Visiting Leh Ladakh — a tourist's account and trip-planning notes

We spent a week in Leh-Ladakh in July 2023 — two nights in Leh, two nights in the Nubra Valley, and one night by Pangong Lake. This page is a write-up of how the trip was put together, the hotels we used, the places we visited, and the practical things we wish we had known beforehand.

Itinerary at a glance

Days 1–2: Leh — arrive, acclimatise, see the town, day-walks to Shanti Stupa and Leh Palace.
Days 3–4: Nubra Valley — drive over Khardung La, two nights at a riverside resort near Diskit.
Day 5: Pangong Lake — long drive across the high passes; one night by the lake.
Day 6: return to Leh — drive back, an evening in the main bazaar.
Day 7: depart — early-morning flight out.

Nubra and Pangong should not be done as day-trips. The drives are long, the altitude is serious, and turning round the same day cuts out the magic of seeing the moonscape light at dawn.

Distances and drive times

Leh → Nubra (Diskit) — about 160 km / 4½ hours via Khardung La (the high road); about 200 km / 5½ hours via the alternative road over National Highway 3.
Nubra → Pangong Lake — about 250 km / 7 hours via Shyok valley.
Pangong → Leh — about 220 km / 5 hours via Chang La pass.

These are dry-day estimates. Add an hour or two for stops, military checkpoints and weather. Driving in the mountains after dark is genuinely dangerous and is not advised — plan to be off the high passes well before sunset.

Hiring a driver

A reliable local driver is the single most important thing to organise before you arrive. We worked with Takspa (+91 95966 16131), with whom we coordinated by WhatsApp from Canada in the weeks before the trip. Having the itinerary, vehicle and per-day rate agreed before landing meant we lost no time on arrival negotiating in town. Many Leh hotels can also arrange a driver; ask early, as good drivers are booked weeks ahead in peak season.

Hotel reviews

Gyalpo Residency, Leh

Phone: +91 93206 11526. A short drive from Leh airport and within walking distance of the main bazaar. Our Garden View Premier Room had a king-size bed and a separate glass-partitioned shower; spacious, modern and well-finished. Free airport pickup and drop are included. The manager, Mr. Antony Gomes, went out of his way for us — when our flight out was at dawn, the kitchen prepared a packed breakfast the night before and had it waiting at reception. Five-star hospitality at a fraction of the equivalent five-star price.

The Creek Resort, Nubra Valley

Phone: +91 98215 66869. Email: creekdiskit@gmail.com. Twelve individual cabins scattered across a riverside property with mountain views in every direction. Cabins have king-size beds, modern western bathrooms, and some have an open-air outdoor shower. Diskit Gompa is about 5 km away; fishing, rafting and bird-watching at dawn are arranged on-site. The dining is outdoors with a bonfire after dark — exactly the right way to round off a day in Nubra.

Pangong Retreat Camp, Pangong Lake

Phone: +91 84919 47042. A simpler option, as one would expect at the lakeside. Rooms have a double bed, basic furnishings, a deck-style outdoor sitting area and a western-style toilet. Be aware that the website photographs may be older — additional rooms have since been built that partly obscure the original lake views, so direct lake access from the rooms is more limited than the marketing suggests. The location is still spectacular.

Things to see

Pangong Lake — the headline attraction; see below.
Shanti Stupa — white-domed Buddhist stupa above Leh, with sweeping views of the valley. Best at sunset.
Leh Palace — the 17th-century royal palace overlooking the town, inspired by Lhasa's Potala.
Thiksey Monastery — one of Ladakh's largest gompas, a 12-storey hilltop complex about 19 km from Leh; spectacular at dawn.
Gurudwara Pathar Sahib — Sikh shrine on the Srinagar–Leh highway, maintained by the Indian Army; a brief but worthwhile stop.
Diskit Gompa, Nubra — Nubra Valley's largest monastery, with the giant 32-metre Maitreya Buddha facing the Shyok river.
Nubra Valley — the green river-and-dune valley north of the Khardung La; double-humped Bactrian camels at Hunder.
Khardung La — at about 5,359 m, one of the world's highest motorable passes. Don't linger up top — the air is thin, and altitude sickness can hit fast.
Magnetic Hill — optical-illusion stretch of road on the Leh–Kargil highway where vehicles in neutral appear to roll uphill.
Leh Main Bazaar — for souvenirs, Pashmina, apricot products, dried fruit and books on Ladakhi history.

Pangong Lake

Pangong Tso sits at about 4,350 m and is widely cited as the highest salt-water lake in the world. It runs for nearly 160 km, with roughly a third of the lake on the Indian side and the remainder in Chinese-controlled Tibet. The water shifts colour through the day — deep blue in the morning, turquoise at midday, with greens and the occasional red-brown tinge as cloud, sun and wind move across it. It is genuinely one of the most photogenic places in India.

