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.
Rates on request, usually back within the hour
Ask on WhatsApp"The House of Trees in Nubra, with dinner under the elms, stargazing barbecues on the dunes and yoga with a monk"
Lchang Nang Retreat, which translates as the House of Trees, sits in the Nubra Valley in Ladakh, and it is organised around what guests do rather than around its rooms.
Eating is treated as an event in itself. There is dinner under the elms, a farm table, a chef's tasting, the Karakoram dining experience, a Ladakhi kitchen, and a sundowner picnic with barbecue and stargazing out at the sand dunes.
The wellness side runs sunset yoga at the dunes, a mindfulness session with a monk, yoga at the holy lake and treatments at the Stonba spa. Beyond that there is mountain biking, guided walks, cultural music and dance, an old house museum, a bonfire and films under the stars. The retreat publishes itineraries from three to ten nights, including ones built around apricot blossom, astronomy and the Karakoram and Eurasian lynx sanctuaries.
In Nubra, Ladakh. The nearest airport is Leh (IXL).
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.
Rates on request, usually back within the hour
Ask on WhatsApp
Founded in 1978, a few years after Ladakh first opened to travellers, and now stewarded by Ladakhis, this slow-travel base sits in Ayu village in the Indus Valley, built in traditional stone-and-mud style. Stay in a mud hut, a chalet or the duplex suite. Televisions have been removed from every room; a shared set waits in the Sarai Hall, which tells you what the place is for.
Rates on request, usually back within the hour
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A contemporary hotel on Old Leh Road, built the old Ladakhi way: thick, buttressed walls of compressed earth blocks made on site. Leh's main market is 350 metres away, Leh Palace just over a kilometre. Juniper, the ground-floor restaurant, works Ladakhi and Tibetan flavours through its menus, and the bathroom floors are heated, which, in a Leh winter, is no small thing.
Rates on request, usually back within the hour
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