Short Trip to Ladakh – How to Plan your Itinerary

How to plan a short trip to Ladakh? Is it even possible to do so? Things in and about Ladakh have changed tremendously in the last few years. Yes, it is no longer a place that you once needed a good 2 weeks to visit. These days a short trip to Ladakh is possible but you will have to keep a few things in mind which I will discuss in this article.

With the above being said, Ladakh, in my opinion, is not really a place for a short trip. It is not your regular weekend destination where you can just go and come back in a matter of days. A trip to Ladakh requires meticulous planning. Even then things can go in an entirely different direction than what you had in mind.

Also Read: How to Plan a Trip to Leh Ladakh – A Complete Travel Guide

If you really want to enjoy Ladakh to the fullest, a minimum of 10-14 weeks is required to cover all the famous tourist areas; as well as the beauty of both the highways leading to Ladakh. But, in our daily busy lives, not all of us can afford to be away from work for so long. Some people are forced to plan a short trip to Ladakh.

How to Plan a Short Trip to Ladakh

Let me start off by first saying that a short trip to Ladakh can be stressful for both body and mind so you must first prepare yourself for that. For the sake of this article, I am going to assume that you will be traveling from and back to Delhi. Depending on what your location is, you can always adjust a day or two from what I am suggesting here.

Time Required for Leh Ladakh Trip

Now the big question is how many days do you need for a Ladakh trip at a minimum? The answer to this question actually depends on how you are traveling. but to be on the safer side, a minimum of 9 days is safe to assume for a road trip to Ladakh, starting from a place like Delhi or closer.

9 days if you are thinking of a road trip and 5 days minimum if you are catching a flight to Leh. For a road trip, I am suggesting 9 days because this way, you can include two weekends to an entire week, e.g. start off early on Saturday and return home by Sunday evening of next week.

This is the minimum amount of time required for a short trip to Ladakh. Any lesser than this and you are better off postponing your trip for another time when you can afford a few more days.

Itinerary for a Short Trip to Ladakh

The second question is how you should plan your itinerary for a short trip to Ladakh? There are a few things that you must consider while planning out your itinerary.

To reach Leh from Delhi via Manali, you need a minimum of 3 days. However, from the Srinagar side, you will need at least 4 days. So if you are short on time, then you should plan to reach Leh from Manali and return via the same route.

Further in this article though, I will suggest alternate versions of itineraries where you can do both, come via Manali or cover Srinagar as well within 9 days.

If you are flying to Leh then High Altitude Sickness and giving your body some time to acclimatize becomes the foremost concern. All flights to Leh land there in the early morning hours so it gives you an entire day to let your body relax and get used to a high altitude before you go on to visit the nearby areas.

Please take a look at How to plan your trip if you are catching a flight to Ladakh for more details on this topic.

Rohtang Permits

Going from Manali presents another challenge in the form of a permit that is required to cross Rohtang La. Luckily nowadays, you can get this permit online as well. But in the tourist season, even the online portal can show booked for days to come. For more details, please take a look at How to Get a Permit for Rohtang Pass Online.

If you were unable to get the permit, I would recommend that you contact a hotel in Manali beforehand and ask if they can arrange a permit for you.

If they say yes, then send them your details and book a room with that hotel for your night’s stay in Manali. You may have to pay them a little extra but this way you would be able to save an entire day from getting wasted in Manali trying to obtain the permit.

If neither the online portal nor the hotel thing worked, you should travel through the Atal Tunnel and keep Rohtang Pass for another visit.

Itinerary from Manali

The biggest problem with a short trip to Ladakh is that it will be really hectic with no time to relax and you will be traveling for the most part of the journey. Below are a few versions of an itinerary that you can follow for a short trip to Ladakh.

Day 1: Delhi to Manali

• Start from Delhi early and reach Manali by late evening.
• Arrange for permits in advance.
• Take a look at Manali Leh Highway Guide – Map and Route explanation for a complete route guide of Manali Leh highway as well as a map of the route.

Day 2: Manali to Jispa / Sarchu

• Start early from Manali and reach Sarchu.
• If you are unable to make it to Sarchu then stay in Jispa.
• There are hotels and camps sites as well in Jispa so it should not be a problem finding accommodation.
• Take a look at Where to Stay between Manali to Leh for a list of some recommended hotels on the route.

Day 3: Jispa / Sarchu to Leh

• Reach Leh by late afternoon or evening
• Check into a hotel and rest
• Take a walk to the Leh Market

Day 4: Leh

• Stay in Leh on this day
• Arrange the Permits for your trip ahead in the morning. Read How to get Inner Line Permit in Ladakh for more details.
• Visit Leh Palace, Shey Palace, and Shanti Stupa.
• If time allows, drive on the Srinagar Leh highway to visit Magnetic Hill, Indus and Zanskar confluence at Nimmu, and Gurudwara Patthar Sahib.

