Ladakh in August - Wanted Feedback about my itinerary

deeps79 · May 30th, 2007, 00:47

one more thing........book volve asap....its very popular and booked almost a month in advance always.......

mihirp · May 31st, 2007, 19:02

Thanks Yogesh

Quote:

Cut down one day at Nubra and spend it at Pangong Tso, it’s a beautiful place and a speed run to it and back wont do any justice. Rest looks fine, no problem at all.

Yes, I will add One more day in Nubra. Have you also stayed there. Is it possible to stay near the waters/lake. Deeps above says, but my agent says that its difficult or rather not possible, but he is still confirming it. Since Deeps mentions there is a hotel there as well, I think it should be possible.

As for the vehicle, I asked my guy for a scorpio. Since we are 5 + 1 driver and 1 guide. Is it comfortable to sit in the last seats as the windows are also not open. Is it possible for 2 ppl to sit in front along with the driver. That way, we can sit 2 in front + 3 middle, and the guide in last along with some luggage.

Thanks for Volvo Info Deeps. I booked the HPTC Volvo which starts at 8.30pm. Is it comfortable and is the journey dead tiring or since sleep is involved, it passes without much notice?

Yogesh Sarkar · May 31st, 2007, 19:25

You got two options, Lukung and Spangmik. Lukung has eco huts, while Spangmik has a hotel which offers rooms as well as tents, but they cost Rs. 800 to 1200. You can also stay in guest houses run by locals in Spangmik.

lehlover · Jun 2nd, 2007, 17:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by mihirp

Thank you everyone for providing your valuable inputs and apologies for the extreme delay in my response. I am finally going to Ladakh on July 14th 2007. Hurray!

Thanks and looking to hear from you guys.

I suggest to follow below Plan

Day 1: Leave for Delhi
Day 2: Leave delhi for manali in the evening
Day 3: Manali Local Sight Seeing. Hire a Qualis/Scorpio either with private passing or J&K passing as other taxis aren't allowed to travel in interior ladakh.
Day 4: Leave manali, visit rohtang and reach Jipsa/Darcha by evening.
Day 5: Leave Jipsa and reach Leh be evening.
Day 6: Stay in Leh, local sight seeing, ILP's and collect the stuff that shall be required for further journey.
Day 7: Leave for Nubra. Visit Khardongla, Deskit, Hunder.
Day 8: Checkout Sumur and Panamik. Leave for Leh.
Day 9: Rest in Leh.
Day 10: Leave for Pangong Tso, checkout Lukung and Spangmik.
Day 11: Leave for Leh.
Day 12: Rest in Leh.
Day 13: Leave for Tso Moriri. Visit Hemis/Thiksey/Stok whatever you wish and halt at korzok.
Day 14: Leave Korzok early and reach Tso kor in morning and leave Tso kor for Sarchu. Reach sarchu in the evening
Day 15: Leave Sarchu and reach Manali in the evening.
Day 16: Leave manali for Delhi by local bus at 11:30 am. Reach Delhi by 04:00 am.
Day 17: Catch flight from Delhi for Mumbai.

Same number of days and everything covered.

Above all at much lower rates

amitdave · Jun 4th, 2007, 10:21

hi, your itinerary seems fine for most of the part.
i made the journey by air coz didnt had mich time with me.
a few suggestions.
you r having a night halt at tso kar, korzok village and tso moriri
i would suggest you skip korzok village night halt and from tso kar go to tso moriri , you will save the day and rather spend night at pangong lake. you can utilize this extra day in visitng lamaruyu on the leh- srinagar route..
cost goes somewhat like this.
manali-leh- 10000-12,000 (full taxi).can be sumo,qualis or scorpio.innovas r diffcult to find as few ply on the route. scorpio is comfortable.
(but since u r going via tso kar, tso morir cost would b more.

leh sightseeing- shey, thiksey, hemis and local tour -approx 3500rs

leh-pangong-leh 6000Rs
leh-nubra-leh- 8000Rs
leh-lamayuru-leh-rs 5000
now you can add up n divide..
guest houses range from 300 to 1500rs , hotels comfortable ones are from 1500 to 4000rs.

