Srinagar-Leh Highway · part 1

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Sonamarg

   Sonamarg means meadow of gold, and in spring and early summer, when the flowers come out on the grass, the name seems fair. It is a broad, high valley of the Sindh river, at roughly twenty-seven hundred metres, about eighty kilometres north-east of Srinagar on the road to Ladakh, surrounded by snow-streaked peaks, pine forests and glaciers. In winter it is buried in snow, and it was once a stop on the old Silk Road routes that linked Kashmir to Central Asia, with caravans of traders, pilgrims and mules passing through on their way to Leh and beyond.

   Read the complete Sonamarg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sonamarg is where the day begins. Next is Zoji La.

2. 2. Zoji La

   Zoji La is the door to Ladakh, and it has a reputation to match. At around 3,500 metres, it is the pass that connects the green, wet Kashmir valley with the high, dry country beyond, and the transformation on the far side is startling: one moment you are among pines and flower meadows, the next you are looking at pale, bare mountains, sand-coloured slopes and a sky of unbroken blue. The reason is simple. The Himalaya catches the monsoon on one side and leaves the other in a rain shadow, so you cross not only a pass but a climate boundary.

   Read the complete Zoji La write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Zoji La comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kargil.

3. 3. Kargil

   Kargil sits at about 2,700 metres in the Suru valley in Ladakh, a town of tin roofs, apricot trees and mountains the colour of ash. Most travellers know it as a night stop on the road between Srinagar and Leh, which is about right, but it has a character of its own. Most of its people are Shia Muslims of Balti descent, and the call to prayer carries across the river valley beneath peaks that stay snowy for much of the year.

   Read the complete Kargil write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 123 km into the recorded legs you reach Kargil. Next is Lamayuru.

4. 4. Lamayuru

   Lamayuru looks like another planet, and the people who named the surrounding hills Moonland were not exaggerating. Wind and water have carved the pale clay slopes into a maze of ridges and spires, and on top of the largest of them sits the monastery, whitewashed and tangled, with the valley dropping away behind it. A local legend says the valley was once a lake, drained by a saint who made his way through the rock, and the geology lends some support to the idea.

   Read the complete Lamayuru write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Lamayuru closes the day.