North of India is the Heart of India. And it is best to visit it’s beauty By road. So here we are and our successful road trip from Delhi to Ladakh and back to Delhi by Car.
I am from Bangalore. Me and my husband planned this adventurous self drive road trip for 13 days, and kept our halt at many beautiful places. Starting from Delhi -> Jammu -> Srinagar -> Sonamarg -> Kargil -> Leh -> Nubra -> Pangong -> Leh -> Jispa -> Manali -> Bilaspur -> Delhi.
Highlights :
- On the way between Jammu to Srinagar
It is most exciting when you plan and do things you want to. We prepared this plan by ourselves, and I am writing this blog to help others to find it more simple, and to give a good experience and precautions to take care of. We prepared our plan with daily course in one excel sheet. Which is given in below link and which includes, all details what we needed to keep with us and it helped a lot.
It is said that better be safe then sorry. Before starting our day to day events, some precautions that we should take care of while travelling to Ladakh –
1 – Keep at least one post paid sim, since prepaid doesn’t work in Jammu and Ladakh. We got Airtel postpaid sim. Although BSNL is best to have in Ladakh.
2- When hiring self drive car always check for basics (Breaks, AC, music, Stepney with tools, viper, car papers for self drive, and all India permit).
3 – Download offline maps. And it really helped us, since most of the time we were offline. We downloaded 13 days offline map for each day. For example, for day 3 – Hotel ocean grand, Jammu to hotel new green view, Srinagar. So when we start our day, we started with the day map.
4- Keep extra food or snacks for road, since you might not find hotels or restaurants more often on roads.
5- Learn how to change tyres. We saw some videos before starting for the trip. And kept some offline videos also.
Cool!! We are ready now. And here we go with our amazing day to day travel experience and thrill that we had.
Day 1 : 16th June  (Bangalore to Delhi by Flight)
Wow!! Starting is always exciting. We started from Bangalore to Delhi by flight on Friday evening 8 PM, So that we can stay a night in Delhi, and can fresh start our road trip in morning. Also We had booked Nissan Terrano from mychoize Which is a good car and less costly then Zoomcar or myles (You can find price and other detail in Excel sheet). We landed to Delhi in evening 11PM, and received our car at airport itself. After that we checked in to Delhi hotel which is near to airport. Well in truth, our first hotel was not so good, but we had to stay for a night only. Just to note, we faced problem with car parking in that hotel.
Day 2 : 17th June  (Delhi to Jammu)
Distance : 600 Km
Travel time : 10 hours
And the real adventure begin from today. We have our car, we have our plan and we are ready. We started from Delhi to Jammu at 10 AM, which is slight late then we expected. We had to travel through NH 44 highway. And this road was really nice and smooth. Well we had some bad luck with our car. AC was not working so spent 2 hour for that.  Now Since we had to cover 600 KM for first day, and we were late, we didn’t stop much this day. We reached to Jammu around 10 PM and checked in to hotel Hotel ocean grand. This hotel was better than the first one. In fact, after today all the Hotels were nice and spacious. (Check for hotel details in excel sheet)
Day 3 : 18th June  (Jammu to Srinagar)
Distance : 260 Km
Travel time : 10 hours
We started today at 8 AM in morning. And we had to drive for 300 KM. Jammu to Srinagar road is not so good. But today the scenery with mountains started to fresh our day. The Army trucks were travelling in every 5-10 KMs. Unfortunately we met with tyre burst, and we had to change it. Luckily since we had offline videos of how to change tyres, and we replaced it within 40 mins(If you already know how to change it is just 20 min of work). Although roads were not so good, but we still made to reach Srinagar by 6 PM in evening. Our hotel New Green View was at Dull Lake, and we crossed the lake in Shikara to reach out there. As said earlier, this hotel was really nice and spacious and food was very good. Weather is soft and and welcoming here.
Captures for Day 3 –
Day 4 : 19th June  (Srinagar – Gulmarg – Sonmarg)
Distance Srinagar to Gulmarg : 56 Km
Travel time : 2 hours
This is one of my favourite day. This day we drove less and enjoyed the scenery most. We started from Srinagar at 9 AM for Gulmarg. We reached there by 12 PM, having breakfast on the way. Gulmarg is very great place and photogenic. At the top of the hill it was cold and windy with some rain. Although the locals will come and force you to go by horse and will tell it is too far. But in fact, you can walk till the rope point. And don’t ride the horse until you are interested in riding.