Day 5: Leh to Khardung La to Nubra Valley

• Start early from Leh.
• Reach Khardung La and continue driving to Nubra Valley.
• You can choose to stay at either Diskit, Hunder, or Panamik.
• Read Leh To Nubra Valley Travel Guide for more details on Nubra Valley.

Day 6: Nubra Valley to Pangong Tso

• Start early from Nubra Valley
• Do not go back towards Khardung La and turn on the Aghaym Shyok road instead
• If you stayed in Diskit or Hunder, you can also cover Panamik on your way. See the hot water spring there.
• Take the Khalsar – Agham – Shyok – Durbuk – Spangmik route to reach Pangong Lake directly.
• Take a look at Nubra Valley to Pangong Tso Travel Guide for more details on this route.

Day 7: Pangong Lake to Pang/Sarchu

• Start your return journey early from Pangong as this can be a long day.
• Travel on the Leh – Pangong road until Karu via Chang La Pass
• Rather than going back to Leh City, turn left on Manali Leh Highway and go towards Manali.
• Depending on the time, you can either break the journey at Pang or Sarchu

Day 8: Pang/Sarchu to Manali

• If you stayed at Pang, this will again be a long day so start early
• Travel on the Manali – Leh route and arrive in Manali by evening
• If you skipped Rohtang while going to Leh, you can cover it on the way back. The permit is not needed if you are crossing the pass from the other side and reaching Manali.
• If you already covered Rohtang, you can turn towards the Atal Tunnel and reach Manali

Day 9: Manali to Delhi

• Not much to write about this day except that this will be a long and monotonous journey back home.

If you can add another day to the trip, then the itinerary can be modified as below. It will remain the same until Day 6 and the change will occur from day 7 onwards.

Day 7: Pangong Lake to Tso Moriri via Chushul

• This is ideally a 2 days journey but since you are short on time, you will have to do it in 1 day.
• It is extremely important that you start by the first light of the day
• Follow the road along Pangong Lake until Merak and then go to Chushul
• After Chushul, continue towards Loma and turn right
• Cross Nyoma, Mahe, and Sumdo on the way to reach Karzok (Tso Moriri)
• Read Pangong Tso to Tso Moriri direct Route Guide for more details

Day 8: Tso Moriri to Pang / Sarchu

• Drive back to Sumdo from Karzok and take the road towards Polokongka La Pass
• Drive through More Plains while visiting Tso Kar on the way
• You will exit on the Manali Leh Highway just before Pang.
• Break the journey at Pang or if time allows, you can make it to Sarchu as well

Day 9: Pang/Sarchu to Manali

• Same as I mentioned above

Day 10: Manali to Delhi

• Same as I mentioned above

The above itineraries were for a road trip. Let us now talk about a short trip to Ladakh if you are catching a flight. While an air trip to Ladakh can help you in terms of time, there are a few other negative aspects to it too.

Ladakh Itinerary by Flight

The first and foremost is that you miss traveling on the stunningly beautiful and adventurously challenging Manali Leh and Srinagar Leh highway. The second thing is that your body reaches from plains to thousands of feet of altitude in a matter of an hour.

So what would be an ideal itinerary for someone flying to Leh? While in the article above, I provided a broader itinerary, here is a smaller version of it. 5 days I must say again is a bare minimum. Any less than that and you would be just doing the formality of a Ladakh trip and not truly enjoying it.

• Arrive in Leh – Day 1
• Leh to Khardung La to Nubra Valley – Day 2
• Nubra Valley to Pangong Lake – Day 3
• Pangong Lake to Tso Moriri – Day 4
• Tso Moriri to Leh – Day 5
• Catch your flight home early in the morning – Day 6

If you do not even have 5 days or just have 4 days in hand, you can remove either of the destinations from the itinerary that I suggested.

Short Trip to Ladakh – Conclusion

There are several other ways that these itineraries can be modified. What I suggested above are travel plans for a bare minimum time period required for a trip to Ladakh. If you can add more days to the trip, you can definitely include other sightseeing spots and your journey will not be rushed as well.

But that will then not really count as a short trip to Ladakh. Any more than 10 days and you have sufficient time to cover a lot of places in Ladakh.

I hope this information on planning a short trip to Ladakh was of help. If you have any other questions or need my inputs on your respective itinerary, please feel free to ask in the comments section below or at our Community Forum, and I will be glad to answer.