Hyderabad to Leh Ladakh Road Trip

Ladakh...

As I promised myself, I left no traces of my trash in the Himalayas. Everywhere we used garbage bags to collect cooking and other waste.

Planning:

decided to go for a long trip. 3 places in mind.

Rajasthan -> Not the correct season

Spiti -> Roads are tough, My wife and daughter might not appreciate the ride.

Ladakh -> There are high chances of mountain sickness.

 

At last, we decided to go to Ladakh. To handle mountain sickness, we planned our journey via Jammu & Kashmir, so our bodies would gradually adjust to high altitude.

 

We planned to start on June 1st and reach Hyderabad on or before June 20th. We applied for leave for 10 days, and for the remaining days, we managed WFH.

It is planned by keeping my daughter's age in mind (2). So I don't want to visit all the unnecessary and much-hyped places.

Preparation:

prepared a list of things to carry for a long drive. So few items were purchased online, and a few were already in my possession.

• The car roof luggage carrier
• Camping tents and camping chairs
• Single stove, lighter, and cylinder weighing 5kg
• TPMS
• Car tyre compressor & Puncture kit
• Car phone holder
• First aid and basic medicine
• a power bank, a charging light, and a multi-plug
• Foldable bucket
• Sunglasses, caps, tissues & wet tissues
• Car laptop charger (also useful for a mobile charge)
• 3M windshield cleaner.
• Groceries, homemade pickles and biscuits
• Blankets, Bedsheets & Pillows
• Garbage bags

Complete plan:

Budget:

I spent 40k in cash and the remaining from UPI or Card.

Online shopping: Car roof luggage carrier, Car laptop charger, Groceries, 3M cleaner, TPMS, Car tire air compressor, Puncture kit, Foldable water bucket, Gas Stove, 3M tape

Food: We ate in hotels only for 2 days, the rest of the days we cooked our own food. cooking won't take much time, It takes the same time as in a hotel. [Lunch & Dinner]

Other Budget: I made a setup in the car to sleep on long drives, it is a kind of one-time investment and it can be useful for all journeys.

It cost me around 9000 including labor and material.

Journey Routes:

Depart Route:

Hyderabad -> Nagpur -> Agra -> Amritsar -> Jammu -> Srinagar -> Kargil -> Leh

Return Journey:

Leh -> Sarchu -> Manali -> Chandigarh -> Hyderabad

The cities I mentioned above are the halt stops for us, In the return journey, we didn't stay in any hotel, It is a continuous journey from Chandigarh to Hyderabad.

June 1st: Hyderabad to Nagpur

Started from Hyderabad at 10 AM and reached Nagpur by evening. We prepared lunch at home and carried it with us.

After reaching Nagpur, stayed at my cousin's home.

Road condition: Till the Telangana state border highway is excellent but After the Maharastra border many patches on road.

June 2nd: Nagpur to Agra

Prepared breakfast and lunch at cousin's home and started early to Agra, By 6 AM we were on the highway.

Halted at a temple for lunch, reached Agra by late evening.

9 PM: We check in into Hotel Taj [2 days stay in the same hotel]

Road condition: Excellent, easily we can cruise at 100 KMPH

June 3rd: Agra -> Fathepur Sikri -> Agra

This is my 3rd visit to Agra, but never went to Fatehpur Sikri, So this time we went there.

We had the complimentary breakfast in the hotel and left the hotel by 10 AM to visit Fathepur Sikri.

For anyone, I strongly recommend visiting this place. We opted for an ASI guide for 700 which is completely worthy.

Here, we can explore a lot of places, THis is the place where Jodha lived after marrying Akbar.
We returned to Agra after 2PM, in between we cooked our food,

4PM: Went to visit Agra fort.

Friday is a holiday for the Taj Mahal, So we covered the remaining places on this day and went to the hotel to take some rest.

Road Condition: Good double-lane toll road.

June 4th: Agra to Amritsar

Taj Mahal visiting hour starts from 6.30 AM, So we packed everything and check out of the hotel

By 7 AM, we are at Taj Mahal, here also opted for Guide.

