Leh, the capital of Ladakh, stands at the altitude 3505 metres from sea level in the Indus Valley, surrounded by the Himalayas. Once a stop on the medieval Silk Road trading route, Leh is now a busy holiday destination – especially in the summer, when the rest of India suffers from the monsoon but in Ladakh it hardly rains at all.
Statue of Maitreya Buddha in Thiksey Gompa, Ladakh
Leh used to be one of those mythical mountain destinations that few travellers had seen. When Ladakh was opened to foreign tourists in 1974, the first backpackers came to Leh by bus from Srinagar in Kashmir. Since then Leh has become an increasingly busy town, and in the summer its streets are filled with backpackers and tourists, hotels and guesthouses, coffee shops, restaurants, Tibetan markets, Kashmiri salesmen, Internet cafes and money changers.
Monasteries around Leh
Prayer Wheels in Thiksey Monastery, Ladakh
Remains of an old royal palace, once the home of Leh’s Buddhist kings, stand just outside on the road towards Manali. There is not much more to see but ruins and an impressive amount of white stupas (or chortens – check out this handy website that explains India’s architectural terminology ) that pop out of the dry earth.
Buddhist monasteries (gompas) around Leh include Hemis (the wealthiest of Ladakh’s monasteries and a Unesco World Heritage Site ), Thiksey, Likir and Spituk.
I visited Thiksey, an old gompa that is still home to nearly a hundred monks of the Gelugpa order. Its white buildings look like they’re growing out of the brown hillside and as the monastery stands at 3600 m altitude, climbing up and down its steps feels literally breathtaking. Thiksey is most famous for its 15-metre-high statue of Maitreya Buddha, the future Buddha; and prayer wheels, thangka paintings and colourful murals decorate the rooms.
A House with Prayer Flags on the Roof in Leh
Tips for Travel to Leh
Because of the volatile security situation in Kashmir, these days the most popular route to Leh is the road from Manali in Himachal Pradesh. The road opens around May when snow melts and closes again around October for the winter, but daily flights are available from Delhi for most of the year.
Thiksey Gompa near Leh, Ladakh
Since Leh is at an altitude of 3505 metres, acute mountain sickness is a serious risk. If you’ve arrived by road, you’ve been over some high mountain passes already and arrival in Leh feels easier. If you arrive by plane from Delhi, expect some AMS symptoms: shortness of bread, sleeplessness, not being able to walk more than 5 metres without having to sit down to rest.
Even if you do not get very sick, the thin air in Leh can be challenging. This page has some good information about AMS.
All Thiksey photos by Enzo Coribello.
Travelling into Ladakh by road is exciting. It takes two days from Srinagar to Leh with a mid way halt at Kargil, which gives the visitor a marvellous introduction to this spectacular destination, while easing the acclimatisation process to the high altitude low oxygen atmosphere of Ladakh.
Travelling into Ladakh by road is exciting. It takes two days from Srinagar to Leh with a mid way halt at Kargil, which gives the visitor a marvellous introduction to this spectacular destination, while easing the acclimatisation process to the high altitude low oxygen atmosphere of Ladakh.