Zanskar Valley Overland Expedition

Route: Leh airport to hotel

Your guide and driver meet you at Leh airport and take you to the hotel. Every flight to Leh 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 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 hotel – Old Town – Leh Palace – Leh hotel

The second day is an easy walk, slowly, through Leh's Old Town, with its narrow lanes and flat-roofed houses. Leh Palace was built around 1600 by Sengge Namgyal, in the style of the Potala Palace, with nine storeys. From the lower terraces you can see the whole town and the ranges beyond.

In the afternoon your guide holds the briefing: the road, the passes, the stays, and how the two vehicles hand over at Kargil. Keep your walking short and take the guide's advice on pace. Cash for the road ahead should be drawn in Leh or Kargil, since there are no reliable ATMs beyond.

Experience of the Day

–  A slow walk through Leh's Old Town.

–  Leh Palace, built around 1600 by Sengge Namgyal.

–  The briefing on the road, the passes and the stays.

Food

Breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Leh hotel.

Activities to Do

A short walk through the Old Town and the palace; the afternoon briefing.

Shopping

Warm layers, gloves and a sun hat can be bought in Leh's main bazaar today.

Route: Leh – Nimmu – Lamayuru – Fotu La – Namika La – Mulbekh – Kargil

The Indus valley narrows west of Leh, and the road runs down through Nimmu, where the Zanskar river joins the Indus. Lamayuru sits at 3,510 m, about the height of Leh. It is one of the oldest monasteries in Ladakh, set above pale, wind-cut ground known as the Moonland, and today it is a short halt.

The road then crosses Fotu La and Namika La. 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.

Kargil is a market town on the Suru River at about 2,700 m, and the night here is a step down in height before Zanskar. A Zanskar-registered vehicle and driver meet you at the hotel.

Experience of the Day

–  Lamayuru monastery and the Moonland.

–  The Maitreya Buddha carved into the rock at Mulbekh.

–  The handover to your Zanskar vehicle and driver at Kargil.

Food

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

Activities to Do

Short visits at Lamayuru and Mulbekh; an evening walk in Kargil's bazaar.

Route: Kargil – Sankoo (40 km) – Panikhar (24 km) – Parkachik (16 km) – Rangdum (46 km)

The Suru River valley is green where Ladakh is usually dry, fed by glacier melt from Nun and Kun, two peaks over 7,000 m that stand on the skyline from Panikhar onward. Nun, at 7,135 m, is the higher, and Kun, at 7,077 m, sits just north of it. The villages along this stretch, Sankoo, Panikhar and Parkachik, are Muslim, part of Kargil district's Dard and Balti population, a different community from Buddhist Leh and Zanskar.

Parkachik sits below the Parkachik Glacier, which comes almost to the roadside. Rangdum, close to 4,000 m, lies at the head of the Suru valley. Its monastery stands on a hill and was built in the 18th century under King Tsewang Namgyal II. It belongs to the Gelug order. Although the village is physically in Suru, it follows Zanskar's customs.

Experience of the Day

–  The Suru valley beneath Nun and Kun.

–  The Parkachik Glacier close to the road.

–  Rangdum monastery on its hill at the end of the day.

Food

Breakfast at the Kargil hotel; lunch in the Suru valley; dinner at the Rangdum camp.

Activities to Do

Photo stops through the valley; a walk up to the monastery before dinner.

The Human Story: A Monastery Between Two Valleys

Everything at Rangdum comes up the Suru valley from Kargil, or over Pensi La from Zanskar, and the monks live between the two valleys without belonging fully to either. Walk up to the gompa before dinner, while the light is still good on the hills.

Route: Rangdum – Pensi La (about 4,400 m) – Padum

Pensi La, at about 4,400 m, is the pass between Suru and Zanskar, and it is a gentle one. The Drang-Drung Glacier lies close to the road on the Zanskar side, a tongue of ice about 23 km long. It is the source of the Stod River, which becomes the Zanskar River further down the valley.

