Why this ride
A high-altitude expedition road from Manali, Himachal Pradesh to Leh, Ladakh, via Keylong. Key character: Himalayan passes; barren plateaus; river valleys. Surface: mixed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Manali-Leh Highway
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 433 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 15
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Leh–Manali Highway
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 68 km this is Leh–Manali Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 68 km
- Named road
- Leh–Manali Highway
- Pass
- Baralacha La
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Near Manāli
Apple orchards, deodar cedars and the roar of the Beas river surround Manāli, the hill town at the head of the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh, and this spot lies just outside it, at the point where the road to Ladakh starts its long climb into the high Himalaya. Manāli sits at about two thousand metres, and from here the snow peaks of the Pir Panjal range rise straight up behind the town, with the Rohtang Pass hidden above.
Read the complete Near Manāli write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Manali-Leh Highway point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Manali-Leh Highway point 2.
2. Kyelang
Planning note
Manali-Leh Highway point 2 comes up 51 km in. Next is Manali-Leh Highway point 3.
3. Manali-Leh Highway point 3
Sarchu is not a village so much as a seasonal camp in a broad, windy basin at roughly 4,300 metres, where Himachal Pradesh gives way to Ladakh. There is nothing permanent here: a collection of tented camps and a couple of rough dhabas serve riders and truck drivers in summer, then pack up when the snow comes. The setting is vast and treeless, with colossal bare mountains in rose and ochre and a river running through the gravel. The air is thin and the cold at night is serious, so many travellers feel the altitude strongly.
Read the complete Manali-Leh Highway point 3 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least 107 km in you reach Manali-Leh Highway point 3. Next is Manali-Leh Highway point 4.
4. Manali-Leh Highway point 4
There is a sort of bleakness in this stretch of road that gets under the skin. Pang is a collection of tents and tea stalls rather than a village, and around it the earth turns the colour of rust and bone. Everything here is open to the sky, and the weather can switch from sunshine to snow in an hour.
Read the complete Manali-Leh Highway point 4 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Manali-Leh Highway point 4, about halfway. Next is Manali-Leh Highway point 5.
5. Manali-Leh Highway point 5
Tanglang La is one of the highest motorable passes on the planet, at roughly 5,300 metres, and the signboard at the top proudly claims second place in the world. Whatever the official ranking, the air here holds about half the oxygen that you breathe at sea level, and a few minutes of walking leaves you gasping. Prayer flags snap in the wind, a small shrine marks the summit, and the surrounding peaks are bare and pale. Nobody stays long; photographs are taken at speed, and the engine struggles when you ride away.
Read the complete Manali-Leh Highway point 5 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Manali-Leh Highway point 5 sits at 202 km, late in the day. Next is Manali-Leh Highway point 6.
6. Leh
Leh sits in the high desert of Ladakh at about 3,500 metres, in the broad valley of the Indus, with the Karakoram on one side and the Zanskar range on the other, and it is the end of the Manali-Leh highway, one of the great road journeys in the world. The last stage of that road is the best: you cross the Tanglang La, among the highest passes in the world, then drop to the Indus plain, through villages with whitewashed chortens and prayer flags, and the town appears below a hill crowned by the old Leh Palace, a nine-storey building of mud and wood modelled on the Potala in Lhasa. Behind it, the Namgyal Tsemo monastery and a ruined fort hang on the ridge.
Read the complete Leh write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Manali-Leh Highway point 6 comes up 433 km in.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Manali-Leh Highway · part 4 · 609 km
- Leh–Manali Highway · 425 km
- Manali-Leh Highway · 865 km from Manāli · 865 km