All taxiwallahs will offer you 10% discount coz in their fare they have added up the cost by 10%. if you can hire the same taxi wallah from leh for all your trips you might get a better bargian.i bargained for a 25% discount and got it also.

i dont recommend any travel agents atleast for travel in india. you can easily go there and get all things yourself at much lesser cost.

you can compare the cost of your travel agent with the above cost. the cost i gave you are fares from taxi stand and excluding discount

any other help...feel free to contact.
amit

Quote:

Originally Posted by mihirp

Thank you everyone for providing your valuable inputs and apologies for the extreme delay in my response. I am finally going to Ladakh on July 14th 2007. Hurray!

Here is my itinerary. Please provide your comments. I still have time for minor tweaks which I can consider after getting inputs from you all.

Day 1 - Mumbai-Delhi by Train [Depart at 4.30pm]
Day 2 - Reach Delhi [Arrive around 10pm]. Tour the city and leave for Manali by coach/bus
Day 3 - Arrive Manali. Visit tourist spots or relax. Overnight
Day 4 - In Manali. Go for a 10 km trek (my agent is deciding the best trek). Overnight.
Day 5 - Manali - Jispa. Overnight camping.
Day 6 - Jispa - Sarchu. [Visit Deepak Tal and Suraj Tal near Barlacha La] Overnight Camping.
Day 7 - Sarchu - Tso Kar - Overnight Camping.
Day 8 - Tso Kar - Korzok village - Overnight camping.
Day 9 - Explore in and around Korzok village and Tso Morari. Overnight camping.
Day 10 - Korzok - Leh - overnight in hotel
Day 11 - Sightseeing in Leh - Leh Palace, Namgyal Tsemo, Leh mosque, Gompa Tsemo, Stok palace Museum, Tiksey Monastery. Overnight in Hotel. Any more suggestions to visit?
Day 12 - Leh - Pangong Lake - Drive down to lake and back to Leh. Overnight in Leh.
Day 13 - Leh - Hunder - Leh to Nubra Valley via Khardung la pass. Camp at Hunder.
Day 14 - Hunder - Diskit - Panamik - Visit Hunder and Diskit gompas. Then drive to Panamik, crossing river shyok and then driving along river Nubra to Panamik (which is the last village on old silk route). Overnight camping.
Day 15 - Panamik - Leh - Drive down to Leh via Khardung La pass. Enroute visit Taeger and Samsthaling Gompas. Overnight in Leh.
Day 16 - Leh - Delhi via Air Deccan (Only flight Available). Delhi to Mumbai via train.
Day 17 - Reach Mumbai and drown in depression after a wonderful trip.

Please provide inputs about this itinerary. This is my 99% final itinerary.

A few questions:

1- We are planning to hire a qualis. Which is a better car - Qualis, Innova, or Scorpio.

2. Do you think BSNL mobile as well as GPRS (Internet connection) would be available in most of these remote places?

Thanks and looking to hear from you guys.

mihirp · Jun 4th, 2007, 18:37

Hi and thanks to everyone for providing their valuable inputs which has been very helpful. I have done some modification to my plans and am still looking for feedback.

Day 1 - Mumbai - Delhi by Train.
Day 2 - Reach Delhi at 10am. Leave for Manali at 8.30pm
Day 3 - Delhi-Manali(2050M/570Kms) Reach Manali at 10am. Day free and overnight in Manali.
Day 4 - Manali – Jispa (3142M/147 Kms) - 7-8 hours drive
Day 5 - Jispa – Sarchu(4253M/75 Kms) - 6 hours drive
Day 6 - Sarchu - Tso Kar(4268M/165 Kms)- Tso-Moriri (4485M/45Kms)
Day 7 - Tso - Morriri - Chumathang - Karu over Chang La - Tangste - Tso Pangong
Day 8 - Tso Pangong full day
Day 9 - Tso Pangong– Leh (3506M/280 Kms)
Day 10 - Shey-Thiksey-Hemis
Day 11 - Leh
Day 12 - Leh
Day 13 - Leh –Hunder (3048M/ 125 Kms)
Day 14 - Hunder - Diskit - Panamik (3232M /15 Kms)
Day 15 - Panamik -Leh (3506M/140Kms)
Day 16 - Leh - Delhi by Flight

Is it worth spending so much time in Tso Pangong or there's a place for some more alteration in the plan.

shahronakm · Jun 5th, 2007, 21:11

Day 8 & 9 Tso Pangong again Day 12 & 13 Pangong. Needs some alteration there. Try some water rafting if you can fix in your itinerary.

Ronak.

mihirp · Jun 6th, 2007, 00:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by shahronakm

Day 8 & 9 Tso Pangong again Day 12 & 13 Pangong. Needs some alteration there. Try some water rafting if you can fix in your itinerary.

