Honeymoon Trip to Ladakh

oorvashe

Hi All,

I am planning for my honeymoon trip to Ladakh in the last week of October 2009. Please help me with itenary and customised package tours either for ladakh. I have 10days. My budget is 40k.Please suggest the places to visit in ladakh. I am ok with travelling for 150kms per day.

mridula

I am wondering what would be the condition of the roads at October end. I thought after mid October the Rohtang pass may not be open.

And welcome to Indiamike.

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Mridula

Travel Tales from India

theyyamdancer

Hello oorvashe and welcome to the site!

You might like to take a look at the following thread from last year:

Queries/Advice for Ladakh in October

and hunt around for similar threads. There is plenty of information available by scrolling down to the bottom of the current page and looking at "similar threads".

Good luck!

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"Wandering seemed no more than the happiness of an anxious man." - Albert Camus

oorvashe

Thanks mridula and theyyamdancer for your suggestions.

I have checked the tour package offered by Overlandscape

Tour Program
Day 01 Arrival at Leh airport, to be received by our representative and transferred to the Hotel. Check in to the hotel for a Complete day of rest wherein welcome tea and coffee will be served by the Hotel. Lunch will be served at 2.00 PM, after lunch visit Leh Market, Leh Palace, Hall of Fame and Shanti Stupa. Overnight Hotel.

Day 02 A Complete day of visit to the monasteries (104 Kms) After breakfast drive to visit the Shey Palace, Thiksey, Hemis monasteries and Stok Palace Museum. Packed or Hot Lunch will be provided. Return to Leh in the evening. Overnight Hotel.

Day 03 Leh to Pangong Lake to Leh (320 Kms) After early Breakfast leave for Pangong Lake (14,500 ft), through Changla Pass 17,350 ft.,it is the third highest motorable road in the world. 1200 hrs. arrive Pangong,it is the highest salt water Lake in the World, shared by two countries India & China. Packed or Hot Lunch will be provided. Enjoy the beauty of the lake on the Banks of pangong while appreciating the changing Colors and fascinating high altitude of the Lake. Drive back to Leh by the same route. Overnight Hotel.

Day 04 Full day visit to Khardung La pass and Gurdawara and Sangam; After breakfast drive to Khardung la, the highest motorable road in the world. Return to Leh by afternoon. Hot Lunch at Hotel. After the Lunch drive to visit Gurudwara Pather Sahib, Magnetic Hill and Sangam of Zangskar and Indus River. Overnight Hotel.

Day 05 06,00 hrs. Transfer to the airport and fly back to Delhi with Sweet Memories of Ladakh.

The cost of above packagae is 26646.

Guys tell me if this pacakge is gud...for honeymoon.

rickydee

Hi Ooravashi,

I think this seems a bit over priced as almost 7000 bucks a day in off season is not reasonable. (assuming airfare not included)

Secondly in off season you get plenty of good deals on hotels and taxis service.

Tour operators in order to make their charges look reasonable, pack so much in your iteneries that it becomes hectic.

Ladakh is not modren city for fast life but a place to see world move around in slow motion.


Advice is to arrange things after reaching there. Just book one decent hotel in advance. Take full rest on landing day.


Goodluck & warm wishes

oorvashe

Hi Ricky,

Thanks and appreciate ur suggestionz.

I was looking for a tailormade package as I am from south and not very much comfortable in hindi.

As u suggested I will first book a nice place to stay and then arrange for visiting places over there.

de_cooky

Am a lil concerned..I have never considered ladakh to be a good honeymoon destination.. On a honeymoon one would like to go to softer places which ladakh certainly isnt...Its a place for tough adventures, fighting with the conditions and for some a place to discover one's self..Certainly not a place for rhe softest version of all the vacations, your honeymoon.
I dont want to discourage you coz this will be the last thing on my priority list. But you guys will be exerting yourselves far too much to enjoy those aspects of honeymoon that make it so special.

captain bruce

Hi Oorvashe,

please read the sticky on AMS before a decision.

the overland escape itinerary is too hectic. I visit ladakh every year and spend the first 2-3 days doing nothing - and i mean nothing - certainly not a tour as suggested, you might not even make it up the gompa steps in Thikse.

