Manali - leh - Srinagar Road Trip July 11 - 22 2007

madhu_bang

Hi Friends,

I am planning to do a road trip fom Manali to leh and to Srinagar from july 11th to 22nd. I know lot of people have posted about the bike trips for the same route.

My iternary is as follows.

Depart from Manali on 11th July to Leh. Visit Rotang Pass and overnight stay in Sarchu
Depart Sarchu on 12th July and reach Leh.
July 13th - Leh local site seeing
July 14th - Leh - barachula pass - nubra valley. Over night stay in nubra valley.
July 15th - nubra valley to leh
July 16th - leh - pangong lake - leh
July 17th - Leh to kargil
July 18th - Kargil - Sonamarg - Srinagar.
July 19-22 - Pahalgam - gulmarg - srinagar.

Would like to know if you have any comments/concerns about my iternary.

Also, I have some particular quiries... I could find proper contact details of people who have done this route. Please let me know If I could talk to somebody before I leave for the trip.
My mail id is madhu668@yahoo.com.

Regards
Madhu

shahronakm

July 14 th should be Leh - Khardungla - Nubra valley.

Ronak.

madhu_bang

thanks for correction.

ks_bluechip

Hi Madhu,

I did the same tour (by Bus & Jeeps) but in the other direction Srinagar-Leh-Manali, in May-2006. You can see my weblogs of that trip at:
http://kothanda.srinivasan.googlepag...inagartokargil
There are plenty of details there. I did most of it by Bus ..... though Leh-Local, Nubra & Pangong-Tso by Share Jeep.

If you have specific questions, after seeing that blog, I can try and answer.

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sunilg

Hi,

You can PM Yogesh sarkar on IndiaMike itself. I am sure, he can give you a lot of valuable advice on ur trip.

Best of luck.

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madhu_bang

Thanks for the info.
The day I am travelling from sarchu to Leh, would it be possible to cover Tso-moriri? IS it worth going?

shahronakm

You will need an extra day or two to cover Tso - moriri.

Ronak.

saajan_20

yes i second that without doubt !!!!!

Yogesh Sarkar

My suggestion, skip out on Gulmarg and spend a night at the shores of Pangong Tso, you will love it!

If you need any more info, then let me know.

Also in order to cover Tso Moriri you need an extra day, not to mention arrange inner line permits in advance.

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lehlover

1) Do Manali-Leh in single Day. Shared Seats are offered in new Tempo Travellers with Pushback Seats. It leaves manali at 02:00 hrs in the morning and reaches Leh at 19:00 hrs. This will serve four purposes.

a) Cost Saving: Two day trip costs around Rs. 2500/- while single day trip costs around Rs. 1400/-.

b) Accomodation: Sarchu Doesn't have good accomodation at cheap rates either you have a pathetic looking bed for Rs. 50/- or fancy tent for Rs. 1000/- per night. Both Useless when you can find decent enough accomodation in leh for Rs. 250/- Per Night.

c) Timing: You shall get extra day in ladakh which you can use to visit any place or just relax.

d) Road Condition: Virtually road from Manali/Rohtang to Sarchu is extinct. Heavy snowfall has washed away the complete road in this area. So if you cross this area in day you shall have nothing to experience except jerks. Incase you go in single day trip by the time you wake up at 08:00 Hrs you would have cut most of the road towards sarchu which is great.

I have just finished this trip and returned yesterday. Trust me on this there are 5-6 Tempo Travellers going to Leh every night. Book your seat on them.

2) If you aren't going to Nubra by Bike there isn't anything for your in Nubra. Just go upto Khardong La, Click some Snaps and return to Leh. This will give you an extra day at Pangong Tso which is highly suggested.

There is nothing in Nubra for sight seeing (Like some monuments) Two monasteries, some useless sand dunes with extrememly weak camels to ride on, worst kind of hot springs at panamik (never visit it) and sumoor (where shyok and nubra rivers meet) is totally useless. Roads are great in this area but except for riding bikes you would be really disappointed.

Rest all looks okay.

Have a nice trip.

Bye.

deeps79

Are u seriously leh lover ? or u are among the people who want to tick off a destination fron ur list.........

doing manali - leh journey in a day for me is a crime simply cuz of the fact that it is so beautiful that sometime u just want to sit next to road and blend into the nature out there........no counting the health part..........

nubra not offering anything ? has anything dramatically changed in one yr out there ?

@OP
I would go with Yogesh and suggest u to spend a nite in pangong..........
doing manali leh in one day mite save u the money but u will miss a integral part of the whole leh experience ....instead of Sarchu, i u could also think abt spending overnite and keylong or jispa .......

http://lehtrip.blogspot.com

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Abhay_Mysore

A good majority of guys on this forum are Manali-Leh-Manali freaks. However, your inclusion of Srinagar is good. From my 3 drives on Manali-Leh-Srinagar route in last 3 years, I can tell you that there is nothing like Srinagar to end the Ladakh trip. It has romance of different kind vis-a-vis barren beuaty of Ladakh.

Also, Gulmarg is great place to be in. I always ended up staying overnight, unplanned. The serene beauty of the place and also the Gondola ride to to the top of Gulmarg mountain (with LoC on other side), offers great views.

Also the suggestions from others to do Manali-Leh in 2 days is something I would strongly recommend. What the heck are you doing if you are passing through the beautiful places in the night??. Big NO from me. Take your time and hop as much...

Regards
Abhay

madhu_bang

Yogesh, thanks for the info.
I read you travelogue on nubra valley in your website. I got to know that you actually spent 3 days for leh-nubravalley-leh.

In my iterenary, I have 2 days for leh-nubra-leh. I cannot change this iternary for some reasons. According to your travelogue, the sand dunes view point is not on the way to nubra from k-top.

So could you please suggest me what best I could do in 2 days?

Regards
Madhu

Yogesh Sarkar

Madhu the sand dune view point is only a few kms ahead of Diskit, towards Hunder. My suggestion would be to spend the night at Hunder, it certainly seemed liked the most scenic place in Nubra Valley. Next day you can go to Sumur and Panamik and then return to Leh.