Ronak.

oops, thats a typing error. I will rectify it.

lehlover · Jun 11th, 2007, 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by mihirp

I have done some modification to my plans and am still looking for feedback.
...............

Day 8 - Tso Pangong full day

Day 8 - Tso Pangong till Afternoon after lunch leave for Karu/Sakti for night halt.

Day 9 - Hemis - Shey - Thiksey etc.

Day 10 - Leh - Lamayuru

Day 11 - Lamayuru - Leh

from 12th day carry your original plan. Rest is fine.

wayfaring · Jun 11th, 2007, 14:30

in case, if i would like to find a taxi in chandigarh and drive to leh, how difficult would it be? and how much does it cost?
pls advise.

amarshah · Jun 11th, 2007, 15:23

If one go self drive to Leh, will they req to hire a taxi for visits to Tso - Morriri , Nubra , hemis etc.. so one can take his own car? Do let me know
Cheers
Amar

Abhay_Mysore · Jun 12th, 2007, 23:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by deeps79

well yogesh answered it and i did too....u shud offset one extra day in nubra with nite stay in pangong......

10km away, thats something new.....we camped 2 min walking distance from shores of pangong in spangmik...right next to the hotel which was being built there.....ask ur agent whether he can book that new hotel (if thats completed)

i will vouch for scorpio any day....qualis is less comfortable at back and innova has less ground clearance and its tyres are smaller........so go for scorpio.....we did whole leh-pangong-nubra in a scorpio which has run 43k kms in leh region and it was so smooth.................

I agree that Scorpio is the best bet. Other equally good option is Qualis. I have myself done these routes in Innova twice, but it suffers from ground clearance issues which are done-with in Scorpio and Qualis. I, however, continue to stick with Innova because I need to drive 3000 kms on plains (from Mysore down south) before I reach Manali and obviously I would be half dead in either of Scorpio or Qualis and hence Innova for me. But if you are right there to make choice in the middle of himalayas... go for Scorpio or Qualis.

hitanshu · Jun 14th, 2007, 01:13

This should help you:
http://www.bikenomads.com/wiki/index.php/Leh

Abhay,
Qualias has lesser clearance than a sumo. There are oodles of Sumos out there - more than around delhi

Abhay_Mysore · Jun 14th, 2007, 09:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by hitanshu

This should help you:
http://www.bikenomads.com/wiki/index.php/Leh

Abhay,
Qualias has lesser clearance than a sumo. There are oodles of Sumos out there - more than around delhi

True, bu at the end, it depends upon what you want. With Qualis, there would be no problem with the ground clearance on Ladakh roads. Please do not go by OEM specs of ground clearance because they are all misleading. OEM specified ground clearance is the lowest point in the underchassis region (which is invariably near the wheel and not the centre of vehicle). I have a Maruti SX4 which has 190mmm of ground clearance (as good as Pajero), but can it ride the mountains the way Pajero does?? No. Its all about how the underchassis is designed and how big stones one can go over BETWEEN the front wheels engine bay on Ladakh like roads. If you look at Qualis and Sumo carefully, Sumo has flattish bottom (which sinks even more when loaded with 7-8 passengers because of soft suspension) whereas Qualis has far better underchassis arrangement.

But yes, in Ladakh Sumo appears to be more in vogue as taxi (I guess almost all Manali-Leh taxis are Sumos. But the most likely reason is cost. Qualis and Scorpio remain a different class in terms of comfort and refinement compared to Sumo which is a rough one. Build quality of Sumos is the worst of all, which makes sure that you arrive dumb and deaf. Bottom line is that taxi fellows run a vehicle based on their cost-benefit and not your comfort.

So depending upon preferences, Sumo, Qualis and Scorpio are all fine for Ladakh. Innova needs to be carefully driven and Tavera even more. In terms of sheer comfort Innova is the best, followed by Qualis, scorpio, Tavera and Sumo in that order. Thats my opinion.

