Manali to Leh: the Himalayan highway and the Nubra Valley

1. Day 1: Fly to Kullu, drive up to Manali

   Delhi to Kullu (Bhuntar) by air, then up the Beas valley to Manali

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Manali
   Day 1 details

   Meet your See Sight Tours guide at Delhi airport for the domestic flight to Kullu, the small airport at Bhuntar in the Beas valley. Most guests arriving from overseas spend the night before in Delhi; it is not in the price, but we can book a hotel near the airport and quote it with your trip. From Bhuntar our vehicle drives about 50 km and an hour and a half up the valley, past apple orchards, river rafts and roadside shrines, to Manali at about 2,050 m. We start this low on purpose: two nights here are the first step of acclimatisation. Check in, rest, and in the early evening the group meets for the altitude briefing: how the route climbs, what altitude sickness feels like, when to tell us, and how the pulse oximeter and the oxygen in the vehicles are used. Then a welcome dinner at the hotel, with Himachali dishes such as siddu and trout from the valley.

   Included

   • Economy flight from Delhi to Kullu (Bhuntar) with your guide
   • Drive up the Beas valley to Manali
   • Altitude briefing
   • Welcome dinner

   Optional experiences

   • A hotel night in Delhi before the flight, booked by us and quoted at booking

   Free time: Afternoon free to rest at the hotel

   Activity: Flights into Kullu use small aircraft and are cancelled in bad weather. If ours is, we fly to Chandigarh instead and drive up to Manali, about 7 to 8 hours, and you arrive later in the evening.

2. Day 2: Old Manali, Hadimba and Vashisht

   Hadimba Devi temple and Old Manali, then Vashisht and the walk towards Jogini Falls

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Manali
   Day 2 details

   We start at the Hadimba Devi temple soon after it opens, before the day-trip crowds. It stands in a grove of tall deodar cedars, a wooden temple with a four-tiered pagoda roof built in 1553, its doorway carved with animals and gods. From there we walk up into Old Manali, the village above the new town, with its stone-and-timber houses, apple trees and cafes along the Manalsu stream. Lunch is in Old Manali. In the afternoon we cross the river to Vashisht, where hot springs feed the bathing tanks beside the temple, and set out on the acclimatisation walk: a path above the village through fields and pine forest towards Jogini Falls, 2 to 3 hours there and back. Walking a little higher than you sleep is the best preparation for the passes ahead. The evening is free in Manali, with dinner on your own; your guide will suggest places.

   Included

   • Hadimba Devi temple
   • Old Manali walk with your guide
   • Lunch in Old Manali
   • Vashisht village and its hot spring temple
   • Acclimatisation walk towards Jogini Falls

   Easier option: Stay in Vashisht for the afternoon, with tea and a look at the hot spring tanks, and skip the walk.

   More active option: Continue to the foot of Jogini Falls, adding about 45 minutes on a rocky path.

   Free time: Evening free; dinner on your own in Manali

   Activity: About 3 to 4 hours on foot in all, on village lanes and a forest path with some steep sections. Shoes off at temples.

   

3. Day 3: Through the Atal Tunnel to Jispa

   Manali through the Atal Tunnel to Sissu and Keylong, then Jispa in the Lahaul valley

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Jispa
   Day 3 details

   We leave Manali after an early breakfast to get ahead of the tourist traffic and climb through forest to the south portal of the Atal Tunnel. Opened in 2020, it runs about 9 km under the Pir Panjal range at roughly 3,000 m and replaces the old road over the Rohtang Pass. You come out into a different world: Lahaul, a valley of glaciers, barley fields and stone villages, much drier than Kullu. We stop at Sissu, where a waterfall drops off the cliffs above the Chandra river, then follow the river to Tandi, where the Chandra and Bhaga meet, and on to Keylong for lunch. In the early afternoon we reach Jispa, a small village on the Bhaga river at about 3,200 m. The rest of the day is free: walk along the river, sit in the sun, and drink plenty of water. The drive is about 95 km and three and a half hours. Dinner is at the hotel or camp.

   Included

   • The Atal Tunnel
   • Sissu waterfall
   • The Chandra and Bhaga confluence at Tandi
   • Lunch in Keylong
   • Dinner in Jispa

   More active option: A riverside walk from Jispa towards Darcha with your guide, about an hour on a level track.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Jispa

   Activity: Your guide starts the morning and evening oximeter checks tonight. Warm layers from here on: Jispa nights are cold.

   

4. Day 4: Over Baralacha La to Sarchu

   Jispa to Darcha and Zingzingbar, over Baralacha La to the Sarchu plateau

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Sarchu
   Day 4 details

   A short drive and an early arrival, because tonight is the highest night of the trip. We leave Jispa after breakfast, pass the checkpost at Darcha and climb past Zingzingbar towards Baralacha La, a pass at about 4,890 m where the Bhaga and Chandra rivers rise and small lakes sit under the snow. We stop for photos, for no more than 20 minutes. From the top the road drops onto the Sarchu plateau, a wide, bare valley on the border of Himachal and Ladakh, cut by the Tsarap river. We reach the camp by early afternoon, about 85 km and three and a half hours from Jispa, with lunch on arrival. The afternoon is for rest: walk slowly, drink water, and sleep if you can. Your guide checks everyone's oxygen level in the evening. Sarchu is about 4,300 m, roughly 1,100 m higher than Jispa, so a headache tonight is common. The camp has fixed tents with private bathrooms and power in the evening. Dinner is at the camp.

   Included

   • Baralacha La, with a short stop at the top
   • Lunch and dinner at the Sarchu camp
   • Oxygen checks in the evening and morning

   Easier option: Stay in the warm vehicle at Baralacha La and rest in your tent all afternoon.

   More active option: A short, slow walk with your guide on the plateau near camp in the late afternoon.

   Free time: Afternoon free to rest at camp

   Activity: This is the night most people feel the altitude. Tell your guide about a bad headache, vomiting or breathlessness at rest; oxygen is at camp and in the vehicles, and anyone who needs to go down is driven to lower ground at once, on a descent plan we confirm for each departure.

5. Day 5: The Gata Loops, Taglang La and Leh

   Sarchu over Nakee La and Lachulung La to Pang, across the More Plains and over Taglang La to Leh

   • Drive about 7.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Leh
   Day 5 details

   Today is the long day, about 250 km and 7 to 8 hours, and the reason is simple: there is no shorter road and no hotel between Sarchu and Leh. We leave at 6 am after a hot breakfast. The road climbs the Gata Loops, about 21 hairpins up a mountainside, then crosses Nakee La and Lachulung La, both above 4,700 m, before dropping to Pang, a summer settlement of tent kitchens where we stop for a hot lunch. After Pang comes the More Plains, a high, flat valley of grass where nomads graze their herds, then the climb to Taglang La, at 5,328 m on its signboard, where we stop briefly under the prayer flags. From the pass the road drops to the Indus at Upshi and follows it to Leh. We reach the hotel in the early evening, at about 3,500 m, lower than Sarchu, so most people sleep better tonight. Dinner is at the hotel.

   Included

   • The Gata Loops
   • Nakee La and Lachulung La
   • Hot lunch at Pang
   • The More Plains
   • Taglang La, with a short stop at the top
   • Dinner at your hotel in Leh

   Easier option: Stay in the warm vehicle at the passes; the views are from the road.

   Activity: Parts of the road are unpaved and dusty: bring a scarf and keep medicines in your day bag. We stop for tea or photos about every 90 minutes.

   

6. Day 6: Rest day in Leh

   Leh: a free morning, then the old town, Leh Palace and Shanti Stupa

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Leh
   Day 6 details

   A rest day, and you will want it after the passes. Sleep in, have a slow breakfast, and spend the morning as you like: in the hotel garden, in a cafe, or wandering the main bazaar. If a landslide or snow closed the road for a day on the way up, this is the day we use to catch up, so the rest of the plan stays the same. After lunch together in the bazaar we walk slowly into the old town, under painted Buddhist gateways and through narrow lanes of mud-brick houses and prayer wheels, to Leh Palace. Built in the 17th century for King Sengge Namgyal, it rises nine storeys above the town, and from its roof you see the Indus valley and the Stok range. In the late afternoon our vehicle drives up to Shanti Stupa, the white stupa on the ridge above Changspa, for sunset over the town. Dinner is on your own in Leh.

   Included

   • Lunch in Leh
   • Leh old town walk with your guide
   • Leh Palace
   • Shanti Stupa at sunset

   Easier option: Skip the palace stairs and rejoin the group at Shanti Stupa, which we reach by vehicle.

   Free time: Morning free; dinner on your own in Leh

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot in the afternoon, on uneven lanes and the palace's steep inner stairs.

   

7. Day 7: Thiksey at dawn, Shey and Hemis

   Leh to Thiksey for the morning prayers, then Shey, Hemis and back to Leh

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Leh
   Day 7 details

   An early start for those who want it: we leave Leh at about 5:30 am to reach Thiksey for the morning prayers, when monks gather in the assembly hall with long horns, drums and butter tea, and the first light hits the tiers of white and red buildings climbing the hill. Inside, a Maitreya Buddha two storeys tall fills its own hall. Breakfast is near the monastery. Next is Shey, the old summer palace of the kings, with its large seated Buddha of gilded copper. Then we drive up the valley to Hemis, tucked into a side gorge about 45 km from Leh, one of the largest monasteries in Ladakh and the setting of the masked dances of the Hemis festival each summer; its museum holds thangkas, masks and old copper. A local monastery guide joins us at Thiksey and Hemis. Lunch is near Hemis, and we are back in Leh by mid-afternoon, with the rest of the day free.

   Included

   • Thiksey Monastery and its morning prayers, with a local guide
   • Shey Palace and its Buddha
   • Hemis Monastery and its museum, with a local guide
   • Lunch near Hemis

   Easier option: Skip the dawn start: a second vehicle leaves Leh after breakfast and meets the group at Shey.

   More active option: Climb to Thiksey's rooftop and walk up to the small temples above Shey Palace.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free; dinner on your own in Leh

   Activity: Plenty of stairs inside each monastery. Shoes off in prayer halls; shoulders and knees covered; no flash during prayers.

8. Day 8: Over Khardung La to the Nubra Valley

   Leh over Khardung La to Diskit, then Hunder in the Nubra Valley

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Nubra Valley (Hunder)
   Day 8 details

   We leave Leh at 8 am, now three nights acclimatised, for the road north over Khardung La. The climb takes about two hours past the army post at South Pullu to the pass, above 5,300 m on its signboard and one of the highest roads you can drive. We stop at the prayer flags for no more than 20 minutes, because the air here is thin for everyone. Tea is at North Pullu on the way down, then the road drops into the Nubra Valley, where the Shyok river spreads out between sand, poplars and barley fields. Lunch is in Diskit. In the late afternoon we walk on the Hunder dunes, where Bactrian camels graze in the low light. The drive is about 125 km and four and a half to five hours with stops, slightly over our 4-hour cap, because the only road to Nubra crosses Khardung La; the pass stop, tea and lunch break it up. Hunder is about 3,100 m. Dinner is at the hotel or camp.

   Included

   • Khardung La, with a short stop at the top
   • Tea at North Pullu
   • Lunch in Diskit
   • The Hunder sand dunes in late light
   • Dinner at your hotel or camp

   Optional experiences

   • Bactrian camel ride on the Hunder dunes, paid locally

   Easier option: Stay in the warm vehicle at Khardung La, and watch the dunes from the edge rather than walking out.

   Activity: Foreign nationals need the Protected Area Permit for Nubra; we file it before you travel and carry copies. Keep your passport with you today for the checkposts.

