expert taxi drivers needed for leh

Tashi gave me a 10 percent discount on the rates printed by Taxi union for his Innova.

Day 1: Reached Delhi Airport. Left for Manali. Night stay at Hotel Aloft Chandigarh.

Day 2: Left Chandigarh for Manali. Reached Manali at night. Overnight stay at Hotel Lord's Residency. I will highly recommend this hotel for its location. It is located right on the banks of Beas with no road between the hotel balcony and the river. Very quiet and free from the foul smell of the drain present in Manali.

Day 3: Went to Solang for paragliding. But the weather was bad. We did zorbie and some river crossing enroute. We had dinner at the Khyber restaurant. You must try the trouts at the Khyber.

Day 4: Left Manali at 4 am for Leh. We faced the usual Rohtang traffic jam. We reached Jispa in the afternoon. We stayed at the tents in Padma Lodge. Jispa is a beautiful place for a night stop and the tents were luxurious.

Day 5: Left Jispa at 6 am, reach Leh in the evening after a long and memorable drive. The dhabas after Baralacha Pass serve lemon honey ginger tea, a "must-have". We had booked 2 rooms in advance through a reputed website, however the hotel refused to offer us a room. We then took up rooms in Hotel Dragon at Old Road. It is a good, efficient hotel.

Day 6: Spent the day in Leh, visting Leh palace, Shanti Stupa and some shopping. We had dinner at La Pizzeria. The ambiance and environment of the place is amazing. For drinks they only serve Old Monk , it reminded me of college.

Day 7: Left for Nubra Valley, first visited the diskit monestry, had lunch nearby, left for Hundar, and finally for sumur. Overnight stay at Namgyal guest house in Sumur. The manager was rather rude, but given the very expensive alternate tent accommodation options, we chose it anyway. Sumur is a beautiful village, but there is very little to do. We roamed about on the streets for some time, watched the sunset from our rooms and slept early.

Day 8: Left for the hot springs at Panamik and then returned to Leh. I think Panamik can be skipped if you have seen hot springs before. We stayed at Hotel Lingzi in Leh. We changed the hotel because Dragon could not give us rooms with view.

Day 9: Left for Pangong. On the way, we took a deroute to see the Hemis festival at the monastery. Overnight stay at Himalayan Wooden Cottage(ph- 09906998202,09469534870 email-konpbg@gmail.com) on pangong lake. The hospitality at this place was memorable. The night was very cold.

Day 10: Returned to Leh. We spent the remaining day in the bazaars. Had dinner at the amazing Bonapetit. Come here just before sunset for great views.

Day 11: Went for rafting along the Zanskar. We hired a rather unscrupulous operator, who instead of the promised trip from Chilling gave a trip from 14 kms below.

Day 12: We left Leh for Srinagar. Night stay at Kargil. I recommend you leave Leh in the evening to reach Srinagar in the afternoon because hotels in Kargil are very expensive and basic. It is better to do a night journey. I stayed at Hotel Dzozila. For taking a taxi from Leh, to Srinagar take a "non JK 10" number plate taxi for good discounts. I took a JK 7 number plate taxi for Rs 10000 only when the listed price was 14800.

Day 13: Reached Srinagar. Stayed at Hotel Swiss.

Day 14: Took a morning flight to Delhi.

This was a great road trip, one of the best I have seen. I have also been on Shimla Kaza and Guwahati- Tawang routes, but I was immensely saddened by the immense pollution at the Manali-Leh route by the polluting tankers and army trucks. This must be addressed before it is too late.

Thanks a lot Goombaj for sharing the detailed Itinerary. How far is Himalayan Wooden Cottage is from Pangong Shore? Is it located at Spangmik or Lukung? How much did you pay for your stay (and on which plan AP/ MAP/ EP)? Would you recommend this place over the Tents near the lake?

Hi
I am being quoted about Rs 1 lakh 30 thousand for this trip for hotel .. breakfast n dinner ......vehicle and driver for a 12 day trip to the abovementioned places.
Family of 4 - 2 adults and 2 kids...... relatives in Bombay say it should be half... what should i believe.
Is it hard to book after arriving to Leh ( my first 2 nights hotel only is booked already)
Thanks
Ramdas

Hello Ramdas,

What your relatives are saying is absolutely right...You can plan your trip here on IndiaMike by going through different travel logs on ladakh forum.OR you can start a thread by requesting fellow travellers to help you with the itinery.IMHO dont book through that agent it is costing you a Bomb...

Kunal.

Thank you everyone for your replies

I went to ladhak by my own car innova we were 4 persons & total trip costed us whooping Rs.48000/- lumpsum including diesel, accomodation, food , permits & toll taxes.

So it comes to Rs.12000/- per person for 11 days.

The owner quoted Rs 2500 Double EP plan. I negotiated the price to Rs 1500. If we add the cost of dinner, breakfast and tea that we had ordered, the cost worked out to be Rs 1950 per room. That evening we were the only ones to stay at the place. It is located at Spangmik,about 500 mts above the shore but I may be wrong on this estimation. There are a few rows of tents below the cottages. I found them quieter than the tents and perhaps they are warmer too. However the views of the lake are not unhindered like that in the front row tents.

Thanks Goombaj. Do you have their contact numbers?

I had posted their number in the detailed itinerary. Copy, pasting it here : Himalayan Wooden Cottage(ph- 09906998202,09469534870 email-konpbg@gmail.com).

Hi Goombaj

Himalayan Wooden Cottage was a great experience. Location + food + "wooden" cabins" + cheerful people + fantastic views was great. It cost me Rs. 2500 per night. (2 adults+2 kids EP plan) .. would not negotiate too much.. dunno why ... maybe tired kids+ wife ... anyways Rm 1 ,2,3 seem to be better than the rest..... esp rm-3.

If hiking in the evening take a torch with good batteries!!!