Ladakh

Crammed between the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges, Ladakh is otherworldly. Its raw, unusual, and magical landscape captures travelers’ attention. It’s so gorgeous and exclusive that it seems unreal. It’s not easy to find such diverse and striking topography anywhere in the world.

You witness the snow-clad peaks followed by the unusual green terrain, and then suddenly the brown and rugged mountains – the contrasts overwhelm the senses.

Ladakh is also known as Little Tibet because it shares its borders with Tibet. Tibet heavily influences its culture and traditions. There are so many beautiful monasteries in the region where you can experience the Tibetan Buddhist culture.

The best way to discover the Land of High Passes, as it’s fondly called, is through a road trip. It’s not your ordinary road trip. It takes you through some of the most far-out landscapes. A drive through Leh Manali Highway (road to Leh from Manali) is a curvy 490 km long highway that features challenging snow-carpeted passes (Rohtang Pass, Nakee La, Lachulung La, Tanglang La, Chang La, and Khardung La), hairpin bends (Gata Loops), high altitude plains (More Plains), and unending streams.

Whether you take a road trip through Leh Manali Highway or Srinagar Highway, or fly to Leh, it’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Pangong Tso is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Ladakh. The lake is around 135 Km long and is shared by India and China. Located at an altitude of 4,350m, Pangong Lake is the highest saltwater lake in the world. The Bollywood movie “Three Idiots” made it more popular. The lake is exquisitely blue. In the words of Niall Williams, “The water is this marvelous blue. It’s so blue that once you see it, you realize you’ve never seen blue before. That other thing you were calling blue is actually a different color; it’s not blue. This, this is blue. It’s a blue that comes down from the sky into the water so that when you look in the sea, you think sky and when you look at the sky, you think sea.”

Leh, Nubra Valley, Diskit, and Hunder are some of the other places to visit in Ladakh.

Thicksey Monastery, Hemis Monastery, Leh Palace, Shanti Stupa, Hall of Fame, Stok Palace, Shey Palace, and Druk Padma Karpo School (Rancho’s School) are some of the best places to visit in Leh.