Leh Ladhak

This is a long project, bear with the scroll. :)

Leh

Few places in India are at once so traveller-friendly and yet so enchanting and hassle-free as mountain-framed Leh. Dotted with stupas and crumbling mudbrick houses, the Old Town is dominated by a dagger of steep rocky ridge topped by an imposing Tibetan-style palace and fort. Beneath, the bustling bazaar area is draped in a thick veneer of tour agencies, souvenir shops and tandoori-pizza restaurants, but a web of lanes quickly fans out into a green suburban patchwork of irrigated barley fields. Here, gushing streams and narrow footpaths link traditionally styled Ladakhi homes and hotels that feature flat roofs, sturdy walls and ornate wooden window frames. Leh’s a place that’s all too easy to fall in love with – but take things very easy on arrival as the altitude requires a few days' acclimatisation before you can safely start enjoying the area's gamut of adventure activities.

Khardung La

At 5602m, Khardung La is claimed (and disputed) to be the world’s highest motorable pass. A plethora of prayer flags festoons a flanking chaos of rocks and there's permanent glacial ice on the pass's north face. There's also a little souvenir shop, an ultra-basic canteen/tea stand and an information panel outlining the history of Maggi instant noodles. Most Nubra Valley transport makes a brief stop here, but a fabulous alternative is to rent a bicycle, have it transported to the top and to free-wheel all the way back down.

Nubra Valley

The deep-cut Shayok and Nubra River Valleys offer tremendous scenery on a grand scale, with green oasis villages surrounded by thrillingly stark scree slopes, boulder fields and harsh arid mountains. There are sand dunes, monasteries, a ruined palace and – at Turtuk and Bogdang – a whole different culture (Balti) to discover. Permits are required by foreigners.

Pangong Tso

Stretching around 150km (with the eastern two-thirds in China), this mesmerising lake plays artist with a surreal palette of vivid blues, which contrasts magically with the surrounding colourful mineral swirls of starkly arid, snow-brushed mountains. The scene is also striking for the almost total lack of habitation along shores whose turquoise waters can look Caribbean. Visitor activities don't stretch much beyond ogling the ever-changing lake, but one 'sight' is a sand spit nicknamed ‘Shooting Point’ since its use as a filmset for the 2009 Bollywood hit The 3 Idiots.