Ladakh Road Trip By Royal Enfield

We start with a hearty breakfast and a short briefing on the Motorcycle Tour. After a quick rundown of road safety precautions and check of personal equipment, we will start out on the narrow adjacent road into the mountains. Manali is situated on a steep mountain ridge at 2000 meters. This is your chance to get acquainted with your bike and get to know the roads. In the evening we will return to the Himalayan Country House for dinner.

The challenge begins here as we zigzag up to the Rothang pass (13,044ft). Here you get fantastic views back towards Manali and the surrounding Himalaya! Next we descend into the Valley to Koksar, (check point) take a “chai break” before we continue along the bank of the mighty Bhaga river through the town of Keylong, have another chai break and then finally head to Jispa where we stay the night at a camp.

Quick stop at the police check post & and then we follow along the Darcha river. We zigzag our way up to the Bara lache pass and cross one of the toughest passes of the journey: the Baralache pass lies at 16,500 feet and has of course stunning views…Then we descend to "Bharatpur" for a well-deserved chai break and hot lunch. After lunch we ride some fantastic bits of road along the valley floor to our overnight campsite in Sarchu. This is a wonderful semi permanent. Dinner and night in the camp.

One more high pass today, we will get an extra early start and immediately ascend the Bata Loop Switchbacks towards Lachhulang pass (16,613ft), and descend to our chai and lunch stop in the village of Pang. Keeping an eye out for Tibetan Nomads, we will ascend quickly again and emerge into an amazing high altitude valley known as the Moore Planes. Next we head towards “KharnakRoupshu,” which is the winter pastures of Changspa. The Tibetan Nomads live here during the winter with their herds of yaks, sheep & goats… We have dinner and stay here in another semi-permanent camp.

Today we cross the 2nd highest motor-able pass in the world! Which lies at 5300meters! Descending the pass on an amazingly beautiful stretch of road we re-enter civilization… After passing the check point at Upshi, we pass many famous monasteries before reaching Leh. We see Stakan, Thiksey and Shy Monasteries. We continue along the Indus River valley until we reach the town of Leh in Ladakh. Leh is a wonderful town located on the Indus riverbank. We check into our hotel and then you have a free evening to explore Leh.

Free visit leh to explore the market and Leh Palace by walk.

Today we have an excursion to Khardung pass at 5602 meters. This is the world’s highest motor-able road – the Khardung pass at a thrilling 5602 meters!! Ledakh is also so known as the land of Lamas and monasteries – so we’ll take you to visit one of the oldest monasteries of Ladakh – the AlchiChoskarMontastery, which is renowned for its architecture and ancient wall paintings. The monastery was built by the great Buddhist translator LottsavaRinchen Zangpo. We’ll have lunch in the restaurant run by the monastery. After lunch we’ll stop to visit the Spituk monastery, it offers a magnificent view over the entire Indus valley. Then we head back to Leh. You have a free evening and spend another night at the hotel.

We will be riding 215 kms today so it is best to start early from Leh. We take the Leh – Manali highway until the town of Upshi. Near Upshi we stop at a check post where you need to submit your permits. For the better part of today’s journey we follow the Indus River and the tarmac is in good condition for the most part, barring a few landslide prone stretches…
Chumathang itself has little to offer to a visitor apart from a few local roadside restaurants, a Gompa and hot water springs. A quick lunch stop would suffice for most, instead we make our own track, riding off road and following the numerous tracks left by passing vehicles. The last 30kms are a pain, but a boon for those who love off road riding! The track here is a mix of sand and dirt trails littered with small stones. However the view one gets at the end of it makes it all worth it, overnight on the bank of the Tso-mo-riri or Korzok village.

From Korzok we back track to the Junction of Tso-khar and from there take the diversion to reach Tso- Khar. This road tends to be a bit rough for some is a boon for those who appreciate off road motor biking!! It is believed that Tso- Kar was once connected to Tso- Mo-riri, even though TsoKar is a salt water lake while Tso Mo-riri is fresh water… The area surrounding Tso- Kar is protected and forms the Tso- Kar wild life sanctuary; we will camp here overnight on the banks of Tso-Khar, the salt water lake.

From Korzok we back track to the Junction of Tso-khar and from there take the diversion to reach Tso- Khar. This road tends to be a bit rough for some is a boon for those who appreciate off road motor biking!! It is believed that Tso- Kar was once connected to Tso- Mo-riri, even though TsoKar is a salt water lake while Tso Mo-riri is fresh water… The area surrounding Tso- Kar is protected and forms the Tso- Kar wild life sanctuary; we will camp here overnight on the banks of Tso-Khar, the salt water lake.

Today is a short but pure bliss ride of bad roads! Streams to cross, frozen puddles and dirt tracks to navigate all the way up to and back over the Rohtang pass. We’ll take our chai and lunch break at Marhi before descending back to the lush green of the Kullu valley, the sparkling Bease River and finally you are back in Manali! As it’s the last night of this adventure we’ll celebrate and party with all our new friends and the entire staff who have been a part of your Life Changing Holiday in the Himalayas...

After breakfast you’ll have a free day in Manali, last day shopping around Manali. After lunch you’ll be transferred to the Bus stand.