Firstly you have to decide : for how many days are you planning to visit . I would suggest you should make a plan of min 5 days and max depends on your leaves and budget. We had taken a 12 days trip From Delhi- Manali- Leh- Srinagar- Delhi ( this is known as the full circuit) You can also prefer either one as well Delhi- Manali- Leh- Manali Delhi or Delhi- Srinagar- Leh- Srinagar- Delhi.
Some folks also take a flight to Leh directly and then try to visit the nearby places , well here what I think is when you come by flight it becomes very difficult for you to acclimatize with the place.
12 days Itinerary
Delhi – Manali – 12 hrs by road
Manali (2 N)
Keylong / Sarchu (1 N)
Leh (2 N)
Nubra (1 N)
Pangong (1N)
Srinagar (1 N)
Delhi (1 N)
5 days Itinerary ( If you are directly reaching Leh airport)
Leh (1 N)
Nubra (1 N)
Pangong (1N)
Tso Moriri (1N)
Leh (1 N)
According to the number of places you are planning to visit increase the number of days.
The best time to visit Ladakh starts from last week of May to first week of October, because after that the climate starts becoming harsh and its very difficult to travel because of the snowfall.
We travelled From 1st -12th June 2018 and we found the most of the roads were clear of snow ( all thanks to the Border road organisation [BRO] team). In our trip we had members travelling from Mumbai, Bangalore , Faridabad and Gurugram. We all reached Delhi by either flights , train and by road. We were 12 members (10 adults and 2 kids). We were travelling in 2 cars, 1 rented and 1 owned car.
You need to take permit if you are renting a car/bike from each state you are travelling . Because we were travelling through 6 States and UTs (Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh , Ladakh, Kashmir ,Jammu )we had to get permits from all. For some states it’s a time consuming process while for others its fast.
Day 1 :We all reached Delhi from our respective places and started from Delhi at midnight.
Day 2 (530 km) in the evening We drove slowly , taking turns because the person who is driving also feels extremely tired, nevertheless the thrill of the journey keeps you going. We stayed at Manali that night.
Day 3: The next day we stayed in Manali and explored the place ( check must things to do in Manali).
Day 4 : We started early morning 4 am from Manali to reach Rohtang pass by 9 am . There was a long queue near the pass because of the tourist . The early you reach the less the queue . we spent almost 3 hours in the queue. From Rohtang (62 km from manali) we reached Keylong by 5 pm (60 km from Rohtang) and Sarchu by 9 pm (60 km from Rohtang)-.8 am and 12 pm from Sarchu ( as the two cars were split because the rented car broke down).
Day 5 :We started from Keylong by 8 am and Sarchu by 12 pm ( as the two cars were split because the rented car broke down) and reached Leh by 8 pm . Total distance covered (357.2 km)
Day 6 : We took rest at Leh and explored Leh market
Day 7 : We travelled from Leh to Nubra in 5 hours (161 km) and stayed there over night
Day 8 : Nubra valley to Pangong took us another 8 hours (275 km) and we stayed there overnight.
Day 9 : We travelled from Pangong to Leh in 6 hours (225 km) and took some rest
Day 10 : We started from Leh Early morning 3 am and reached Srinagar by evening 4 pm
Day 11 : departed from Srinagar early morning to reach Jammu 3pm and took an overnight bus from Jammu to Delhi
Day 12: We all reached to our respective cities from Delhi
This is how we travelled the full circuit of Leh Ladakh trip. To know more click on the respective days to read more adventures.
Fun fact is even if you are feeling sleepy during the trip which is very common , your mind will try to keep you awake because of the super picturesque landscape as it changes every now and then and you wouldn’t wanna miss any..
Harrytinkers travelog 