India
Leh Ladakh
High-altitude desert of monasteries and passes, with Pangong Tso changing colour by the hour.
- DestinationLeh Ladakh
- CountryIndia
- TypeDomestic holiday
Overview
About Leh Ladakh
Ladakh sits in the rain shadow of the Himalaya, which makes it a cold desert: bare rock, almost no rainfall, and green only where a river has been led out across a field. Leh lies at around three and a half thousand metres and most of the region sits higher than that.
The monasteries — Thiksey, Hemis, Diskit — are built onto hillsides above the valleys and remain in daily use. North over the Khardung La is the Nubra valley; east lies Pangong Tso, a long lake that shifts through several blues as the light moves.
Good to know
Worth Knowing Before You Go
- Leh sits at roughly 3,500 metres, and acclimatisation matters before travelling higher.
- Ladakh lies in the Himalayan rain shadow and receives very little precipitation.
- Pangong Tso runs about 134 kilometres in length, with roughly a third of it inside India.
- The high passes are generally open only from around May to October.
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