Ladakh

Leh

Places to Visit

How I did the Chandigarh-Manali-Leh-Srinagar round trip for just Rs 8k!

I was seeking a true road adventure trip to Leh, but on a budget. And I got more than what I had paid for!

By Harman

Reaching Leh by road can be a truly rewarding experience. You literally enter a different zone in time and space and get this other-worldly feeling as you travel beneath lofty sky-kissing peaks, cross high snowy passes and a stunning cold desert. You live in a heavenly climate, experience a unique way of life and eventually come to realise what it really means to be in the Himalayas.

Yours truly was also seeking an adventure trip on the Manali-Leh highway. So, one fine day, I tagged along with four of my friends, packed our bags in the sizzling second week of June and headed straight for the cool Himalayas. We spent a week on the road and explored all the way from Chandigarh to Manali to Leh to Srinagar and back.

In this post, I am sharing my experiences of this road trip. This article is also meant to be a complete travel guide on how you too can plan your trip to Leh on a budget, what all you need to carry, the road condition, all about mountain passes, weather condition, acclimatisation, precautions to take, places to stay and visit in Leh etc etc. This trip also taught us a number of lessons that you too can learn from.

Have a nice trip and a great experience!

About Leh

A view of Leh Bazaar — A view of Leh bazaar.

Located in Ladakh at an altitude of around 3500 meters, Leh is a place of pilgrimage for a true traveller. Come what may, a traveller has to make this journey to Leh, at least once in his or her lifetime. Besides being stunningly awesome and otherworldly, Leh is also a historical city with its ancient palace, stupas, monasteries and mosques. Leh also once served as a stopover on trade routes along the Indus valley.

Leh weather

The temperatures dip below freezing point during winters in Leh because of its high altitude. The city also receives occasional snowfall during winters. In summers, the weather mostly remains warm and sunny and the mercury drops a bit during the night time. But when you are traveling, you also need to pack a couple of pairs of warm clothes as a sudden rain, especially on the highway, can bring down the temperature.

Best and worst time to visit Leh

Leh road condition also becomes highly dangerous due to the formation of black ice in winters.

The distance between Manali to Leh is around 428 kms. Leh is accessible through National Highway No 3 from the Manali side or you can reach here using the National Highway No 1 via the Srinagar side. The highways remain closed during the winter months as high mountain passes including the Baralacha Pass get buried under snow. Manali to Leh highway is officially closed in November and not reopened till at least May the next year. In 2023, Manali-Leh highway was officially closed on November 20.

June is considered the best month to travel to Leh because of the road and weather conditions. You can also go in the monsoon months of July and August, provided there are no heavy rains or roadblocks due to landslides and flash floods especially in the Lahaul Spiti part of the highway. September is also a fairly okay month to travel if you don’t mind the cold weather as by this time winters begin to settle down in the high mountains.

It becomes riskier to travel October onwards as a sudden spell of snow can trap you in the middle of nowhere. Moreover, road conditions also become highly dangerous due to the formation of black ice, a glaze that forms on road surfaces due to freezing of snow and water.

How we cut down our travel cost to Leh

How we cut down on cost of travel to Leh

We decided to primarily save on our Stay and Food — the two costliest components of any travel. So, we arranged for two two-men tents and packed utensils from our houses including a fry pan, a pressure cooker, a saucepan, and steel glasses etc.

The list of food items we packed for our seven-day trip included rice, pulses, oats, bread, eggs, noodles, milk cartons, black gram, few vegetables, spices and snacks including biscuits and dry fruits etc. And to cook our meals, we carried a portable single burner gas stove, which you can easily find in any market. To further save on the cost, we took our own vehicle (Bolero) and readied it by fitting in roof racks for our luggage.

Our trip cost

We travelled a total 2203 kms and spent the highest amount on fuel, costing us around Rs 24,000. We spent a total around Rs 5,000 on buying food items and paid a total Rs 11,000 for other expenses including entry fee, environmental charges, toll plaza charges and for the stay at a few places where we couldn’t find the time and space to pitch our tents. Our total cost turned out to be Rs 40,000. We ended up paying Rs 8,000 each for the trip. Not bad, hunh?

First-aid medical emergency kit

You must carry a first-aid medical emergency kit when you are travelling to high-altitude areas like Leh. The kit must include all essential medicines for treating fever, cold etc and bandages and rolls etc.

The emergency kit should also include medicines for preventing the impacts of high-altitude sickness. Some people even take along portable oxygen containers, just in case. We forgot to include Diamox medicine, which is used for treating altitude sickness. We could have paid a heavy price for the carelessness as one of our friends had got in big trouble near Leh during our trip. More on that later.

Leh entry fee

Before visiting Leh, you must pay online entry fee. You can pay the fee by visiting the website of the local administration here. The fee includes the environmental fee, Red Cross fund and wildlife fee. It’s always better if you pay online in advance, before reaching Leh. We also didn’t know this fact and had to make the payment at a check post at the entry point of Leh. We could have avoided this unnecessary hassle by paying online in advance.

Here we go!

We started our Leh journey from Chandigarh. — The writer (on the right in front) with his friends.

We started off from Chandigarh at around 6 pm as we wanted to avoid the daytime mad summer rush to Manali. It was a nice and smooth drive in the night as we crossed Manali at around 1 am and were at the Atal Tunnel by 3.30 am. It was kind of weird crossing the tunnel at that time as we found not even a single vehicle throughout the 9-km length of this highest highway tunnel above 10,000 feet in the mountains.

Reaching Jispa and missing the last petrol pump!

Beautiful Bhaga river in Jispa — The writer (on the right in front) with his friends.

After crossing Sissu, Tandi and Keylong in the early morning hours, we reached Jispa by dawn. It was one of the most beautiful mornings I had ever witnessed in my life. The sun shone from behind nighty snow-capped Himalayan mountains as the entire Jispa valley glistened in the morning light. We pitched our tents near the helipad in Jispa, set up our open-air kitchen, and got down to making breakfast. After breakfast, we just lay down for some rest by the Bhaga river. We wanted to stay for at least a day in Jispa so that we could get acclimated to the climate and altitude.

After lunch, we started searching for a petrol pump but were told that we had left behind the last filling station on the Manali-Leh highway in Keylong. There was no other petrol pump on our way till Leh. Fortunately, we came to know of this at almost the right place and right time. So, two of our friends drove back to Keylong from Jispa and filled the vehicle tank. That night we spent under a starry sky in Jispa.

Long but awesome road to Leh

A view of snow-covered Suraj Taal in June. — A view of the snow-covered Suraj Taal in June.

We woke up early the next morning and after breakfast we packed up our campsite and started off at 8 am. The day ahead of us was going to be long but beautiful.

By afternoon, we had reached Dipak Taal after crossing Darcha. After spending some time at the Dipak Taal, a beautiful glacial lake, we hit the road again and had crossed Sarchu and Zingzingbar by 3 pm. Our next stop was the Suraj Taal, a beautiful glacial lake and the source of Bhaga river. Even in June, the icy blue lake was covered under thick layers of snow. We spent some time here marvelling at this icy wonder. Equally stunning was the nearby Baralacha Pass, a high mountain pass situated at 3528 meters. Baralacha was mostly covered with thick layers of snow except for the road we were driving on.

We also passed some beautiful villages on our way. They appeared from a distance as if part of some awesome painting. Next was the magnificent cold desert of Ladakh. For miles, we drove in silence, completely lost in the wonder of this stunning landscape.

We drove for miles and miles and not a soul or vehicle was to be seen. It was a little unsettling too for someone like us, coming from a crowded city. We did a brief halt at Pang village and by the time we reached Upshi village, it was already 10 pm.

It was completely dark and we were tired like hell. So, we decided to spend the night at a homestay in Upshi. But we told the owner that we would cook food ourselves. He happily agreed.

To the Pangong lake

Next day, we headed for the iconic Pangong lake and took a turn at Kharu village, also spelled as Karu. After driving through a vast valley with mountain ranges all around, we reached the Pangong lake by afternoon after crossing the mighty Changla Pass at 17800 feet. We spent more than four hours by the crystal-clear waters of this precious lake.

You have to be here to see it for yourself how nature is so precious and how blissful it can be to be near her.

Medical emergency

you should always carry medicines to prevent impacts of Altitude sickness in leh — One of the group members has to be admitted to a hospital in Durbuk village due to altitude sickness.

While we were on our way back from Pangong lake, one of our friends fell ill. He was feeling nauseated, dizzy and had a headache as well — all signs of altitude sickness! We got a panic attack as we didn’t have any altitude sickness medicines and there was no one for miles on the road. Thankfully, we came to know about a hospital in Durbuk village and raced down.

The hospital is run by the army and the staff there immediately admitted our friend after checking his depleted oxygen levels. Our friend was taken good care of by the Indian army. He was given Oxygen and medicines and then discharged after a few hours. The army staff also provided us with altitude sickness medicines while we were on our way out. God bless them!

The night had fallen and we decided to spend it at Durbuk village. We set up our camping site at an open space near a dhaba and spent the night in our tents.

Tip: If you fall ill on the Manali-Leh highway then you must approach the nearest army transit camp. There are many army transit camps on this highway and are equipped with medical facilities.

An army transit camp on Manali Leh highway.

Tip: When you are looking for space to set up your campsite while on the Manali-Leh highway, then try pitching your tents near the human population, after of course taking permission from local people. We set up our campsites, mostly near illuminated places like a government building, a filling station or a dhaba. Most local people are friendly and accept your request and allow you to set up your campsite.

Leh

Next morning we started from Durbuk at around 8 am and by mid-afternoon we were finally in the beautiful Leh! After having set up our camping site near a filling station in Leh, we went out for a little sigh-seeing.

We just had a day and visited most places of interest in Leh — the palace, gurdwara, local market and the mosque etc. It was quite a satisfying day with no complaints. We returned smiling to our campsite in the evening.

Dras

We got on the Leh-Srinagar highway after breakfast at the Leh Gurdwara. We crossed the beautiful sangam (confluence) of Indus and Zanskar rivers, around 3 kms from Nimmu village as we drove along a sparkling valley. We halted at the Magnetic Hill, an area where the landscape creates an optical illusion of vehicles and objects defying gravity.

We were so thrilled to get ourselves completely illusioned. We were awestruck by the magnificence of the Zojila Pass at 3528 meters which we crossed towards the late afternoon. Today, we had decided to take it easy and pressed on the brakes at Throngous village near Kargil War Memorial before dusk. Here, we spent the night in a homestay as we were almost at the boundary of Srinagar and did not want to take any risks.

Srinagar

Next day we reached Srinagar by afternoon. Here also we did not want to set our camping site because of the security concerns. We had booked a hotel in the town in advance and after throwing our luggage in the room, we went out. We visited interesting places including various gardens like the Shalimar and the Tulip garden and enjoyed the Shikara ride in the waters of the Dal lake. We spent the night in the hotel room.

Back to Chandigarh

Next day was the longest day as we drove from Srinagar to Chandigarh. We got stuck in numerous traffic jams. The jams and the crowds reminded us that we were back in an over-populated civilisation. As we were reaching Chandigarh, I was already making plans for my next trip to the Himalayas.