Accommodation Rangdum, Panikhar and Padum

Sujoy

Does anyone know what accomodation is available in Rangdum, Panikhar and Padum in September 09? Any suggestions or recommendations?
Thks
Sujoy

vzzzbx

Padum has several hotels / guesthouses. I don't know the names.

Yogesh Sarkar

Review of J&K Tourism Bungalow in Rangdum and Review of J&K Tourism Bungalow in Padum.

Apart from the above there is also a guest house at Panikhar, a PWD one at Rangdum and plenty in Padum.

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Sujoy

Thks Yogesh.. will check them up is advance booking necessary or possible?

Dimitrz

There is a private guesthouse in Panikhar and a J&K tourist guest house.

Both have very basic facilities and even more basic choice of food due to the remoteness.

Even the electricity supply to these regions are between 7pm to 11pm

The room rates are cheap around Rs 200 to Rs400 per room excluding food and charges for Hot water.


You also have J&K guesthouse in Sankoo which is around 18 km if I remember correctly but due to road conditions a solid 2 hours drive from Panikhar. ( Sankoo comes before Panikhar)

Sankoo has more stay options and has eateries and restaurants something which is badly missing in Panikhar.

The weather is very cold this time of year

and you need to register and get permission from a J&K check post after Sankoo to reach Panikhar


and you also need to get clearance from the Army unit stationed in Panikhar before proceeding further upto Padam ( ensure you have copies of ID proof for all members in vehicle team)

Padam route is a very tricky and in those lines dangerous to quite an extent ( not literally) you are advised to have plently of spares and cash for emergencies and ofcourse food - incase you get stuck after Panikhar being in isolated region help would take hours if not days to arrive.

Also people in Kargil (mechanics) are not too keen to come all the way to where you are stuck to help you out and towing is out of question.


One of our friends had a ruptured chamber due to bad roads on way to Padum after passing panikhar - and they had to wait for an entire day in their car before they met a taxi going to Kargil - it also took them a lot of money to organize help from Kargil with the necessary supplies - I am not scaring you just advising you to be prepared for such eventualities so that you are mentally prepared


Usually advance booking is not necessary in this sector due to its remoteness - however advance booking does not harm anyone does it

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Yogesh Sarkar

Who told you that?

Dimitrz

We had to get clearance and so had two other group who left for Padam at diffrent timings( one group were the guys who got stuck due to chamber damage )

Ideally its not a big checking - they just want to know where you are going your plans and so on ( It could also be due to the fact that the snow was melting in the region and the roads according army was dangerous at that time)

According to army guys they needed the info to decide whether they need to send out a rescue unit or not- if we dont return lol

they wont bother too much with rescue if you tell them that you are going all the way upto Padum

Yogesh Sarkar

Since when did army started getting involved in this affair? In 2006 and 2007, all one had to do was register at the various check posts en route (manned by J&K police) and get on one's way. No permission or any thing required, just a simple registration with details of the people, where they are coming from and where they are heading.

Sujoy

I have been told that Indians do not need any permits etc for Zanskar. hope this is still the case

Yogesh Sarkar

Even foreigners don't need permit for Zanskar

Dimitrz

Sujoy Yogesh is right you don't need any permits for Zanskhar atleast as of now - however in case you are planning to visit the area it would be a good idea to have few copies of your identification proof ( as a matter of fact good idea to have it where ever you go - better to give copies than originals )

Yogesh don't know to be honest , it might be due to some new regulation or may be really due to the fact that the roads were dangerous for outsiders due to melting snow.....anyways the army was very decent and insisted it was for our own security - We didnt have any copies so we gave them the orginal IDs ( not required if we had been goining to Padum ( we were only going upto Nun Kun base ) the IDs were returned promptly on our return followed by few minutes of pleasantries and chit chat.

Oh yes - this check post has an STD facility incase someone wants to contact their family and friends - mobile signal is virtually non exsistent in this region.

Ps: J&K police check post gave us an impression that they wanted money to let us through however when we disclosed that our parents are from the armed forces nothing more was asked ( Guess police is the same all over India)

Yogesh Sarkar

Really? Never really faced this issue, even though was traveling alone. Always had a friendly welcome, whether from police or army. In fact at times I was even offered free tea!

Dimitrz

speaking of free tea.... we went to Chang la expecting free tea but since we crossed Chang la at around 7pm in night the stall was closed - and boy we were disappointed - since that was the time we could have done with pots and pots of free tea lol

however we made up for the missed tea on our return - the army guy started laughing when we informed him why we were having double the tea.

Possible reason between you and us might be since you were on bike and we were in an SUV - even when we were driving rented bikes in that region the police didnt bother