Since the road through the passes of the main range of Himalayas from Manali to Le opened to foreigners, it is almost the only land route to Ladakh. (The other road to Leh from Srinagar has almost ceased to be used by tourists due to the escalating guerrilla war). 485-km route climbs several passes above 5000 m - dizzying climbs, especially when you remember that Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe, is same height.
Long before the trip, many tourists book a car in India online to get a favorable rental rate, see more attractions and not depend on tour groups. In Mumbai, the cost of a compact class car starts from 15 euros per day, in Goa - 13 euros per day.
On the way, you will see emerald alpine meadows, the deepest gorges on earth, an alpine desert with rocks, where the ruthless wind has cut down arches and bizarre structures, and most importantly, you will get so close to the majestic Himalayan mountains that you want to reach them with your hand.
The road is opened from July to October. There is a taxi rank near the bus station in Manali where you can rent a jeep with a driver to Le, for about 8000 rupees. If you do not want to spend the night on the road (it will be very, very cold), then the jeep will leave at 3-4 o'clock.
Leaving Manali in pitch darkness, after a couple of hours you will drive up to Rohtang La pass (it will be on the right) and two-headed snowy Gyefang peak. At their foot, in beautiful alpine meadows, a whole Madia village grown up to serve travelers and tourists, consisting of cantinas and cafes operating around the clock. Here you will stop for your first cup of hot tea. Then the car will climb along a serpentine of 15 loops to the pass, covered with snow all year round. Despite the insignificant, by local standards, height, only 3980 m, Rohtang La has a terrible reputation - every year a dozen cars dive into the abyss. In fact, this is the border between tropical India and the highlands of inner Asia, the pass is often shrouded in clouds that reduce visibility to several meters, at the beginning and end of summer there are frequent storms and even snowstorms. In clear weather during the day, the views from the pass to the main Himalayan range are simply dazzling, and in the dusk of early morning the mountains will look even more grandiose and awesome.
You are already in Lahaul. The first impression is that we got into a deep tunnel between Himalayan ridge from the north and Pir Panjal ridge from the south, along the bottom, somewhere at a depth of 1 - 2 km from the road level, Chandra River runs foaming. The rays of the sun will illuminate the tunnel only at about 8 am, so we recommend that you come here from Manali separately later. Here is an amazing place to just walk along the roads that break into the abyss, find ancient pagan shrines made of stacked piles of stones with Buddhist flags and small souvenirs left by travelers, and admire the main Himalayan range.
The road will descend to Koksar, the driver will stop near a small sanctuary to thank God for passing. Houses in Lahaul are built with flat roofs, on which fodder is piled for livestock. The vegetation here is sparse and scarce.
Keylong is the administrative center of Lahaul, located in the most beautiful place in the Himalayas against the backdrop of three snowy Milkuy peaks (6517 m). Here Bhaga river flows into Chandra, and it descends into Panga valley already as Chandrabhaga. Your jeep near Keylong will cross over to the other side of the valley and start heading north into the land of "terra incognita".
In the last inhabited place this side of Himalayas, in Darcha, there are a couple of cantinas and a checkpoint where you need to show your passport (there are more checkpoints on this road in summer, but we went in October, when the outlying checkpoints were already closed for the winter). From Darchi the road begins to climb up to Baralacha La pass (4883 m) and then descends into a round rocky valley where you will see several tent-yurts with the Ladak restaurant in the center. This group of tents is called Bharatpur (Indian city) locally, although all the tents are run by changpa nomads who earn money by selling pashmina goat hair and cooking food for passing drivers and passengers. Here you can eat momo (a dish similar to our dumplings). For several hours, buses and jeeps circle the surreal landscape all the way to Sarchou.
A barn where a tent camp is set up in the high season to serve tourists. After Sarchu, the road rapidly flies up - 21 loops to the top of the Lachalung La pass (5060 m). This section of the road is clearly not for novice drivers, and motorcyclists on conventional engines are unlikely to be able to overcome a steep climb of 1300 m at all.
Formally, you are already in Ladakh, which means you are in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.The descent from the pass runs through an incredible canyon, some compare it to the famous Grand Canyon in the USA. Tourists traveling from Manali to Le by bus usually miss this spectacle, as drivers try to get to Pang, a summer campsite, in the dark. If possible, stop and admire - here, cut by furious winds rocks and beautiful arches and ruins of stone castles. In Pang, on the banks of the Tsarap River, there is a military base equipped with rows of solar panels. The road you will take passes over the base at an altitude of about 500 meters. From this height, people look like toy figures, but if you drive during the day, you can see soldiers playing cricket. Having crossed to the other side of the river, the jeep will rush along the wide and long (5 km by 40 km) plain of the Seas, lying at an altitude of 4700 m above sea level.
Apparently, nothing grows here and no one lives - this is a bleak place where the eye has nothing to catch on. To the north, the plain narrows, gradually rising to Tanglang La pass (5328 m) - the second highest pass in the world, the first - Hardung La (5602 m) - is also located in Ladakh, north of Le. The pass is covered with snow all year round, the air is rare, it is difficult to breathe.
At the top, ask the driver to stop near a Buddhist sanctuary with multi-colored flags and hands stiff from the cold, take a picture for memory - against the backdrop of the gloomy (it will be evening), wind-carved mountains of Zanskar Range. This is Ladakh.In the first village in Indus Valley - in Rumts - in one of the cantinas on the square you need to refresh yourself with dinner, and after Upsha the road crosses the river and goes onto a wide highway to Le, where you will arrive after midnight.
HOW TO GET TO MANALI By plane you can fly to Manali from Delhi or Shimla, deluxe buses from Delhi (16 hours, 600 rupees) leave from Tibetan village in the north of the city at 19 hours.
