Shimla/Manali - Leh taxi shares

sidtim

We are two (Indian boy American girl) travelers wondering if shared taxi is a good way to go from Manali to Leh. Are taxis available from Shimla for Leh? What are approximate costs one way.

Also are there any people on this site who would want to share a ride with us. We plan to leave Manali/Shimla between 17th-19th June.

kullukid

Share jeeps leave Manali everyday for Leh & the journey can take 16-20hrs depending on road conditions the cost is Rs1200 front seat Rs1000 middle seat Rs800 rear seat (not recomended very cramped) KK

mridula

And in the middle row they will take four people meant for 3. We travelled that way from Manali to Leh in June 2005 and we have lived to tell the tale.

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mridula

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Yogesh Sarkar

Sid best option would be to take a bus from Shimla to Manali and then take the shared taxi as mentioned by Kullukid. Unless of course you are planning to cover Spiti as well.

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sidtim

Guys I want to make a halt at Keylong or Sarchu to get acclimatized. Is this option available in a shared jeep. How much does a regular taxi cost? Maybe it would be better option if I can find fellow travelers to split the cost?

What about the government buses? They seem cheap but I am afraid it wont be as much fun to travel in a bus. What do you say?

vistet

Acclimatize in Keylong, four hundred meters lower than Leh - very good idea. Acclimatize in Sarchu , eight hundred meters higher than Leh : bad idea. Your best opportunity for Sarchu is after solid acclimatization in Leh . More later.

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vistet

My take on the roads to Leh , after having done three of the four land routes :

Coming from Shimla you have the following options :

*Manali-Leh , the cannonball run ("shared taxi"),as kullukid already has implied , no run is the same.Last time it meant 23 hours , coming down from Leh.

*Manali-Leh, with a stop in the tent camps at Sarchu

*HPTDC busesManali-Leh are nice , stop in Keylong ... and start running in July.

*HTRC buses Manali-Leh are a bit clunky , but good drivers , also stop in Keylong. Try phoning Manali bus stand for schedule : phone 01902-252323

*Last but not least , a long detour but worth doing on it´s own merits : go via Spiti , connect with the Manali-Leh road after the Kunzum La


Lot can be said , has been said , on the merits and demerits of the different alternatives , but the first thing to realise is that planning is somewhat illusory : once you climb in to the vehicle you are no longer in control. Landslides and other snafus are not infrequent , I´ve been snagged twice around 5000 - and the first time it involved dealing with a fellow passenger going thru an impressive set of neurological symptoms before going unconscious. Once you go past Darcha , the halfway point at 3400 meters you can end up sleeping anywhere between 3500 (Leh) and 4500 (Pang).

Just as in diving there are hard won safety guide linesthat tell you how fast you can go up in safety :

"- If possible, you should spend at least one night at an intermediate elevation below 3000 meters.
- At altitudes above 3000 meters (10,000 feet), your sleeping elevation should not increase more than 300-500 meters (1000-1500 feet) per night.
- Every 1000 meters (3000 feet) you should spend a second night at the same elevation."


These safety rules are routinely ignored by operators in Manali , who mainly deal with a disposable , once in a life time clientele. The cannonball run is actually the best run (if you discount the aspect of exhausted drivers on a narrow road next to a precipice ) since you don´t sleep at max altitude , which is the main determining factor in altitude sickness , but get delayed in the high sections and you are in trouble , deep trouble .

Once you have reached Keylong , around 3100, you have oxygen levels in the blood that match the norm for home oxygen treatment , and you need to stop and adjust. What you will gain from this is not only safety : you´ll see a lot of posts here advocating gong for Sarchu , at the same time describing the effects of fast ascents : the exhaustion , freezing , lack of concentration , affected color vision... well , at the point where you get an description of the initial stages of pulmonary edema on a very fast run the stakes involved becomes painfully clear. Basic rule , paraphrasing the old malaria maxim :

All symptoms above 3000, except pregnancy, are caused by altitude

Short version : get at least a night in Keylong and you´ll get more out of the high sections of the road, Shimla is a good starting point , read up more on how you can optimise here :

Sleepless in Sarchu - Tweaking the Manali-Leh Highway

Yogesh Sarkar

Shared taxis will never be much fun, they wont stop every where you want so a bus would be a good option as well. With HRTC buses, you have the option of breaking your journey and doing it on your pace.

For instance you can head to Keylong/Jispa/Darcha from Manali, spend a few days there and then take the morning bus to Leh.

steadyfriend

One way to avoid that is to pay the fare for 4 passengers when only 3 sit on the middle seat. I did that in 2001 on a journey from Lucknow to Prayag in a Tata Sumo for the Mahakumbha Mela