10 PM: we are done with the Taj Mahal, Last time I visited the Taj was in 2010, In the last decade so much improvement in Proper parking facilities, Security, and Battery vehicles from Parking to Taj.

Signal Jammer installed at Taj, So carrying some cash in Hand is a good idea, Mobiles, and UPI won't work.

We started towards Amritsar, Agra to Delhi and Delhi ORR are like our Hyderabad ORR, Speed limit also 120. So by lunch, we crossed Delhi. 

So we halted at a place to prepare our lunch.

By late night, we reached Amritsar and check in to the hotel.

Road Condition: 4-lane highway with little traffic.

June 5th: Amritsar to Jammu

After a sound sleep and fresh up, went to Golden temple ina E Riksha, better don't take our own vehicles. You won't get parking.

We had lunch in the temple's kitchen and reached the hotel by 12. The initial plan is to visit the Wagah border and reach Jammu by night. We will have sunlight till 8 PM in J&K. 

But when we got to know, the situation is not good in Jammu, and the police said no to night journeys.

There will be no issues for any tourist in Jammu, Just listen to military instructions and respect them. Rest will be fine. 

So, for the first time I entered J&K. Just after 2 min of crossing the J&K border, we lost signal in our phones, Our prepaid number will not work from here until we left Ladakh region.

Road Condition: Excellent, but many stop & go by the military. They tried to keep private vehicles away from the military convoy.

June 6th: Jammu to Srinagar

We check out the hotel in Jammu by 8AM and started to Srinagar, Jammu is very peaceful, and see a lot of improvement in infra. We had breakfast just after crossing Jammu.

Now the valleys started from here. We are going to enter very sensitive areas which we hear about in news. We have clear instructions from the military, Do not stop anywhere and don't get down from the car in any situation. We respected that and not halted anywhere and we skipped our lunch.

As the military said, the situation is really not good in Srinagar, We see no one outside. All shops closed. The military is everywhere. We see combing in paddy fields.

By 3PM, we reached the hotel and after some rest went to Lal chowk for shopping. We bought a sweater for my daughter at very reasonable rates.

After that went to Dal lake. Unfortunately, the lake is polluted, So we avoided the boat journey.

We prepared the dinner in the hotel.

Road Condition: Construction progress, So many diversions.

June 7th: Srinagar to Kargil

We check out of the hotel by 8AM and started to Kargil. We prepared our own Breakfast and lunch.

The journey is beautiful and adventurous, passes through ice cap mountains and many ghat roads.

For the first time, we saw the ice cap mountains from Srinagar.

The journey is memorable, I can say it is challenging for our driving skills. Ghat roads with heavy trucks. many diversions roads, work-in-progress roads, steep roads, and Dirt roads.

At one place, I faced a pick-up issue with my vehicle, Lot of vehicles are struggling to climb that steep, and my vehicle is also no exception.

In this route, we can cover the Kargil war memorial.

We reached out to homestay by 8 PM and prepared our own food.

Road condition: Tough & Rough with heavy traffic

June 8th: Kargil to Leh

Kargil to Leh route is enough to get lifetime travel memories. Personally felt, this is the best scenic route in the entire journey. We check out the homestay by 9 AM and started to Leh.

Slowly we moved from green mountains to barren mountains. Now we are in the Ladakh region, So not much military involvement, and speed journey.

I don't have words to explain the beauty of this journey, This road is enough to say a road trip is best for Ladakh. We halted for lunch, We prepared our lunch in Kargil and carried it with us.

We took so many breaks to take photographs. 

Finally, we were in Leh. We reached Leh by 6PM and check in to a homestay.
Road Condition: Exellent

June 9th: Leh local visit

We limited our Ladakh exploration to 3 days only, So we planned to visit Leh city, Pangong, Khardugla, and Nubra valley.

On the first day in Leh, we covered Shanti stupa, Thiksey monastery, and the hall of fame.

Hall of fame:

Thiksey monastery:

By evening we reached the hotel and prepared food.

Worth to visit these 3 places.

June 10th: Leh to Pangong lake

We applied for the permits online and got the pdf instantly. 600 per person, no need for any agent service. 

