Travel style · Ladakh
Homestays and villages in Ladakh
Sleep in the hive itself
Homestays are the Himalaya's best value and its best way in: Ladakhi kitchens, Spiti mud houses, Kumaoni stone homes, Lepcha villages in Dzongu, Apatani homes in Ziro. Simple rooms, home food, money that stays in the valley.
Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · CommonsA homestay is a room in a family home, with meals from the family kitchen. Expect clean, simple rooms, often a shared or outside bathroom in the high valleys, and food made from what the village grows.
Ladakh is a high-altitude desert on the Indus, reached by air to Leh (3,500 m) or by road over Zoji La or the Manali highway. Go June to September for open passes. Rest 48 hours in Leh before you climb higher. A saver trip runs ₹2,000–3,500 a day.
Trips
Homestays and villages trips in Ladakh
Photo: Anirvan Shukla · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Saver
Leh, Nubra and Pangong by bus and shared jeep
State bus over Khardung La, shared taxis to Nubra and Pangong, local buses in the Indus valley
Photo: Saurabh Lall · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Saver
Srinagar road to Leh and Turtuk on a budget
Shared Sumo taxis, state buses and local shared cars
6 places
Where to go
Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Alchi and the Sham Valley
Kashmiri-style murals and apricot orchards on the lower Indus
Photo: Addy6697 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Nubra Valley
The old caravan valley over Khardung La, with dunes and orchards
Photo: KennyOMG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Pangong Tso
A 134 km brackish lake at about 4,250 m, best at first light
Photo: John Hill · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Tso Moriri
A Ramsar lake at 4,522 m, home of the Changpa herders
Photo: Suryadasika · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Turtuk
A Balti village of apricots on the Shyok, open to visitors since 2010
Photo: This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves. … · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Zanskar (Padum)
Ladakh's remotest valley, reached over Pensi La
Experiences
Days that fit the style
Photo: Prof Ranga Sai · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Alchi's painted temples with a local guide
Visit the Dukhang and Sumtsek at Alchi, whose paintings in a Kashmiri style are among the oldest surviving in Ladakh. W…
Photo: Anirvan Shukla · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Apricot blossom walk in the Sham valley
In spring, walk between Saspol, Alchi and nearby villages while apricot orchards bloom white and pink against brown cli…
Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Likir Monastery and Basgo's royal ruins
Two stops on the way between Leh and Alchi: Likir Monastery, which administers Alchi, with its large outdoor Maitreya, …
Photo: KennyOMG · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Diskit Monastery and its giant Maitreya
The oldest and largest monastery in Nubra, founded in the 14th century on a ridge above the Shyok, and the 32 m Maitrey…
Photo: Christian Ursilva from Copenhagen, Denmark · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Hunder dunes and Bactrian camels at dawn
Walk the cold-desert dunes between Hunder and Diskit and take a short ride on a two-humped Bactrian camel, descendants …
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0 · Commons
Crossing Khardung La from Leh to Nubra
The road from Leh climbs to 5,359 m at Khardung La before dropping 2,200 m into Nubra. Done after two nights in Leh, it…
Photo: Apthomas1 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Sunrise on the shore at Spangmik
Watch first light move across Pangong from the gravel shore below Spangmik, as the lake turns from grey to deep blue. I…
Photo: Anshul Chhangani · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Over Chang La to the lake
The drive from Leh climbs past Karu and Sakti to Chang La at about 5,360 m, then drops through Durbuk and Tangtse to th…
Where to sleep
Stays in these places
Photo: Suryadasika · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Budget
Turtuk Balti homestays
Turtuk is a homestay village: dozens of Balti families in Youl and Farol, the two halves of the village, rent simp…
Photo: Biplav Arya, 3rd July 2009 · CC BY 3.0 · Commons
Budget
Spangmik and Man homestays, Pangong
The villages of Spangmik, Man and Merak on Pangong's southern shore have family homestays where you sleep in Chang…
Photo: Unbiased Contributors · CC BY 4.0 · Commons
Luxury
Nimmu House
A restored early 20th-century manor in Nimmoo village, about 35 km west of Leh near the Indus–Zanskar confluence, …
Photo: Addy6697 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Luxury
Lchang Nang Retreat, Nubra
A cottage retreat in the poplar and willow groves of Tegar village, near Sumur on the Nubra arm of the valley. Ope…
Homestays and villages elsewhere