9. Day 9: Diskit Monastery and Hunder

   Hunder to Diskit Monastery and the Maitreya Buddha, then back to Hunder

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Nubra Valley (Hunder)
   Day 9 details

   A short day in the valley and a free afternoon. After breakfast we drive the few kilometres to Diskit, where the monastery climbs a rocky spur above the village. Founded in the 14th century, it is the oldest and largest in Nubra, and its prayer halls look down the valley towards the Karakoram. A local guide takes us through the assembly hall and the small temples on the ridge, then down to the 32 m Maitreya Buddha that sits below the monastery facing down the Shyok. We walk through Diskit's small bazaar before lunch together. Then the afternoon is yours in Hunder: rest, walk through the village and its apricot orchards, or sit by the stream. In the late afternoon your guide walks back out to the dunes with anyone who wants a second look in the evening light. Dinner is at the hotel or camp. Tomorrow we cross Khardung La again, so take the rest.

   Included

   • Diskit Monastery, with a local guide
   • The Maitreya Buddha at Diskit
   • Diskit bazaar
   • Lunch in Diskit
   • Dinner at your hotel or camp

   Optional experiences

   • Bactrian camel ride on the Hunder dunes, paid locally, if you did not ride on day 8

   Easier option: Visit the Maitreya statue, reached by road, and skip the stairs to the old monastery buildings.

   More active option: Walk back from Diskit to Hunder through the dunes and villages with your guide, about 2 to 3 hours, instead of driving.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Hunder

   Activity: Steep stairs at Diskit Monastery. Shoes off in prayer halls.

10. Day 10: Back over Khardung La to Leh

    Hunder over Khardung La to Leh

    • Drive about 5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Leh
    Day 10 details

    We leave Hunder at 8 am for the drive back to Leh, about 125 km and four and a half to five hours, over our cap for the same reason as day 8: there is one road, and it crosses Khardung La. The morning light is good on the Shyok and its villages as we climb. Tea is at North Pullu, then a last short stop at the pass, now familiar, before the drop to South Pullu and the long view over Leh and the Indus valley to the Stok range. We are back at the hotel for a late lunch, followed by a free afternoon: a hot shower, the Tibetan market and the main bazaar, or a quiet hour on a cafe roof. In the evening the group meets for a farewell dinner, a last round of thukpa, momos and butter tea. Pack tonight: the flight out of Leh leaves early tomorrow.

    Included

    • Khardung La, with a short stop at the top
    • Tea at North Pullu
    • Lunch in Leh
    • Farewell dinner in Leh

    Easier option: Stay in the warm vehicle at Khardung La.

    Free time: Afternoon free in Leh

    Activity: If snow closes Khardung La, we wait in Nubra and your guide re-books the flight; travel insurance should cover a delay of a day.

11. Day 11: Fly back to Delhi

    Leh to Delhi by air

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 11 details

    An early breakfast, a last look at the mountains from the hotel, and a short drive to Leh airport for the morning flight to Delhi, about an hour and a quarter. From the plane you can see the ranges you drove across, laid out below. Your guide flies with the group, helps with bags at Delhi and sees you to your onward connection or a transfer into the city. Flights out of Leh leave in the morning, before the afternoon winds, and weather can delay them, so book onward flights from Delhi that leave after about 4 pm, or stay a night in Delhi; we can book it. If you want more of the mountains, our Rishikesh, Dharamshala and Amritsar trip also starts in Delhi. After ten days at altitude, Delhi's heat and air will feel thick, so drink water and take the afternoon gently. This is the end of the trip.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Leh airport (IXL)
    • Economy flight from Leh to Delhi with your guide

    Optional experiences

    • A hotel night in Delhi after the trip, booked by us and quoted at booking

    Activity: Book onward flights from Delhi leaving after about 4 pm. Photography is restricted at Leh airport, which is also a military airfield.

Wildlife and weather: Mid-June to mid-September is the season. Manali is mild and green, with monsoon rain in July and August that can bring landslides on the Kullu side. Beyond the Atal Tunnel, Lahaul and Ladakh sit in the rain shadow: sunny days of 15 to 30 °C, strong sun, and nights near or below freezing at Sarchu and on the passes. Look for marmots near the passes and Bactrian camels on the Hunder dunes.

• Manali2 nights
• Jispa1 night
• Sarchu1 night
• Leh3 nights
• Nubra Valley (Hunder)2 nights
• Leh1 night