Sham Valley Map: This is a road map of Leh to Sham Valley with all the major towns or villages, tourist attractions and distance in between. Please click on the map to view it in full size or download and save it to your hard drive.
Sham Valley Map
In order to reach Sham Valley, you need to start from Leh on Srinagar Leh highway. There are some major tourist attractions that you can see like Magnetic Hills, Gurudwara Patthar Sahib and Indus&Zanskar river confluence. About 10 kilometers before Saspul, you leave the main highway and take the road towards Hemis Shukpachan, thus entering the beautiful Sham valley. Contrary to common belief, it is actually after you leave the highway here that you enter Sham Valley.
Another way to enter the valley is from Nurla, taking the small road towards Ang. If you however are in a mood to track, you can start from Likir and walk through the valley, thus experiencing the local Ladakh culture and crossing 5 high altitude passes on the way. It is a relatively easy trek considered perfect for beginners.
If you are planning a trip to Ladakh, a day journey to Sham valley is highly recommended. Distance to Sham valley is about 200 kilometers from both Leh and Kargil and a return journey can easily be done in a day. If you are returning to Srinagar, then you can add a day to your return journey and stay at the village of Hemis Shukpachan and then continue towards Kargil the day after. Please click on the link below to take you to the next part of this article detailing on how to plan a journey to Sham Valley, both by road and trek.
I hope this information was helpful. If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask in the comments section below and I would be glad to answer.
12 comments
Hello Sir,
I want your suggestion on Sham Valley Tour. I will be going by Royal Enfield with my wife and will be covering following places in sequence Magnetic Hill – Pathar Sahib Gurdwara – Indus & Zanskar river Sangam – Likir and Alchi Monastry – Moon landscape – Leh. Is it possible to do complete tour in a day and if yes then by what time we should leave for the tour in morning.
Hello Chirag Bhai, Yes you can do this in a day but must start from Leh by first light of the morning. Possibly before 7 AM if you want to spend a little time at all these places.
Forgot to mention, I will be going via Manali and returning via Manali. From this village, next day I intend to go to Turtuk/Hunder
Go to Turtuk, there are more tourist attractions towards Nubra Valley than Sham Valley so spend time exploring those. Sham Valley is best enjoyed if you can spare a 2-3 days for a trek through the valley.
Thanks Vargis. What do you suggest for going to Turtuk from Hemis Shukpachan? I guess it might take around 8-9hrs. Pls correct me if I am wrong.
Further, a side question. How much time it usually takes from jispa to leh on bullet if one is not stopping too much for breaks and is maintaining a descent speed (not in a rush mannner)?
You are welcome Harshit. It may take you up to 10 hours to reach Turtuk from Hemis If you want to do it, then ensure that you start as early as you can. You can easily do Jispa to Leh in one day. Once again, take a early start from Jispa, by first light of the day.
Thanks again Vargis. I wanted to know travel time between Jispa and Leh to ensure that I dont travel in dark as I am not comfortable doing that in hills with my wife alone. If I start at 5am from Jispa, is it easily feasible to reach Leh in late evening, not before complete dark?
One more thing, is there any good homestay or village nearby Leh (within 1.5 hrs drive) which I can make my base for Pangong & Tso-Moriri. I dont really want to stay in Leh city itself again after Turtuk but also I dont want to travel far from Leh.
Hey Harshit – Start between 5-6 AM from Jispa, keep our breaks limited and you will easily make it to Leh by 4 PM.
Ladakh is a very small town brother. You can cover the entire of it on foot in less than an hour. Stay anywhere, any place of your liking and you will never be far from anywhere. It is hardly 2 – 3 major roads anyways.
Hi Vargis,
This place Hemis Shukpachan looks interesting! I will be going with my wife on our bike(only partner!) in June this yr and considering between this village and Turtuk. I want to live in a village and experience quaint local life away from crowd. Which one would you recommend?
Even if I drop turtuk, I will go to Hunder. But I heard that views from Hunder to Turtuk are awesome. So, if I skip Turtuk, will I be missing some really nice views not experienced anywhere in Leh?
I am planning to cover Pangong & Tso-Moriri apart from above.
Hi Harshit – I would recommend Turtuk rather than Hemis though both are equally beautiful. Hemis is Buddhist majority while Turtuk is muslim majority. The reason why I am recommending Turtuk is because you can include it with visit to Nubra valley however for Hemis, you will have to dedicate one day towards Srinagar Leh highway since you are returning via Manali only. Go to Nubra and stay at Turtuk via Hunder Diskit, you will love it.
Sir, We 6 are going to ladhak in 1st week of June. On 31 st May, 2017 we will be reaching Srinagar and then after we will proceed towards leh. We want to stay one night at sham valley between out journey to leh. Kindly inform whether inner line or any type of permit is required. If required the where to take permission & contact of any one ho shall facilitate the permission prior to our journey.
Hello Rajesh Bhai – No permit is required to visit Sham Valley. You can include it in your plan.