Things to do
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Hemis National Park
Walk in July or August and you cross the park from homestay to homestay on the Markha Valley trail; come back in February or March and you can watch the ridges above Rumbak for a snow leopard.
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Shanti Stupa
Japanese Buddhists and Ladakhi volunteers built this white domed stupa on a ridge above Changspa, and it was inaugurated in 1991. A long flight of steps climbs from the lane below, and a road reaches the top for anyone saving their lungs. Sunset is the busy hour; in the morning the light falls on the palace opposite and the terrace is quieter.
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Thiksey Monastery
Stacked up a hillside about 19 km south-east of Leh, this Gelugpa monastery climbs in tiers of whitewashed buildings to a red temple at the summit. Morning prayers begin around dawn in the assembly hall, with visitors allowed to sit quietly at the back. A seated Maitreya Buddha two storeys high fills a temple near the top, and the roof looks across the Indus fields.
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Monastery
Hemis Monastery
Hidden in a side gorge about 40 km south-east of Leh, the wealthiest monastery in Ladakh belongs to the Drukpa lineage and keeps a museum of thangkas, statues and ritual objects. Its two-day festival in June or July fills the courtyard with masked cham dances honouring Padmasambhava. Once every twelve years a giant thangka is unrolled down the facade for the festival.
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Viewpoint
Khardung La
Prayer flags and army huts crown this pass on the road from Leh to Nubra, about 39 km out of town and signed as one of the highest motorable roads in the world. The air at the top is thin, so a short stop is wise, and snow can close the road in any month. The descent north opens onto views of the Karakoram.
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Palace
Leh Palace
Nine storeys of stone, timber and mud brick rise over the old town, built for the Namgyal kings in the seventeenth century and left empty when the royal family moved to Stok. Much of the interior is bare, and the draw is the roof: views across the flat roofs of Leh to the Stok range and the Indus valley. A steep lane climbs to it from the old town behind the main mosque.
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Other
Nubra Valley
North of Leh over the Khardung La, the Shyok and Nubra rivers open a wide valley of sand dunes, apricot orchards and green villages. Double-humped Bactrian camels graze the dunes at Hunder, and Diskit Monastery looks down the valley from its spur beside a large seated Buddha. Most trips stay two nights, with an inner line permit and the pass road setting the pace.
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Lake
Pangong Tso
A long, narrow lake at about 4,200 metres runs from Ladakh into Tibet, its water shifting from turquoise to deep blue as the light moves across it. The drive from Leh crosses the Chang La and takes five to six hours each way, so most trips stay a night in the camps at Spangmik or Lukung. An inner line permit is required for the road.
