How long do I need to acclimatise in Leh?

Two nights in Leh town doing almost nothing before you go higher or drive far. Flying in from Delhi takes you from near sea level to 3,500 metres in eighty minutes, which the body needs time to handle. Drink a lot of water, skip alcohol for the first day, and plan Pangong or Nubra for day three at the earliest.

When is the best time to visit Leh and Ladakh?

June to September. The road passes are open, the passes to Nubra and Pangong are clear, and days are warm even though nights are cold. Flights operate year-round and winter has its own draw, including the Chadar trek and snow leopard tracking, but most properties outside town close and temperatures fall well below freezing.

Do I need permits in Ladakh?

For Nubra, Pangong Tso and the Tso Moriri side, yes: an inner line permit for Indian nationals and a protected area permit for foreign nationals. Both are arranged in Leh, usually by your hotel or driver in a day, and you need passport or ID copies. Leh town, the Indus valley monasteries and Stok need nothing.

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Experience India

India · 5 hand-picked stays

Boutique hotels
in Leh

Leh sits at about 3,500 metres, and altitude shapes everything about a stay here, including which of our five properties makes sense on which night. The rule most visitors learn late is that the first 24 hours should be spent doing very little.

In Leh town you are close to the market, the taxi stand and, importantly, a hospital. The Chospa is on Old Leh Road, built with earth-block walls around an atrium lobby, minutes from the bazaar. The Grand Dragon is the town's five star, on P. Namgyal Road, with Himalayan views from the upper floors and reliable heating and oxygen support. For a first night off the plane, town is the sensible place to be.

Down in the Indus valley, forty minutes to an hour out, the villages sit a little lower and a great deal quieter. Nimmu House is a heritage Ladakhi house with glamping tents at around 10,000 feet in Nimmo village. Ladakh Sarai was a 1978 caravanserai, now mud huts and chalets in the valley. Stok Palace is the royal family's home of two centuries, still lived in, above the Indus and about 15 km from Leh.

These village stays are the better experience and the worse place to acclimatise, so the usual shape is two nights in town first, then move out.

Leh's airport is 4 km from the centre and the flight in from Delhi is one of the great approaches. The Manali and Srinagar road routes open around late May or June and close by October. Pangong Tso is four to five hours each way, Nubra a similar distance over the Khardung La, and both need an inner line permit arranged in Leh.

Where they are

4 of the 5 stays in Leh; the rest are not pinned yet. Tap a pin for the stay.

Leh & Ladakh · Royal palace stay

Stok Palace

Above the Indus near Leh, the Namgyal family's home of two centuries takes guests, a monk on the top floor, the royal museum, and three villas in the apricot orchard.