Abhay_Mysore · Jun 14th, 2007, 09:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by hitanshu

This should help you:
http://www.bikenomads.com/wiki/index.php/Leh

Abhay,
Qualias has lesser clearance than a sumo. There are oodles of Sumos out there - more than around delhi

True, but at the end, it depends upon what you want. With Qualis, there would be no problem with the ground clearance on Ladakh roads. Please do not go by OEM specs of ground clearance because they are all misleading. OEM specified ground clearance is the lowest point in the underchassis region (which is invariably near the wheel and not the centre of vehicle). I have a Maruti SX4 which has 190mmm of ground clearance (as good as Pajero), but can it ride the mountains the way Pajero does?? No. Its all about how the underchassis is designed and how big stones one can go over BETWEEN the front wheels engine bay on Ladakh like roads. If you look at Qualis and Sumo carefully, Sumo has flattish bottom (which sinks even more when loaded with 7-8 passengers because of soft suspension) whereas Qualis has far better underchassis arrangement.

But yes, in Ladakh Sumo appears to be more in vogue as taxi (I guess almost all Manali-Leh taxis are Sumos). But the most likely reason is cost. Qualis and Scorpio remain a different class in terms of comfort and refinement compared to Sumo which is a rough one. Build quality of Sumos is the worst of all, which makes sure that you arrive dumb and deaf. Bottom line is that taxi fellows run a vehicle based on their cost-benefit and not your comfort.

So depending upon preferences, Sumo, Qualis and Scorpio are all fine for Ladakh. Innova needs to be carefully driven and Tavera even more. In terms of sheer comfort Innova is the best, followed by Qualis, scorpio, Tavera and Sumo in that order. Thats my opinion.

May 31st, 2007, 19:25	#18
Yogesh Sarkar Maha Guru Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: New Delhi (India) Posts: 1,074	You got two options, Lukung and Spangmik. Lukung has eco huts, while Spangmik has a hotel which offers rooms as well as tents, but they cost Rs. 800 to 1200. You can also stay in guest houses run by locals in Spangmik. __________________ My Travelogues \| My Blog \| Ladakh Travel Guide

Jun 4th, 2007, 18:37	#21
mihirp Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 26	Hi and thanks to everyone for providing their valuable inputs which has been very helpful. I have done some modification to my plans and am still looking for feedback. Day 1 - Mumbai - Delhi by Train. Day 2 - Reach Delhi at 10am. Leave for Manali at 8.30pm Day 3 - Delhi-Manali(2050M/570Kms) Reach Manali at 10am. Day free and overnight in Manali. Day 4 - Manali – Jispa (3142M/147 Kms) - 7-8 hours drive Day 5 - Jispa – Sarchu(4253M/75 Kms) - 6 hours drive Day 6 - Sarchu - Tso Kar(4268M/165 Kms)- Tso-Moriri (4485M/45Kms) Day 7 - Tso - Morriri - Chumathang - Karu over Chang La - Tangste - Tso Pangong Day 8 - Tso Pangong full day Day 9 - Tso Pangong– Leh (3506M/280 Kms) Day 10 - Shey-Thiksey-Hemis Day 11 - Leh Day 12 - Leh Day 13 - Leh –Hunder (3048M/ 125 Kms) Day 14 - Hunder - Diskit - Panamik (3232M /15 Kms) Day 15 - Panamik -Leh (3506M/140Kms) Day 16 - Leh - Delhi by Flight Is it worth spending so much time in Tso Pangong or there's a place for some more alteration in the plan. Last edited by mihirp : Jun 6th, 2007 at 00:47.

Jun 11th, 2007, 15:23	#26
amarshah Maha Guru Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 686	If one go self drive to Leh, will they req to hire a taxi for visits to Tso - Morriri , Nubra , hemis etc.. so one can take his own car? Do let me know Cheers Amar __________________ Cheers Amar Year 2008 Trips - http://amards14.googlepages.com/

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May 30th, 2007, 00:47	#16
deeps79 A Travelling Photographer Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: New Delhi Posts: 131	one more thing........book volve asap....its very popular and booked almost a month in advance always.......

Jun 5th, 2007, 21:11	#22
shahronakm Maha Guru Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 1,448	Day 8 & 9 Tso Pangong again Day 12 & 13 Pangong. Needs some alteration there. Try some water rafting if you can fix in your itinerary. Ronak.

Jun 11th, 2007, 14:30	#25
wayfaring Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Thailand Posts: 6	in case, if i would like to find a taxi in chandigarh and drive to leh, how difficult would it be? and how much does it cost? pls advise.

Jun 14th, 2007, 01:13	#28
hitanshu Renegade Killer Bee Join Date: May 2006 Location: Delhi/Mumbai Posts: 209	This should help you: http://www.bikenomads.com/wiki/index.php/Leh Abhay, Qualias has lesser clearance than a sumo. There are oodles of Sumos out there - more than around delhi

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