Road Trip from Delhi to Leh via Manali

Does anyone know if it will be difficult to find two seats to go from Dehli to Leh on a bus in the first days of August? If yeas, does anyone know a way to book two seats in advance?

no sir it is not difficult to find a bus ticket from delhi to LEh but the journey is of more than 3 days and it is very tiring, better would be to take advice from some travel agents who are from ladakh based in delhi like Pinto of wisdom adventures (info@himalayas-travel.com) i had taken a tour from them last summer and they had organised it well.

I don´t think there are (and Lorams guideboook , latest edition , says the same) any direct buses. A rest & acclimatisation day in Manali , is a good idea , anyway. The road to Leh is also amazing and worth it´s own time - next time I´ll spend more time on it.
Himalchal Tourism runs buses from 36 Janpath, there are also other private operators in the same area.

From Manali you have the choice of the same Himalchal or private buses and jeeps - I went towards the low season but I can´t imagine any serious problem arrranging transport from there.

Hello,
I'm afraid I cannot help you but only worry you, I hope someone else will reassure us.
Surfing over the internet I came across some very strange and unexpected 'facts', for me at least. This is what I read, on two different websites:
Foreign tourists are allowed to travel between 15th July and 15th August on the Leh-Manali road, subject to following conditions.
a) Only groups of foreign tourists whose visits are arranged by Indian Travel Agents, recognised by the Govt. of India, are allowed to travel provided the travel agents representative accompanies the group.
b) Their travel has to be confined to specified modes of conveyance like jeep matador etc.
c) A police escort by the State government is attached to the group.

I hadn't heard of this before, I thought I could just hire a jeep with driver or take a bus (I intend to travel from Kaza to Leh). Does anyone know how serious I should take this?

@ neeltje : Not so serious, as this seems to be the old piece of information.
I have seen foreigners travelling and you dont require a permit travelling on Road from KAZA to LEH.

I sure know how this would feel but until you are driving in known areas or common areas you do not require permits like Manali to Leh.
But yes once you are off road from main manali leh road you would sure require permits and a guide from SDM of that area.

No need to worry for the same...

FreeBirD

Thanks FreeBirD!

Well Guys and Gals!!

i am planning a halt of a day or two at Manali before heading to Leh. I was just wondering if i should take the Leh road stretched over a couple of days instead of the continuous two day long Bus drive from Manali to Leh. I have been hammered a lot about the AMS and stuff like that because i will be at around 16000Ft for some time.
So am set to plan my trip from Manali in phases.

1. Manali to Keylong.
I will drop out of the bus here and halt here for a night so that i get somewhat
acclimatized.
2. Keylong to Pang.
Then i will board another bus after the rest to Pang and practise the same there -
acclimatization
3. Pang to Leh
Another Bus to my dream land Leh.

this way i will also have a chance of going around the small villages on the way. what say ?

so my concerns with this plan are

1. Is it really going to be tough if i take a direct bus to Leh from Manali w.r.t
mountain sickness?
2. If yes is the above idea workable w.r.t the availability of buses and staying places
in the places like Keylong and Pang?
3. Can i take lifts from the Trucks on their way to Leh? Are the safe enough? Since i
am all alone on my adventure trip i got to take care of this facet for i cannot
handle a macho truck driver and his cleaner at such disolate place.

so any help in this regard would be appreciated by the heights of the Tangla La pass and the beauty of Leh

hey and any skating enthusiast hanging around in Leh in the period of June 28th to July 5th...... we can have fun roller skating around Leh. Let know.

Cheers,
Amol

@amyl : The normal HRTC/JKSRTC busses take 2 days for leh from Manali, stopping overnight at sarchu, as entry into J&K is not allowd generally after 4 o clock. Taking the bus should not be aproblem w.r.t. AMS etc etc, as a lot of people do make this trip but take care not to exert too much.
1. The only problem wid the bus is that u do not get to explore the area, Your plan is a good improvision, but do not count much on bus hopping as busses generally run full for the time frame that u are aiming for, at most u might manage the last seat, which is not a pleasent experience for the backside. SO if ure looking for comforts forget it.
2. Staying at keylong is not an issue, choices range from luxury hotel to small tea shops which provide bed@50 bucks a night. Pang has no hotels as far as i remember, just army barracks,but these are good guys and might just offer u a place to shack , again dont expect luxuries
3. Trucks are safe enough, from personal experience, upto you to build a reasonable amount of camraderie, i made the efoort once and travelled free from kargil to leh. Just dont give signs of ostentious show of wealth, remain a poor indian traveller and no issues.
U'll have loads of fun as long as you dont expect luxuries: i think i have stressed that enough

I would say everyone -including locals- are affected , not necessarily sick, in one way or the other. When things don`t go as planned - and I´m not the only one to have experienced this - it can be pretty hairy
I stayed in Pang and have fond memories of it - but that may partly been from exhaustion.

No problems taking a stop in Keylong on the way down.

Thank U everybody. I think I got the answer I needed. CU out there!

Thanks a lot vistet and kinky_lizzard for all the invaluable tips...vistet i specially enjoyed witha vengeance your Photo Gallery.....nice snaps!!!

well i have some more things to know about....and i think i will continue to drop in to ask some thing or the other until i actually start on 24th. may be even from that slow connection Net access in Leh when i reach there

let me put in my questions in a different thread

see ya there!!

smiling
Amol

Hi ,
I am planning to drive from delhi to mali on 28th Dec2007, can anyone tell me how is the road from Chandigarh to Manali at that time.I have lots of expereince in driving in hills previously. Will I encounter hill roads before reaching manali or after that.

Thansk in Advance

Makemagic
The road to manali has hill roads about 250kms way before you reach Manali. But at this time it will be cold foggy and bit mistful around these roads. You will get to experience the snow around Manali by 28th Dec.

~m~

The plan is to do a road trip from Delhi to Manali - 4 to 6 guys. Any tips, suggestions ... I am just beginning to research the trip ...

You´ll find the opening dates for the road, and some other stuff here