Best time to go on a bike trip to Leh Ladakh is from the months of June to September. Depending on a lot of factors like the route you’ve taken, your entire schedule, and mainly the weather conditions, an ideal duration for a Leh Ladakh bike tour would span over a period of 15 days or more. But due to the time crunch, we cover the maximum part of our trip in 7 days.
Day 1 – Delhi to Manali (538 km)
We two riders left from Delhi at 2100 hrs drove continuously to Manali, of course, we had also taken some short breaks and rest on roadside dhaba, as we love to drive in the night also. From Delhi to Manali the stretches approx. 12 to 13 hrs continuous driving. But in seasons because of traffic jams and other hurdles we arrived Manali at 1400 hrs of the day. From Delhi to Manali we take 17 hours of driving. We find stayed at a hotel nearby market on mall road, Manali. There we got to know we have to submit green tax before we enter in Manali. After that, we have to take permit from SDM office at Manali which is open from 0010 hrs to 1700 hrs. I am not sure about timing for Sunday and Saturday. To obtain the permit, you will need to produce your driver’s license, your vehicle’s RC and pollution certificate. You need permits if you are crossing Rohtang pass by Manali side, you don’t need to take permit from another side of Rohtang pass to Manali. I just came to know that we can take permit and green tax through an online portal. The online portal includes all detailed information about permit and green tax.
Notes: 1. To submit green tax before entering Manali.
2. Must take medicine according to your health (Take dark chocolates to down your BP pressure)
3. Must carry petrol cans with petrol before you left Manali.
Day 2 – Manali to Keylong (115 km)
Wake up early and begin our ride. We start our second day from Manali and our destination for today is Keylong. From Manali, we back our bags, buy some cans for storing petrol. Once you left Manali there are no petrol pumps till place name Karu which is approx 439 km away from Manali. The road from Manali to Rohtang pass which is 3978 meters above sea level is surrounded by beautiful mountains. This route leg had many challenges which we face one by one, as the roads are really good till Rohtang pass, but there is major traffic on narrow roads to the point where we show the permit to move forward. At Rohtang pass, ice is waiting for us, as we reach to the paragliding point of Rohtang pass, heavy rain is waiting for us. There are a lot of tents in which you can find some stuff to eat like maggi, rice, sabzi, chocolates, and tea. We unpacked there and get ready to start again in heavy rain and proceed towards Jispa, which is your halt for the day. Enjoyed delicious lunch snacks in the middle of greenery surrounded by mountains. We stayed at the hotel, they served us good thali for dinner, food was good.
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Day 3 – Keylong to Pang (184 km)
For today our target is to reach pang which is 184 km from Keylong. we left Keylong at 0900 hrs. Roads are getting better and after entering the Greater Himalayan landscape it was lovely and breathtaking roads and scenes. It takes us into the heart of the mountains. Enjoy the drive through the Baralacha La Pass which is second-highest motorable mountain pass in the world at the height of 5300 meters above sea level. Keep driving towards Pang which is the borderline between Kashmir and Himachal. We reach Sarchu camp and relax for there for some time keep a high intake of fluids at lunchtime. Then we left Sarchu nearby 1500 hrs and reach to pang at 1900 hrs approx. At pang, we stay in a tent. Due to cold weather, when we stop at pang, one of aunty offers us a warm water bottle to hold in hands. When we move to our bikes for unloading then we saw water in a bottle at bike converted into ice. Due to cold weather, we can’t able to change, we are in same riding jackets and pants. Aunty gives us chicken soup at night after which we have breath and able to remove riding gears, jackets, and pants. As we worn woolen under our riding jackets, we prefer not to unload our bags from the bike. We had egg Maggi in our dinner and we sleep in a tent. They charged Rs. 800 per bed. There we also met another rider from the south. They are on a ride from last 21 days and left home to cover all over India.
Day 4 – Pang to Pangong Lake, Leh (341 km)
We left Pang at 1000 hrs and starts on day 4 towards Leh, which starts with a lot of challenges. It’s after Manali we got towers in Leh and arrange a call to our homes. Today we have to ride till Pangong lake, Leh between the mountain horizon. In between, we have a stop at Chang La Pass which is 5500 meters above sea level and go forward to the army checkpoint at Tangse, which is on the way to Pangong lake. Here you will see Indian army points and check posts. We reach Pangong nearby The largest water lake in Asia is one of the best attraction of Ladakh. A 1/3rd portion of the lake lies in India. The water of the lake is crystal clear and blessed with so shades of blue. We finished by reaching Pangong lake nearby 1930 hrs. It was late and dark so we decided to take rest and will visit lake the next morning. So, we check-in at the tent nearby lake. We are not in a position to change or unload our bags from bike because of too much cold weather. So, we decided to sleep in our riding suits.
Day 5 – Pangong Lake, Leh to Pang (341 km)
In the morning, we saw that there is snowfall at night. Our bike is loaded with a lot of snow. We walked towards Pangong lake as our tent is not so far from the lake. There is too much cold and cold wind blowing we even can’t manage to click our shoots, because we can make our hands free from gloves only for few seconds. After that, we head towards our breakfast and get ready to head towards Leh back. On the way back, we enjoy a great view of the Indus Valley and the Zanskar range with snowfall while riding.
We had the plan to visit Khardung La Pass at 18360 ft, one of the world’s highest motorable pass, but due to time crunch, we have to return because we are stuck in snowfall at Tangse. At Tangse army checkpoint, we stay for a while as we cant move forwards because of snowfall. Those Army guys are very supportive, they offered Tea and dry fruits to the public. We stayed with them for a long time, have pride to share lunch with those wonderful our own Indian army guys. After few hours when snowfall resumes, they helped us to load our bikes on truck and cross the ice mountain, as we cant able to drive on ice roads. After, ice mountain crossed we unload our bullets and start ride towards pang. We have to reach pang before the sunset, but we cant make it. We reached pang at night nearby 2200 hrs. There is too much cold at this point in time. But we have to reach Delhi asap because of some emergency. We stayed at same place Aunty’s tent.
Day 6 – Pang to Mandi (422 km)
We wake up at 0600 hrs and left from pang asap. Nothing much to say on this day, As we continuously drove ours towards our home. We even don’t set any target to reach by any specific place or time. We stay to freshen up and continue our ride. We take 19 hrs to complete ride from pang to Mandi in that cold weather. We reach mandi at 0200 hrs and we are so tired and thick fog is also covering our way. So, we decided to stay at mandi at 02:00 am.
Day 7 – Mandi to Delhi (432 km)
In the morning, after breakfast, we begin our drive to Delhi and reached Delhi at 2200 hrs. Some of leh route pictures are: