Leh & Ladakh Cultural Tour

Route: Leh airport to hotel

Your guide and driver meet you at Leh airport and take you straight to the hotel. The flight into Leh crosses the Himalaya, and every flight lands in the morning, because winds pick up later in the day at an airport about 3,250 m high.

Leh is at 3,500 m. The Ladakh tourism advisory asks new arrivals to rest on the first day and add no more than about 500 m of sleeping height a day after that. Today is for rest. Drink plenty of water and skip alcohol tonight.

Experience of the Day

–  Met at Leh airport by your guide and driver.

–  A flight over the Himalaya into the Indus valley.

–  A full rest day at 3,500 m, as the Ladakh tourism advisory asks of new arrivals.

Food

Lunch and dinner at the Leh hotel.

Activities to Do

• Light rest only today. No sightseeing is planned on arrival day.

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 and the mountains behind Leh.

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 for the view over town.

Shopping

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

Route: Leh – Likir (about 52 km) – Tingmosgang (about 92 km from Leh) – Leh

Likir monastery sits on a hilltop about 52 km west of Leh, reached by a short diversion road off the Srinagar–Leh highway. It was founded in 1065 at the order of King Lhachen Gyalpo, the fifth king of Ladakh, and belongs to the Gelug order today. A gilded Maitreya statue, 23 m tall and completed in 1999, is visible from the roof.

Tingmosgang, in the village of Temisgam, lies about 92 km west of Leh, near Khalatse and north of the main road. King Drag-pa-Bum made it his capital in the 15th century, and a palace and monastery stand on the hillock above the village, much of the old fortification now in ruin. The Treaty of Tingmosgang was signed here in 1684. It ended the Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War and fixed the border between Ladakh and Tibet, and it gave Ladakh exclusive rights to the pashmina wool trade in exchange for brick tea. Your guide walks you up through the ruins and explains what the sites on the hillock were.

The drive back stops for lunch at Alchi Kitchen, a short way off the highway. Alchi's temple complex is a short walk from there and can be added if the day is running ahead.

Experience of the Day

–  Likir monastery and its 23 m gilded Maitreya statue.

–  The palace and monastery ruins above Tingmosgang, a 15th-century capital.

–  Lunch at Alchi Kitchen.

Food

Breakfast at the Leh hotel; lunch at Alchi Kitchen; dinner at the hotel.

Activities to Do

• A guided walk up the hillock at Tingmosgang; a short visit to Likir monastery on the way out.

The Human Story: Alchi Kitchen

Nilza Wangmo, who grew up in Alchi, opened Alchi Kitchen in 2016 and trained young women from nearby villages to cook and serve. The menu is Ladakhi: skyu, a wheat-pasta stew; chutagi, bow-tie pasta in a local sauce; khambir, a fermented bread; and Tashi Tagye tea, an eight-ingredient blend.

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, where the road forks, 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. Nubra sits lower than Leh, so tonight is physically easier than the past three.

Experience of the Day

–  Khardung La at 5,359 m, the trip's first high pass.

–  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 – 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.

Diskit has the last reliable fuel pump on this road, so the vehicle fills there before the drive. Tangtse, the last town before the lake, has another.

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 – Shey – Thiksey – Leh

The road back to Leh crosses Chang La, at 5,360 m, the second pass of the trip after Khardung La. It is a working pass with a small army post and a roadside shrine, so the halt here is brief. Below the pass the road follows the Indus valley through Karu, and Shey and Thiksey sit right beside it.

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.

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. You reach it in the afternoon, after the morning prayers have ended.

Experience of the Day

–  Chang La, at 5,360 m, the trip's second high pass.

–  Shey Palace and its 12 m gilded copper Buddha.

–  Thiksey monastery's 15 m Maitreya statue.

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; an afternoon walk through Shey and Thiksey.

Route: Leh hotel to airport

Your driver and guide take you to the airport. Every flight out of Leh leaves in the morning. If your onward flight is later in the day, the morning is free for the main bazaar, where pashmina, Ladakhi jewellery and prayer flags are sold.

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. If your flight is later, the morning is free for the bazaar.

Shopping

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