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.
28 comments
Hi Vargis- Thanks for posting these extremely detailed & informative articles. Essential reading for any traveler to the Ladakh region who wants to research the area before traveling.
I have a query regarding Sham Valley. We are a group of 6 adults planning a 15 day trip to the region in Sept. Starting from Srinagar in 2 SUVs. After Kargil, can we make a detour for 2 nights through Sham valley before proceeding to Leh? Where to stay for 2 nights? One night may be at Hemis?
Also, are there another places that we should cover before ending up in Leh, instead of reaching Leh & then again back tracking part of the way to see other places? I assume that the Zanskar valley, Nubra Valley & the 2 lakes can only be done ex-Leh & not by taking detours from Srinagar-Leh highway?
Hi Saibal – Hemis is the only place accommodation is available but you can try in other villages as well as paying guest. Yes you can take a detour to Sham Valley before reaching Leh. Other two places you can cover are Zanskar Valley and Batalik route before hitting the Leh town.
Thanks Vargas for your useful info. Shall take these
into account when planning the trip.
You are welcome !!!
Hi Vargis- one more query regarding the detour through Shan valley before hitting Leh. Since we shall be travelling in hired car with Srinagar registration, will this vehicle be allowed to take us through Shan valley/ Zanskar valley/Batalik?.Or do we have to hire local vehicle at Kargil in view of the restrictions imposed by taxi union?
Traveling through Sham Valley should not be a problem but in case anyone stops you, please do not argue with the locals and just come back to Leh
Many thanks for this useful information. One final query- I could not see Sham Valley on your web page listing for ILPs. I assume ILP will NOT be required for visiting Sham valley?
Correct. There is no ILP required for Sham Valley
Hello Vargis,
Your blogs are really helpful. Thank you so much for providing us knowledge about Leh-Ladakh.
We are a group of 5-6 people, planning to visit Leh-ladakh between 8-14th august. Will it be a good time to visit? Will rain ruin the experience? What will be the road conditions of Srinagar-leh highway at this time?
Our itinerary will be like:
1) 7/08/2019 Delhi to Srinagar, will reach by 4.30pm
1) 8/08/2019 Srinagar to kargil, stay in kargil for one night, time taken to reach kargil?
2) 9/08/2019 Kargil to Leh via Sham valley, main attractions on the way we should cover?
3) 10/08/2019 Leh to Nubra valley, attractions and where to stay, Hunder/Dishit/Nubra valley/best place for camping and star gazing
4) 11/08/2019 Nubra Valley to pangong, what is the road conditions? Time taken to reach pangong? Nearest place to Pangong river for stay as I have read in one of your blogs that camping is not allowed anymore at Pangong Lake.
5) 12/08/2019 Pangong to Leh
Thank you
Hi Vargis, I and my partner are visiting Leh during 29 th SEP to 8th October. We are planning to rent a bike (avenger, not bullet) for a trip from Leh to sham valley, with stay in Uleytokpo. Can you please advise on the road conditions, considering my partner is a regular driver.
The first part of our Leh itinerary is as below –
29th – Reach Leh, get permits, visit market, get acclimatised
30th – visit leh palace, hemis monastery, shey monastery, Shanti stupa etc.
1st – Leh to sham valley, stay at Uleytokpo
2nd – Uleytokpo, alchi and lamayuru sightseeing, back go Leh
Can we cover these in a bike? Or can we get a shared cab easily?
Would appreciate an early response. And thank you for your advise!
Hi Vargis, Thanks for sharing information.It helps us alot.
We are planning to go Sham valley from Leh with Bike.
I searched Hemis Shukpachan on Google map.But I did not find any road toward Hemis Shukpachan.
Please find image at below link-
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AKLtpNpKpSHf7YcRUjm4ZIg3iFt4S97i
Is there any internal road going through villages,that Google is not showing 😀
Please guide us 🙂 Thanks in advance!
Hi Sayali – There is a road, I can see it on Google maps. Just type Hemis Shukpachan to Leh and it will highlight.
Dear Vargis,
we are interested to rent offroadcar with driver-guide for 4 days in Leh. Would you recommend somebody? Thanks.
Mariya
Hi Mariya – You can speak with Nasir in Leh @ 9906229203.
Hello Mr Khan, my name is maroof, i have 4 pax want to cover Magnetic Hills, Gurudwara Patthar Sahib and Indus&Zanskar river confluence and Hamis National Park , it possible they are driving by innova from leh Hotel ? please suggest
Hello Mr. Maroof, I am not sure what the question here is but in case you are asking about booking a private cab then you may contact Nasir in Leh at 9906229203. He runs his own cab and is an excellent driver.
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.