Poplar groves and green fields spill along the valley floor beneath the bare brown wall of the Ladakh range.

Ladakh · 5 Days

Ladakh — Central Valley & Sham

The gentlest Ladakh trip — Leh, the Indus-valley monasteries and one night in the low Sham valley, with no high passes.

Day by Day

5 Days, In Full

The easiest way to see the heart of Ladakh. It stays low, with no pass over about 3,600 metres, so the altitude is manageable. Two days in Leh cover the old town, the palace, Shanti Stupa and the great monasteries of Thiksey and Hemis. Then a night down in the Sham valley for Alchi's wall paintings, Likir's giant Buddha and the ruined fort at Basgo. It skips Nubra and the lakes, which the longer trips include. Five days, no rough roads, a real introduction.

The flat rooftops of Leh town stacked up the hillside, the bare Ladakh range rising behind them under a thin high-altitude sky.

Leh

Arrive in Leh — Rest and Acclimatise

You fly into Leh in the early morning, over the main Himalayan range. The airport sits at 3,500 metres, so the first day is a rest day, and this is not optional. Your guide checks you in and asks you to do very little. Drink water, eat lightly, sleep if you can. A short, slow walk to Leh market in the afternoon is as much as you should do. Giving the body a full day here now prevents altitude sickness later.

The white dome of Shanti Stupa on its hilltop above Leh, the old town and bare ridges falling away below

Leh

Leh — Old Town, Palace and Shanti Stupa

A gentle first full day, still close to the hotel. The morning is Leh's old town: the bazaar, the mosque, and the nine-storey palace above it. The climb through the palace floors is slow but short. In the afternoon, drive up to Shanti Stupa for the view over the valley. Sankar Monastery, a working gompa a short way from the centre, fills any spare time. An early night before tomorrow's monastery run.

The Thiksey monastery complex tiered up its hill above the Indus valley, Ladakh

Leh

The Indus Valley Monasteries — Thiksey and Hemis

A full day among the great monasteries south-east of Leh. Start early at Thiksey, a twelve-storey monastery on a hill, for the dawn prayers if you are up to it. Then Hemis, the largest and richest in Ladakh, hidden in a side gorge. Shey, the old royal palace with its giant seated Buddha, and Stok are on the way back. It is a lot of driving, but the roads are good and the valley is beautiful. Back in Leh by evening.

An empty ribbon of tarmac unspools west across the high desert floor below Ladakh's bare, wind-scoured ridgelines.

Leh → Sham Valley

Leh to the Sham Valley — Basgo, Likir & Alchi

A drive west down the Indus, dropping in altitude the whole way, which helps. First stop is Basgo, a ruined mud-brick fort and its Maitreya temples on a wind-carved ridge. Then Likir, with its huge open-air gilded Buddha and, if you want it, a short turn at a village potter's wheel. The main visit is Alchi, the eleventh-century monastery on the river flats, with wall paintings found nowhere else in Ladakh. You reach your hotel at Nimmu or Nurla by late afternoon.

A traveller stands on a bluff where a braided river cuts through bare Ladakhi mountains on the road back to Leh.

Sham Valley → Leh

The Sham Valley back to Leh — Magnetic Hill & the Hall of Fame

An easy drive back up the valley to Leh, with the classic Sham stops on the way. The Indus-Zanskar confluence, where the clear green river meets the grey one. Magnetic Hill, a quick stop where the road plays a trick on the eye. The Gurudwara Pathar Sahib, a Sikh shrine built around a boulder. Closer to town, the Hall of Fame, the army's museum of the region's mountain wars. You are back in Leh, at a higher but now familiar altitude, by early afternoon.

Book This Itinerary

Priced Packages On This Route

This route is already built into these packages — real inclusions and pricing on each one's own page.

luxury · 4 Nights

First-Timer's Ladakh — Luxury

per person, twin sharing — enquire for current pricing

premium · 4 Nights

First-Timer's Ladakh — Premium

per person, twin sharing — enquire for current pricing

luxury · 4 Nights