Bus from Manali to Leh

Hello

What a wonderful place to meet people here!

I'll be travelling alone (solo girl -first time in India) - a few days in Delh, about 25 days in Ladakh & back to Delhi - all by bus or train.

I'm arriving in Delhi on 21 Jun from Lodnon & on 23rd heading up to Manali from Delhi by one of the state buses at around 7pm - I guess so far so good.

From Manali to Leh, I intend to take a night bus (stopping at Keylong). But I've heard of some horrific accidents happening at night... fatal accidents & deaths etc etc.

I've travelled around the Europe & some part of Aria (Thailand & Malaysia) and I'm originally from South Korea (but South Korea is really safe...I must say).

Would I be safe?? I'm worried about the night bus journeys & trekking on my own - although I'm intending to do one of the easy routes where you can do on your own without guides/equipments and where you can stay at homestays - according to LP.

Would it be better if I get some buddies at Leh for trekking??
Please help!!!!!

Leh is a safe region as per my perceptions and the night bus will not reach the more narrow roads probably before daylight but this is just my personal opinion. I would say go to Leh and join a group there maybe?

Thank you for the advice Miridula

http://leh.nic.in/ --> shows today the road to Leh from Manali is closed. Does anyone know when this is going to open?

The bus starts in the morning , and reaches Keylong in the afternoon or evening normally.Next leg can drag in to the wee hours of the morning. I haven´t died even once doing this, or seen anyone else do so.

Road status : the Manali-Leh road hasn´t opened yet , 1300 dead from an avalanche in the Baralacha La last Sunday ( sheep & goats , but still .. ) Yesterday was the last day with snow and rain , according to weather forecast , to be followed by new rain and snow tomorrow..count on several days at least of road being flooded with melting snow and BRO hard at work clearing the Baralacha La. Road updates on my blog below - best bet right now seems to be to start looking in to the Srinagar-Leh route.

You´ll find it easy to hook up with others in Leh once both roads are open , what treks are possible is another question .. one option would be to start with going to Nubra , which should have less snow - not that I can think of any treks there. There are some new open parts this year , so it could be worth checking out once in leh.

The HPTDC bus leaves Manali at 11.00am and reaches Keylong around 5.00pm. It leaves Keylong next morning at 5.00am and reaches Leh the same day around 7.00pm.

The HRTC bus leaves in the morning .
"around 7.00 PM " would be a very approximate figure , last time it took two days ( i.e. three days total Manali-Leh ) for everyone on the road at that time ... again.

Last year when I took that bus in July, it left Manali at 11 AM, was stuck with hundreds of other vehicles at Rohtang Pass for 5-6 hours and reached Keylong around 3 AM. After having dinner and told to sleep in the shared tents for an hour we started again around 5 AM reaching Leh around 9 PM.

I wrote about the HPTDC bus schedule..in the Himalayas anything can happen on the road. Even if one travels by a car the same set of problems can delay the trip.

Took our bus and every other vehicles also six and half hours up to the Rothang last time in late June , seemed fairly standard at the time.

what ever it pens chances are very rare that HPTDC will start operating immediately after the opening of the road for traffic...in case you can prepone by a day we can accomodate you up to leh from Chandigarh ...we are leaving on 22nd morning...

Can anyone please tell how long in advance should one book a ticket to this 'government' bus? It it necessary to book a few days in advance or it's possible simply to come and get in?

visit www.hptdc.gov.in you will get to know the detailed info about booking and it is better to book in advance.

I´m also thinking about going there. Sometime in July, I hope the road is open by then. Is the other only option to fly to Leh?

Hej !
och välkommen till IndiaMike

Srinagar-Leh is the other main option. Varations on Manali-Leh : start by going via Spiti , or - the path definitely less trodden - Saach Pass - Udaipur - Keylong. Saach Pass opened less than a week ago.

Thanks, I would be more than happy to book it online but it's not possible. Only a limited selection of routes, such as Delhi to Manali, is possible to book online.