Distance Gulmarg to Sonmarg : 112 Km
Travel time : 4 hours
We left Gulmarg by 4 PM, and started towards Sonmarg. It took 4 hours to reach there, since it was heavily raining and was difficult to watch for roads. We reached at 8PM to our hotel Mount view and this hotel was even better than previous. Weather was too cold here. But we got very nice and warm room, and very cooperative people.Â
Captures for Day 4 –
Day 5 : 20th June  (Sonmarg – Kargil)
Distance : 134 Km
Travel time : 6 hours
We woke up early today at 6 AM, and the view from this hotel was really awesome. It was like hotels were between mountains. We started for Kargil at 9 AM after breakfast and today was again smooth day with not much driving. I must say, roads from Sonmarg to Kargil is the best experience that we had. It was like the series of big mountains, the actual Himalaya started from here. The greeneries were way too much attractive, and we spent lot of time on this route. We had the real road adventure on this route, since roads were very narrow and few passes were like one vehicle at a time. And due to landslides, condition of roads were not so good. We visited Kargil Memorial on this route around 3 PM. Felt really proud with our Indian army after seeing the Kargil war stories and the big Tiranga flying to the mountain. we made to reach Kargil Hotel Rangyul early around 5 PM. This hotel was was again awesome, and food was also good.
Captures for Day 5 –
Day 6 : 21st June  (Kargil – Leh)
Distance : 221 Km
Travel time : 7 hours
Another best scenic route. This is again a chill drive day, started at 9 AM. And now we are travelling to big rocky mountains. These mountains are different than previous day. Bit more rocky and multicoloured. Roads for Kargil to Leh is awesome. We stopped at many places to do photography. On this route we visited magnetic hills and sangam. We reached to hotel Royal Holiday at 6 PM in evening. This hotel was very nice and even best for foods. And finally we are in Leh. So we rest our day here.
Captures for Day 6 –
Day 7 : 22nd June  (Leh Visit)
Great!! Now we reached to our destination but still a lot to do. Today we decided to visit Leh and its local places. Since we were driving from past 5 days, it is must to give a rest to it. So we hired Scotty at 400/- for half day, and covered Leh Palace and Shanti Stoopa.
Captures for Day 7 –
Important – Since we can not take self drive or other then local rented car to Leh(Nubra, Pangong, etc,), Â we booked cab for Nubra and pangong Lake at 15000/- for two person which we got with discount. The actual amount for rented car was 17000. If booking for more than two people the cost will be divided, and you will pay less amount. But with this discount they did not provide this car with AC. That we came to know later. And with our experience, AC was needed, because on the way to Nubra and Pangong weather was either really hot or very cold. And if we open window, too much dust. So it lead us to some health issues.
Day 8 : 23rd June  (Leh – Nubra)
Distance : 160 Km
Travel time : 6-8 hours
We booked cab for further visit in Leh. Our cab with driver reached to hotel on time, and we started at 8 AM. Leh to Nubra road goes via Khardungla pass, which is the highest peak at 18000 and is full with snow. Here people will feel dizziness, and you can not even walk 20 meters continuously unless you are on some exercise. Driver will suggest to stay 15-20 mins only there. But this place will not allow you to leave too soon, and we stayed here around 45 mins. And it took almost 4 hours before and after crossing this pass only, due to bad road conditions and single lanes. We had our lunch when we reached down. And after this weather started becoming hot on the way. We covered buddha monastery, Hunder, Sand dunes today. And end of the day we reached to our hotel Nubra Ecolodge around 7 PM. This hotel was different but in nice ways. It had organic food harvested by themselves.
Captures for Day 8 –
Important – Our hotel was located at Sumur, which is opposite to Hunder, and to reach there we had to cross the river, which can be crossed only by road, and it was around 50 KM away from Hunder. So it is better if hotel would have been booked at Hunder itself or on the way to Hunder.
Day 9 : 24th June  (Nubra – Pangong)
Distance : 200 Km
Travel time : 5-7 hours
We left Pangong at 9 AM, Nubra to Pangong is the worst road. In fact it doesn’t have road for some 20 KMs in between. Since driver knew the path, he was just picking some random ways. Weather was hot, so we suffered with driving for quite some times. But when we had our first glimpse at Pangong lake, it was awesome. We had our camp Pangong Delight just beside the Lake. So first we checked into our camp around 2 PM. We had lunch at the camp itself, and after taking some rest, we headed to visit Pangong Lake at 5 PM. We went to the starting point, then 3 Idiots shooting point. As it started to become dark, it started to be more windy and cold. Then we went back to camp, had dinner, and we did camp firing. This camp firing although they would do, if we will ask them. So they charged 1000 rs for it, and we could share this with other tenants. In night the temperature was around 1 degree.