The road follows the Stod River down into Zanskar proper. Padum, the valley's small capital, sits at about 3,650 m, a little higher than Leh. It has a bazaar, a handful of guesthouses and the valley's boutique hotel.

If time and energy allow, visit Karsha monastery this evening, about 11 to 14 km from Padum, depending on the source. It is Zanskar's largest monastery, with about 100 monks, and its Avalokiteshvara temple has wall paintings from the time of the translator Rinchen Zangpo, in the 10th and 11th centuries. The evening light suits it.

Experience of the Day

–  Pensi La, at about 4,400 m.

–  The Drang-Drung Glacier beside the road.

–  Karsha monastery in the evening light, if energy allows.

Food

Breakfast at the Rangdum camp; lunch at Padum; dinner at the Padum hotel.

Activities to Do

Photo stops at the pass and the glacier; an evening visit to Karsha.

Route: Padum – Ichar – Purne (rough road) – Phugtal (about 6 km on foot, 2 to 3 hours)

The road leaves Padum up the Lungnak valley to Ichar and on towards Purne and Cha. Sources differ on how far a vehicle can go beyond Ichar and on the time it takes, and it changes with the season, so the guide confirms the road-head the day before. The last stretch is on foot, along the valley to Phugtal, with a hanging bridge over the river near the monastery.

Phugtal is built around a natural cave in a cliff, at about 3,850 m, and its name means cave of liberation. Its temples, prayer rooms, library, kitchen and living quarters climb the rock like a honeycomb, with a sacred spring inside. About 70 to 100 monks live here, and it has served as a school for the young monks of the valley. Reports of its age range from many centuries to 2,500 years, and Buddhist teachers are said to have meditated in the cave.

The guest house stands about half a kilometre before the monastery. The afternoon is for the walk up, tea with the monks if they invite you, and the evening prayers.

Experience of the Day

–  The drive up the Lungnak valley and the walk to Phugtal.

–  A monastery built into a cave in a cliff.

–  The evening prayers, and a night beside the monastery.

Food

Breakfast at the Padum hotel; packed lunch on the way; dinner at the guest house.

Activities to Do

A 2-to-3-hour walk from the road-head; a visit to the monastery in the afternoon.

The Human Story: Boys at Phugtal

Young boys enter the monastery at an age as early as five, to study Buddhist texts and philosophy with the older monks. For generations Phugtal has been a day's walk from the end of the road, and a road to the monastery itself is still said to be planned. Ask the guide about the bridge, which was rebuilt after the floods of 2015.

Route: Phugtal – Purne – Ichar – Padum – Sani (about 6 km from Padum)

The morning at Phugtal is quiet once the day visitors have gone, and the monks' early prayers are the reason to stay the night. After breakfast the group walks out to Purne and drives back down the Lungnak valley to Padum.

In the late afternoon the guide takes you to Sani, about 6 km from Padum. It is among the oldest religious sites in Zanskar, and at its centre stands a stupa said to date from the era of the Kushan king Kanishka, in the first or second century. Beside it is a small cell linked to the Indian yogi Naropa. A small lake lies nearby.

Experience of the Day

–  The monks' early prayers at Phugtal.

–  The walk out and the drive down the valley.

–  Sani's stupa, said to date from Kanishka's time.

Food

Breakfast at the guest house; lunch at Padum; dinner at the Padum hotel.

Activities to Do

A 2-to-3-hour walk to the road; a late-afternoon visit to Sani.

Route: Padum – Zangla (about 30 to 35 km) – Stongdey (about 18 to 21 km from Padum) – Padum

Zangla was the seat of a small Zanskar kingdom, and its ruined hilltop fort, Zangla Khar, is believed to date from the 11th century. In 1824 the Hungarian scholar Alexander Csoma de Koros spent about four months here, from June to October, studying Tibetan under a local lama. The dictionary and grammar he later published in Calcutta made him a founder of the field now called Tibetology. A Buddhist nunnery stands in the village today.

