubra to Pangong.

–  First view of Pangong Tso on arrival.

–  The lake changing colour through the evening at Spangmik.

Food

Breakfast at the Nubra hotel; lunch en route; dinner at the Pangong camp.

Activities to Do

Watching the lake's colour change from blue to green to near-black as the evening light moves across the water.

Route: Pangong Tso – Durbuk – Chang La (5,360 m) – Karu – Leh

The road back to Leh crosses Chang La, at 5,360 m, the second pass of the Ladakh leg after Khardung La. It is a working pass with a small army post and a roadside shrine, so the halt here is brief.

Past Chang La, the road descends through Sakti and Karu to rejoin the Indus valley near Leh, passing Shey and Thiksey on the way in. You reach Leh by early afternoon.

The rest of the day is free. Walk Leh's main bazaar for pashmina, Ladakhi jewellery and prayer flags, and pack for the morning flight.

Experience of the Day

–  Chang La, at 5,360 m, the second pass of the Ladakh leg.

–  The descent through Sakti and Karu to the Indus valley.

–  A free afternoon in Leh.

Food

Breakfast at the Pangong camp; lunch en route; dinner at the Leh hotel.

Activities to Do

A brief stop at the Chang La shrine; a bazaar walk in the afternoon.

Shopping

Leh's main bazaar, for pashmina, Ladakhi jewellery and prayer flags, is a short walk from the hotel

Route: Leh hotel to airport

Your driver and guide take you to the airport. Every flight out of Leh leaves in the morning.

Experience of the Day

–  Transfer to Leh airport.

–  Departure on your morning flight.

Food

Breakfast at the hotel; other meals as you choose.

Activities to Do

None scheduled. The day is kept free to flex around your flight time.