The road, not the flight
You can fly Delhi to Leh in ninety minutes, land at 3,500 metres feeling like death, and spend two days in bed. Or you can go up the way the mountains intend: overland through Himachal, gaining altitude across a week until Ladakh's thin air feels almost normal. The Manali–Leh road is open roughly June to early October (the Atal Tunnel keeps Manali reachable year-round, but the high passes beyond close with snow). This is a two-to-three-week trip and one of the great overland journeys anywhere.
Delhi to Manali
Overnight Volvo buses leave Delhi's Majnu-ka-Tilla every evening (12–14 hours, ₹1,200–1,800 in 2026). Base yourself in Old Manali or Vashisht across the river — guesthouses ₹500–900, apple orchards, café culture heavy on Israeli food and mountain views. You are at 2,000 metres; use three or four days to walk. The Jogini waterfall path from Vashisht and the day hike up to Lama Dugh meadow start you acclimatising while the trip's paperwork sorts itself: hostels and agencies sell seats on shared minibuses to Leh (₹2,500–3,500, two days with an overnight halt), or the state HRTC bus does it cheaper and rougher.
Two days over the top
The Manali–Leh highway is 470 kilometres of switchbacks crossing four or five passes over 4,900 metres, topping out at Taglang La (5,328m). Day one runs through the Atal Tunnel into Lahaul's sudden aridity to a night halt at Keylong or the tent camps at Jispa (3,200m) — a deliberately modest altitude to sleep at. Day two is the epic: the moonscape plains of Sarchu, the twenty-one hairpins of the Gata Loops, wild asses on the More Plains, and finally the descent past Upshi's army camps into the Indus valley. Sit on the left side northbound. Carry water, sunscreen, and paracetamol for the pass headaches; they fade as you drop.
Leh: acclimatise, then explore
Leh at 3,500m deserves slow first days: the old town's Tibetan-style palace, apricot cake in garden cafés, sunset at Shanti Stupa. Guesthouses run ₹800–1,500 with breakfast. Once your body agrees, do the monastery circuit down the Indus — Thiksey at dawn for morning prayers (its rooftop horns sounding across the valley is worth the 6am start) and Hemis tucked in its gorge. Foreigners need an Inner Line Permit for Nubra and Pangong, arranged in a day through any agency for roughly ₹700 including fees.
Nubra Valley and Pangong Tso
Shared taxis and small-group tours (₹3,000–5,000 for the loop, split) cross Khardung La — long advertised as the world's highest motorable road — down into Nubra, where the Shyok and Nubra rivers braid between 6,000-metre walls. Hunder has sand dunes with double-humped Bactrian camels, a leftover of Silk Road traffic; sleep in a village homestay in Sumur or Hunder among the seabuckthorn. The rough but spectacular Shyok river road then cuts directly across to Pangong Tso, the 134-kilometre lake at 4,225m that shifts from turquoise to slate to violet as clouds move. Tent camps at Spangmik are cold and basic (₹1,200–2,000 half board); stay the night anyway, because the lake at dawn, dead calm and mirroring snow peaks, is the image you came for. Loop back to Leh over Chang La.
Practicalities
Budget ₹2,000–3,000 a day averaged out, more on tour days. Cash is king beyond Leh; ATMs stop at the city limits. Nights are freezing even in August — carry a real jacket. Respect the altitude rules: sleep low, climb high, and if a headache worsens or breathing rattles, descend. Fly out of Leh at the end (book the left window seat for the Karakoram) or, if the season allows, continue by shared jeep to Srinagar over Zoji La and make it a full trans-Himalayan traverse.