The drive from Nubra to Pangong takes most of a day; do not plan anything else for that day. From Leh direct (via Chang La), it is about a 5-hour drive each way.

Eating on the road

Stops are scarce once you leave the towns. Carry water and snacks, and plan meals around the few good restaurants on each route. On the way back from Pangong we stopped at Khangsar Restaurant, a roomy place beside a small lake about 7 km past the TCP army checkpoint — the food was excellent, the location was the kind of view you would happily eat in for hours.

Communications warning

Two practical points that will catch first-time visitors:

Foreign mobile phones do not work in Ladakh. Roaming is blocked across the region for security reasons.
Indian pre-paid SIMs from other states do not work in Ladakh either. Only post-paid Indian SIMs (and pre-paid SIMs originally issued in Jammu & Kashmir) are accepted on the local networks.

If you need connectivity beyond hotel Wi-Fi, the practical options are: bring an Indian post-paid SIM with you, buy a J&K-issued pre-paid SIM in Delhi or Srinagar before flying up, or rely on hotel Wi-Fi — bearing in mind that Pangong has no Wi-Fi at most camps, and signal anywhere in the mountains is unreliable.

Permits

Foreign tourists need an Inner Line Permit (ILP) for Nubra Valley, Pangong Lake, Tso Moriri and several other restricted areas in Ladakh. Indian citizens fill a slightly different form, but everyone needs the permit. They are quick to obtain through any Leh travel agent, your hotel, or directly from the Deputy Commissioner's Office in Leh. Carry several photocopies — checkpoints along the way collect copies. Drivers will know exactly which checkpoints want which document.

Altitude and acclimatisation

Leh sits at about 3,500 m. That alone is high enough to leave most arrivals breathless on day one.
Spend the first 24–48 hours doing very little. Walk slowly, drink lots of water, and skip alcohol and heavy meals. The single best thing you can do for your trip is to take it easy on day one.
The day-trip-from-Delhi version is a bad idea. Flying into Leh, charging up to Khardung La and Pangong on day two, and flying out on day three is the recipe for serious altitude sickness.
Carry Diamox (acetazolamide) if your doctor approves it. Many travellers take it preventively for the first 48 hours; it is widely available in Leh pharmacies but better to start before you fly in.
Watch the warning signs: persistent headache, nausea, breathlessness at rest, confusion, loss of coordination. The fix is always to descend.
Khardung La and Chang La are 5,300 m+. Don't loiter at the pass — take the photo and drive on.

Best time to visit

Late May to early October is the practical season for road travel. The high passes from Manali and Srinagar are usually open by late May or early June and start closing again in October.
July and August are peak — green Nubra, warm days, full bazaars, but also the busiest. Book hotels well ahead.
Winter (November–April) in Ladakh is for adventure travel only — most hotels close, the road passes shut, and you arrive by air. The famous Chadar trek (frozen Zanskar river) runs in January–February.

How to get to Leh

By air — most travellers fly. Leh has frequent direct flights from Delhi and seasonal flights from Mumbai, Chandigarh, Srinagar and Jammu. The descent into Leh is one of the most spectacular flights in India; sit on the right-hand side flying in from Delhi for the best views of the Karakoram.
By road from Manali (Manali–Leh highway, about 470 km) — open roughly mid-May to mid-October. Takes 2 days with an overnight at Keylong, Sarchu or Pang.
By road from Srinagar (Srinagar–Leh highway, about 420 km) — open longer than the Manali road, typically late April to November. Often paired with the Manali route as a circular drive.

Tips for visitors

Book hotels and drivers well in advance for any visit between June and September. Pangong has limited inventory and good camps fill months ahead.
Cash matters. ATMs exist in Leh but are unreliable; carry enough cash for the whole road trip — there are no ATMs in Nubra or at Pangong.
Layers, even in July. Leh by day can be 25 °C; the same evening at Pangong can be near freezing.
Sun protection — at 3,500–5,000 m the UV is fierce. High-SPF sunscreen, sunglasses with side coverage, and a brimmed hat are essential.
Respect the monasteries. Walk clockwise around stupas and prayer wheels, remove shoes inside the inner halls, and ask before photographing monks or rituals.
Plastic-bottle restrictions — single-use plastic water bottles are discouraged or banned in some parts of Ladakh; refill from the Dzomsa filtered-water stations in Leh, or use a filter bottle.
Travel insurance — make sure your policy explicitly covers high-altitude travel above 4,500 m. Many standard policies exclude it.
Border-area photography — do not photograph army convoys, checkpoints or installations. The Indo-China border around Pangong is sensitive.