We were aware the night temperature in Pangong was not good for my daughter, So we planned to start early and reach Leh city by night, So we kept our luggage in the same homestay and started to Pangong.

Pangong roads are a challenge for any driver, 150 KM will take a 6-7 hours journey.

For the first time, we witnessed the live snowfall and experienced snow mountains.

We saw a lot of vehicles returning, they said Snow on the roads and vehicles are sliding and we can go only if we have chains for car tires. Anyway, we traveled for 102 km and saw 11km of traffic due to landslides.

They said it will take at least 4 hrs to clear the road and traffic, Our plan is to return to Leh after visiting Pangong. but with this traffic it is not possible, So we also decided to go back. Temperature showing as zero degrees.

So we came back, My brother was also in Leh, he had a return flight to Hyderabad on next day morning, So we went to their hotel and spend some time.

June 11th: Leh -> Khardugla -> Sarchu
We packed everything and started to Nubra valley, My friends already said for a road traveler Nubra is a boring place, but I need to go to Khardugla pass, which is the highest motorable road.

Mountain sickness is real and we felt that. So we left the place just after a few Photographs.
We both used the Saridon tablet to get rid of headache and it worked. We spent some time in the snow and started to Sarchu.

For the first 150 km road is in good shape, we need to fill the fuel in Leh or Karu, after Karu next fuel station is after 350 KM, we get the fuel in bottles but they are selling liter petrol for 160.

We reached Sarchu by 10PM, last 100 km of roads were very dangerous and narrow. All are like off roads. In Sarchu temperature is -9 degrees. we took local homestay for 1000 per night. These are kind of temporary sheds, but we don't get many stay options in Sarchu. We get better stays in Jispa, but that is another 85 km from Sarchu.

I would recommend starting early from Leh and staying at Jispa is a better option.

Road Condition: First 150 km Best and last 100 km Worst and dangerous.

June 12th: Sarchu to Manali
I woke at 5AM and tried to start my car, but it is not starting due to the low outside temperature. Along with me, every car owner is waiting for some sunlight. From 8 AM onwards petrol cars started. But diesel cars still waiting, Towing onto the main road is also a big task in these conditions. At last 8.30 AM, my car started.

Sarchu to Jispa road condition worst, It took almost 3 hours for 85 KM.

After crossing Jispa, we halted for lunch preparation.

Now the Atal tunnel is open, So the distance to Manali is reduced.

By 3PM, we reached Manali and we did some activities. After taking some rest in the hotel, went to mall road for shopping. Again don't take our vehicles. We hired an Auto.

We ate and shop on mall road and reached the hotel by 8PM.

Road Conditions: Till Jispa Worst, after Jispa better roads including Attal tunnel.

June 13th: Manali to Chandigarh
We woke up early to do some activities in Manali, So we check out of the hotel and went for some activities.

By 12 PM, we completed our activities and started toward Chandigarh. We reached Hotel by midnight at 2 AM, We checked in and took some rest.

Road Conditions: Entire highway Construction in progress, worst roads except for last 40 KM.

June 14th & 15th: Chandigarh to Hyderabad

It's been 14 days, So my daughter is feeling a little homesick. So I decided to reach Hyderabad with a few power naps in between.

So nonstop we reached Madyapradesh and had the Dinner in Satyam hotel, then I took a 2 hrs power nap in the car near Pench forest, Overnight I crossed Nagapur.

On June 15th at 11 AM we safely reached Hyderabad.

Few points from my experience:

1. Leh is a mid-range city, You will get everything in Leh
2. The road trip is best for Ladakh
3. Ladakh is for Journey experiences, not a leisure destination.
4. Carry wet tissue, helps a lot to clear the car interior quickly
5. If you are planning for self-cooking, opt for Homestay
6. Wifi everywhere in Leh town
7. Remember you won't get OTP to use a credit card online to book hotels.
8. Keep money in the account to use UPI
9. We can easily manage WFH if anybody wants to do.
10. Mountain sickness is real 
11. 4 days is good enough to explore important places in Ladakh
12. Always keep the tank full in the car/bike

That's all from the Ladakh trip...