Leh/Ladakh Help

Hi everyone...I just became a member of this but I have been reading the forums for quite a while as a guest. I'm going to India on wednesday, and I have a few questions about Leh/Ladakh. I am going by air, and will be there for 4 days (actually 3 because I leave on the 4th). We are going to Thiksey, Shey, Hemis, and Pangong Tso. Please give any suggestions for those places, and if you have been on the flight, please describe how you felt when you reached there and what you did on the first day (regarding acclimatization and AMS..). We are not going to be going trekking, and that is why many other forums on Leh/Ladakh don't quite help, as most of them regard trekking there too, so maybe our acclimatizing 'requirements' would be different because we are not doing serious activities? Just incase it does help...this is our planned itenerary


1st day: reach leh and acclimatize
2nd: thiksey, hemis, shey
3rd:Pangong
4th:back to Delhi
(where in this can we fit in the leh palace/bazaar?)
How would we get to the hotel from the airport if we are not part of a tour?

We have also made reservations for the Spic n Span hotel, so if any of you all stayed there, please share your experience and tell how the hotel was. Also, what are some main 'dangers' other than things regarding the altitude?

If your trip was similar to what ours is planned to be like, then please share some information.
Thats quite a few questions, even answering a few of them would be very helpful. Thanks,
Rahul

p.s.--welcome me to IM.. just kidding.

Rahul,
the official acclamitazation period is 4-7 days, yo will feel it when you walk to these gompas, don't overexert , rest and move , keep well hydrated, get some good sun cover , as the sun is harsh and one can get sun burns .
apart from that it's good there is near zero crime there , , traffic on highways can be dicey.
Try going to Pagong lake get a Rs100 permit from a tour operator , it;s a one day trip .
lots of guest houses near the Army cantonement , I stayed in one near Shanti-Stupa , very clean, highly recomennded , forgot the name though.........

interesting.

I am going to delhi on wednesday (13th) and hoping to fly to Leh. Are you going from London? Maybe we will bump into each other. I wanted to go via manali on the bus, but it looks like that option is out as the road is closed.

Hi friends,

I am arshpreet. WE are couple of friends (approx 20-25)from Mumbai as well as Delhi, will leave for ladakh trip on 15th july for 15 days...If anybody wish to join our group kindly call me at 9969641903.Contact me at the earliest as the last date for confirmation is 15th june-2009

Ex-mumbai- 34 k
ex-delhi-30K

regards
Arshpreet

Dear friends

Here is my itinerary for my trip:


30 August Receive at the leh airport and transfer to the hotel full day rest in leh
31 August After breakfast drive to visit Shankar monastery,Leh Palace,Spituk monastery and catch a sun set from Shanti Stupa.
01 Sept After breakfast walk to main market to join the opening of Ladakh festival full day at festival
02 Sept After breakfast visit the festival and drive to visit Stok monastery and Hemis monastery
03 Sept After breakfast drive to Pangong Lake over night lake side camp
04 Sept After breakfast drive to leh on the way visit Chemdey,Taktok,Shey and thiksey
05 Sept After breakfast drive to Nubra valley over night in numbra valley
06 Sept After breakfast drive to Leh
07 Sept After breakfast drive to Tsomoriri Lake over night near by the lake
08 Sept After breakfast drive to Leh
09 Sept After breakfast drive to Lamayuru over night in lamayuru on the way visit Likir
10 Sept After breakfast drive to leh on the way visit Alchi,Ridzong and Basgo Castle.
11 Sept One day rest/day for local shopping
12 Sept fly to Delhi

I am travelling by myself and have been quoted a price of Rs. 62,000. Is this about right?

Thanks,

KC

Well, its always better to open a new thread for getting suggestion on your travel plan than reopening a 5 years old thread.

Let's come to your cost calculation, not sure if you have your airfare included in the cost.

Leh 2010-11 taxi rate wise it would be your apprx transport charge, it may slightly gone up this year.

Leh-Nubra-Leh - 6500
Leh-Pangong-Leh 6000
Leh-Tsomoriri-Leh- 8500
Leh-Lamayuru-Leh- 3500
Airport pickup/drop / some local - 1000

Hotels can be available in ladakh according to your budget can be between 300 to 3000. So check out calling hotels/rest house the exact rate and then compare, looking a glance at the cost, it seems it's very much on the higher side.

Cheers!!

Hello friends,
Anyone who came back from leh to srinagar by road in October 1st/2nd week please advice me whether the road will be open or not. I have planned to come back from leh on 8th oct. 2011 (8th Oct. from leh to kargil, 9th from kargil to srinagar)

Thanks

No one can tell you road condition so far in future sitting today but historically it was open and should be open though any inclement weather can close the road temporarily and you may miss your flight/train connection unless you have some backup plans in mind.

I would be coming from Leh around same time but through Manali and going there around end of Sep through Srinagar-Kargil. So I might update you the latest from Leh when I would be there.