De cooky is right about ladakh as a honeymoon destination - yes its great but the first 3 days you are not up to doing much at all. You risk illness by doing too much to soon. Personally i wold go to kashmir - subject to current advice about safety - or Himalchal - much more romantic and no altitude problems

wherever you go, have great time

bruce

oorvashe

Hi Captain Bruce and de cooky.

Thanks for ur valued suggestions. I will change the location to himachal.

rickydee

I agree with both posts above that though you would be above clouds yet not in honeymooning much in real sense of word.

But still I think that, no place could be as pure and serene to start your life togather.

de_cooky

thats a right move oorvashi..Discover each other in himachal..Self discovery in Ladakh can be postponed for later years

nittsmehta

Hi Everyone

I'm headed to Ladakh, solo; from October 20 onwards, hopefully for self discovery.

Just wanted to know if I can take the Delhi-Manali-Ladakh-Kargil-Back route by ROAD during that period. I am also open to using the trains if required. Also, what all precautions / preparations I will need during that period (apparently it will be very cold).

Please advise.

Regards
Nitin

vistet

You´re in for a long wait for the train .. the line to Srinagar was supposed to be finished in 2007 , they are now talking about 2013 .. maybe. The Bilaspur-Manali line seems to be little more than a gleam in the eyes of HP politicians.

Road conditions, esp. on the Manali-Leh leg start to get iffy in October , or earlier : Rothang opened yesterday after a four day break , the second this month. Road updates here.

I´ve exited twice in mid-October without problems , but it obviously can get grim if you get stuck in the high section (i.e. anywhere from Darcha to nearly Upshi , some sixty klicks from Leh. The tent camps will be closed as well , so your car or bus will be your shelter : bring a sleeping bag.

Srinagar-Leh on the other hand is a lot lower , warmer and less likely to get snowlocked.

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high road to ..

nittsmehta

Thanks Vistet

I'm willing to go through the arduous journey (I certainly hope so!); just wanted to know if its possible by hook or by crook. Some more questions:

1. Do the state government buses ply on the Manali-Leh route througout October even if they stuck at the high passes for long hours (or days maybe)? I will certainly prefer luxury tourist buses though.

2. Since the tent camps will not be available, how long will be the long journey assuming not getting stuck?

3. Is it safe especially since I'm going solo? Are their other tourists around at the time?

Last question - would you do it or rather advance your plan to Oct 1-15 (I may have that option if I really push it)?

Cheers
Nitin

pip

To quote Charlie Loram, who knows more about the region than many locals (!), you can usually trek until late October. Obviously early snow can occur, and has - this is normal, even occurring in September, when weather patterns can fluctuate between steamy and coolish. November is usually when you have to forget road travel except in the valley.

What finishes the roads is the first serious snows of the winter season, unless the army clears them for strategic reasons. I believe Chang La is such a pass, and it is 5300m. The roads over most high passes are not particularly dangerous and traffic either goes and is OK or it does not. Snow can melt fast, even quite late, in strong sun. Last year we drove over Chang La with maybe 30 cms of snow on the ground all over; two days later it was all gone - this was mid-September.

The whole picture is complicated by global warming, so in a way Octber may be becoming the new September. The Ladakh festival was devised to keep the tourist season going a couple of weeks into September, when once September was the dropoff point in tourism. Well, last year September was t-shirt weather mostly in Leh, with a stack of tourists around.

My take is that October *should be OK* if you are prepared well, and have the time to wait out road closures or can use low level roads, like say, going around the the Taglang La by driving via Tso Kar to Upshi (if travelling by jeep/car obviously). As the days pass, the chance of that big snowfall rises...we shall see, we are going to be there all of October this year. Try calling the bus companies, and see what they say.

To answer the question, yes, move plans forward if possible, to avoid the last week for high level travel. The trouble with the Leh-Manali road is that there are so many high passes, and the topography does not help, being next to the Zanskar Range for a lot of the way. You can of course fly out, but you many have to wait a day or two and cough up a few thousand, airfares are cheaper returning to Delhi at that time.