Stongdey, Zanskar's second-largest monastery, was founded in the 11th century, and it is linked to the translator Rinchen Zangpo. It holds a Maitreya statue, texts, thangkas and murals, and about 60 monks, on a hillside above the valley floor. The view down the valley is wide, and the morning light suits it.

Experience of the Day

–  Zangla's old fort and the story of Csoma de Koros.

–  Stongdey monastery on its hillside.

–  A look at Zanskar's villages and fields from the road.

Food

Breakfast at the Padum hotel; lunch on the loop or in a village; dinner at the Padum hotel.

Activities to Do

A guided loop of about 80 km, with walks at Zangla and Stongdey.

The Human Story: A Scholar's Summer

Csoma de Koros came to Zangla already fluent in several languages, looking for the origins of the Hungarian people in Central Asia. He found Tibetan instead, and stayed through the short Zanskar summer, reading Buddhist texts with his teacher until the cold forced him to leave for Kullu in late November. The Tibetan-English dictionary that followed, in 1834, was the first of its kind.

Route: Padum – Pensi La (about 4,400 m) – Rangdum

The road climbs back up the Stod River to Pensi La and the Drang-Drung Glacier, in the other light, and drops to Rangdum. The group is now acclimatised, and the road is familiar. The afternoon is for the monastery on its hill, and for walking in the valley at the head of Suru.

A night at Rangdum splits the long road to Kargil into two halves, so the driving days are shorter and the stops are longer.

Experience of the Day

–  Pensi La and the glacier again, in different light.

–  Rangdum monastery on its hill.

–  A night at the head of the Suru valley.

Food

Breakfast at the Padum hotel; lunch on the road; dinner at the Rangdum camp.

Activities to Do

Photo stops at the pass; an afternoon walk in the valley or up to the monastery.

Route: Rangdum – Parkachik – Panikhar – Sankoo – Kargil

The road runs back down the Suru valley, with Nun and Kun ahead of you this time and the glacier at Parkachik coming almost to the roadside. The day has long stops in the villages, and a longer lunch.

Kargil is reached in the afternoon. The hotel has a hot shower, and the bazaar is a short walk away.

Experience of the Day

–  Nun and Kun ahead of you down the Suru valley.

–  The villages of Parkachik, Panikhar and Sankoo.

–  A hot shower at the Kargil hotel.

Food

Breakfast at the Rangdum camp; lunch in a Suru valley village; dinner at the Kargil hotel.

Activities to Do

Long stops in the villages; a walk through Kargil's bazaar.

Shopping

Kargil's bazaar sells dried apricots, shawls and Balti crafts.

Route: Kargil – Mulbekh – Lamayuru – Alchi – Leh

The road retraces Day 3 east, past Mulbekh and Lamayuru, in the other direction and in different light. If you missed a stop on the way out, your guide can add it here.

You reach Leh in the afternoon. A hot shower and a rest are the plan, and the evening is free for the bazaar.

Experience of the Day

–  Mulbekh and Lamayuru, the other way.

–  The long descent into the Indus valley.

–  A hot shower and a rest in Leh.

Food

Breakfast at the Kargil hotel; lunch on the road; dinner at the Leh hotel.

Activities to Do

Optional extra stops on the road; a free evening in Leh.

Route: Leh hotel – Leh airport

Your driver takes you to the airport. Every flight out of Leh leaves in the morning, and the weather can delay them. If you are staying on in Ladakh, today is the day to move on to your next stop.

Guests with an evening international flight from Delhi can connect the same day. The Leh–Delhi flight takes about 1 hour 20 minutes.

Experience of the Day

–  Transfer to Leh airport for a morning flight.

–  Time for last purchases before the airport, if your flight is later.

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.