Have a nice and safe trip

Dear Kshil,
Thank You for the answer. Please suggest me wheather I need to book accommodation in diskit/ hunder for nubra valley and lukung/tangshe for pangong in advance?

Hi Urvasi, honestly I don't think you need to prebook anything so late in the season in late Sep/early Oct. As it's quite late, spot booking would give you better flexibility that is required so late in the season when you are not sure about roads and weather and also some genuine cost benefits of being there in lean season.

It would have been easier to suggest if you could share your tentative itinerary here mentioning the dates and places you are planning to travel.

Dear Kshil,

My tentetive tour program:

2nd Oct early morning flight from Delhi to Leh.(whole day rest)
3rd Oct Diskit(for Nubra) night stay at Diskit
4th Oct visit Hunder, Back to Leh
5th Morning start for Pangong, N/S nearest possible place
6th Morning back to Leh on the way visit thiksey, Hemis, sindhu darshan ghat etc.
7th Uleytokpo/alchi night stay at uleytokpo/alchi
8th kargil
9th srinagar
10th morning flight to Delhi


Please suggest accordingly. We will travel with 2 children & one 65 years old lady.

Thanks

How old are the kids? If you have a small kid who couldn't express the discomfort, be extra cautious. Flying to Leh from Delhi and then starting the trip with just (or may be less than) 24 hours of rest might not be advisable. But if your family has an experience of high altitude trip, you may be aware how you respond to such altitude change, it varies from person to person.

Statistically older people combat better with altitude issue, so may be senior member in your group would do well. But keep check on everyone. If you find any discomfort on day 2 morning, defer the whole trip by a day and in that case remove the 7th night stay in Alchi / Uleytopko and proceed staright to Kargil. Else 7th night should ideally be spent in and around Lamayuru as per my opinion, this would do load balancing of 7th and 8th nicely.

You are taking a risk of having just a half day kind of backup in Srinagar before your flight to Delhi. I would suggest, get a backup flight from Leh to Delhi on 10th morning as well, in case you find Zojila closed, you can come back to Leh and catch flight. With 2 kids and one elder lady, this is something you should consider seriously.

Otherwise your itinerary is fine and nicely made. Only small change I would suggest on 3rd start early from Leh, while reaching Deskit, checkin to hotel and then you spend the afternoon to Hundar, the sand dunes look much better in the afternoon sunlight. On the next day morning, you may cover Deskit Monastery (Quite a good amount of going up, if that suits you with kids and elders but the scenary from top is awesome, you would be able to see the whole Valley) and then go to Panamik before going back to Leh.

5th at Pangong, nearest stay can be possible at Spangmik but don't expect any luxury acco as the luxury tents would be closed before October. Option is homestay but I believe that's not bad either. I would be staying at Pangong on 1st Oct, so hopefully would be able to give you some idea on what to expect, if we get mobile connectivity.

Have a safe and nice trip.

Dear Kshil,
Thanks a lot for your prompt reply. Are you booking all the accommodations before hand or it will be decided on the spot. And my next question is about the car. We will be travelling 5 adults and 2 kids(7& 9 years). I have heard that they don't allow more than 6 in a car. But the travel agents( whom we mailed) are telling they will provide qualis/scorpio for us and there will be no problem.
I want to confirm about this car issue because after reaching leh if we find that they are telling us to take 2 cars it will effect our budget badly. Please suggest.
Thanks

Only thing that is most important and crucial to make your trip successful is a good and reliable car and driver combination. Accommodation is not an issue specially so late in the season, In none of my earlier trip I prebooked any accommodation in Ladakh and I would follow the same this time as well. Only thing I would book is my car/driver whom I rely for this long trip. 7 and 9 yrs old kid are not having much problem, just observe if you find any abnormality in their behaviour/ daily routine for first couple of days.

You are right cabs don't allow more than 6 persons (Not sure if that includes driver as well) but as its end of the season and tourists would be very less and you have 2 kids, the rule may not be strictly applied on you. But best people to enquire on this is Leh taxi union, call them and get it confirmed mentioning your group details. If they agree, try to get the person's mobile number if possible, so in case you have any issue after going there, you may contact them and get a car through them. If they don't agree, I doubt if your travel agent can bypass them as Leh taxi union is a powerful and influencial body.

Visiting Ladakh, so late in the season, I don't think you should bring agent in between and make the things complicated. You can easily landup in Leh, choose a hotel of your choice, do bargain and get a deal to settle down. Then visit the taxi stand, you have enough choice of vehicles and again the bargain option would be open and most importantly you can choose by evaluating the car condition of your own. If you deal through agent and then get a Qualis (Last Qualis rolled out of factory atleast 6 years back , Toyota phased out that in 2005), I don't think you would like to travel in such a terrain so late in the season with car manufactured 6 years back and ran for so many km.