Captures for Day 9 –
Day 10 : 25th June  (Pangong – Leh)
Distance : 150 Km
Travel time : 6-8 hours
We started around 10 AM from Pangong to Leh. Since AC was not working in car, we suffered a lot and started to feel sick. So on this day we didn’t stop to visit any place, and reached to our hotel directly at 4 PM. Next time if we will plan to visit Leh, we would prefer visiting Nubra and Pangong by Bike, which we can get easily in Leh. Also, After coming back to Leh from these places, it is best if we stay one more day in Leh to relax.
Captures for Day 10 –
Day 11 : 26th June  (Leh – Jispa)
Distance : 338 Km
Travel time : 11-12 hours
We were happy that we are driving our car again. We started from Leh at 9 AM. This was bit late, as people suggested for roads to Sarchu-Jispa is not that good. We travelled via Leh Manali highway, which in starting is really good. We had lots of photography till Meroo. But after Meroo, roads started to get bad.
We reached Sarchu at 6 PM. We had to give it a thought whether we should stay in sarchu or should move ahead. Because staying is Sarchu at night was not good, and there could be heavy winds and land sliding. but since people who were coming from manali, were telling that we will face few Nala/river flowing on the road. On that some said it is fine with Terrano, but some were afraid of. So we decided not to stay in Sarchu, and started moving towards Jispa. The roads were not as bad, but few places roads were twisted and one can move slowly there. We faced 6-7 Nalas on our way. In daylight we managed to cross them. Only one we faced around 8 PM, which we got when it already became dark, So with some difficulties and inspecting this Nala, we crossed it. If one is good in driving and inspect these nalas, it is not so difficult to cross them.
So it became quite real adventure today. And we had to travel for almost 45 mins after the dark, and it was scary too. So it is advisable, to leave early then reach late to your destination. But with some luck we were safe, and reached to our hotel Padma lodge and cottages, Jispa at 8:45 PM.
Captures for Day 11 –
Day 12 : 27th June  (Jispa – Solang valley)
Distance : 128 Km
Travel time : 5 hours
After an adventurous evening last day, This day we started at 9 AM with beautiful scenic places. We crossed Rohtang pass today, which in fact is very easily crossed. But if someone is coming via Manali to Rohtang pass, they will face some traffic due to checking, and due to ups. So we have chosen best paths for travelling. We reached Solang valley around 4 PM. Weather was cloudy so we did not visit Solang Valley places, but our hotel was located just in a right place. So after getting refreshed, we went out for some photo shoots where lots of  apple trees were the attraction point.
Captures for Day 12 –
Day 13 : 28th June  (Solang – Manali – Kullu – Bilaspur)
Distance : 172 Km
Travel time : 7 hours
On this day, we wanted to do paragliding or river rafting, but due to bad weather and mostly raining, we could not do either of it. So we headed to Bilaspur after waiting till 11 AM. whole day it was raining, So we enjoyed driving with rain instead of paragliding or rafting. Every road has its own beauty and nature with rain was making it more beautiful. We reached to Bilaspur hotel Himshikhar at 7 PM. All our hotels were scenic so was this one too.
Captures for Day 13 –
Day 14 – 29th June Bilaspur – Delhi
Distance : 390 Km
Travel time : 9 hours
This was again a long route of 30 KM. But most of it was high way. So we started around 9 AM after breakfast. Till 2 PM we were on hill roads. Then we touched main highway and it was raining this day also. We entered into Punjab, but we forgot to take pass for Punjab, and we did not knew where we could get it, so we had to pay 1300 in Punjab. That is the minimum they agreed. So we took pass for Haryana which was before entering to Haryana region. We reached Delhi around 7 PM. And reached to airport at 8:30 PM. our flight was at 11:25 PM for returning to bangalore. And thus our trip was about to end. We handed over the car at airport, had dinner, and well back to the city of electronics. We reached bangalore airport at 2 AM and back to home at 3.
It was as amazing trip, which we executed successfully. Although we faced issues, but we always knew what to do, or got some little help. So if someone is planning for this trip but gets any doubts in mind of how to achieve it, just follow “Prepare for the best and ready for the worst”.
And one more to do things is off from my to do list.
Thanks for reading. Please do write in comment section if you need any other information on this.
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