Nubra Valley, Ladakh: BEST Travel & Sightseeing Guide

Nubra Valley, Ladakh is one of the MUST-VISIT places in Ladakh particularly if you are visiting for the first time. It is one of the sub-districts in Ladakh and lies on the east side having Diskit Village as its main headquarter. Plan your Trip to Nubra Valley with Trip Adventurer!!

Diskit is located some 120-odd km away from Leh town the main capital of Ladakh district. The Shyok River, a tributary of the Indus River joins with the Nubra or Siachen forming a very big valley to separate the Ladakh and Karakorum Ranges. Go through the wide landscapes, huge faces of mountains, gorgeously beautiful tracks, full of colours, and melodious Shyok river flowing between valleys that will stun you at first sight. Being close to the Line of Actual Control, one needs to get an Inner Line permit not only if you are a foreigner but also as an Indian before visiting Nubra Valley.

Nubra Valley in Ladakh:

The highlight of the trip to Nubra is traversing over what has become known as or hyped, falsely claimed highest motorable road Khardung La Pass. Once you reach Leh, Nubra Valley becomes an ideal spot to make your fit in the acclimatization routine of the Ladakh trip as it lies at a lower altitude than that of Leh with an average height of around 10.00 ft or 3.4 Mts. Hence, aside from the breathtaking views, there is also a hidden advantage of acclimatization which means it can make your Ladakh trip more successful. It is quite possible that if this part of Ladakh remains missed on your trip, then you are losing heart from the core of your tour to Ladakh.

Location:

Diskit, the main headquarters in Nubra Valley is approximately 120 km away from Leh town of Ladakh district.

Altitude:

The average altitude of Nubra Valley is around 10,00 Ft or about 3.2 Km above sea level.

Best Time to Travel

1. Just like how we learned the best time to travel there in Leh Ladakh, January-March months; Nubra Valley remains closed due to cold snow conditions. The range of choices is limited as to staying and open for guests.
2. While in April, some of the guest houses begin to open up but food remains a challenge almost everywhere. Mostly you will be depending on homestays or guesthouses and homemade food. In April, everywhere you look in Nubra Valley apricot flowers are blooming.
3. Next are the months of May to August which is Ladakh’s peak tourist season. In the months of these years, all accommodation possibilities with full staff and backup are available even in Nubra Valley.
4. From September and into early October, the tourists settle in because the cold season has set it hence accommodation starts to run down.
5. This is the best time of all when one can see Nubra Valley’s burning colours amidst clouds afloat like candies in a blue sky. At this time of the year, all colours are magical and with fewer tourists relatively, you get better rates at hotels – which means more enjoyment.
6. From the third week of October till December, most all accommodations leave except a few small guest houses or homestays and very number of hotels. But, even as far as the accommodation options in Nubra Valley go during winters it is not so pathetic as those of Pangong Tso and Tso Moriri lakes where very few homestays operate with minimal basic facilities.

How to Reach Nubra Valley – Ladakh?

Let us check out the details on how you can reach Nubra Valley from Leh. Route from Leh to Nubra: Below is the most general route to Nubra from Leh that most people usually follow.

1. You can reach in about 5 – 6 Hrs depending upon the number of breaks you take in between and of course at Khardung La. The route to Nubra Valley from Leh along with the distance between the subsequent places is as follows: Leh – Khardung La Pass (40 KMs) – Khardung Village (34 KMs) – Khalsar (23 KMs) – Diskit (19 KMs) = 116 KMs.
2. The place of stay between Diskit & Hunder, you can cover them on your first day. It does not matter where you stay between Diskit & Hunder; irrespective of this fact, it is possible to cover these two places on the first day. No matter where you stay on the first day, between Diskit and Hunder, it is possible to cover these two places.
3. You can further organize to visit Sumur & Panamik as you travel back from the Nubra Valley. Therefore, if you are those individuals who want to enjoy a relaxing vacation and do not have the intention of rushing through places then would recommend that you make a three-day trip towards Nubra Valley while including Turtuk in your plan.
4. If you are pressed for time, then a two-day trip includes Diskit Hunder Sumur and Panamik on the incoming outflow of travel to Leh. There is a direct route between Nubra Valley to Pangong Tso as well and people have started using that route to travel directly to Pangong Tso from Nubra Valley nowadays.
5. Preferred Vehicles: The higher ground clearance vehicles are preferable and 4×4 ones are generally not required. However, quite a few people do it in hatchbacks and sedans as well. But, it depends upon your skills to drive and road conditions at the time of travel when you take a hatchback or a sedan.

Suggested Itinerary

Generally, at least a one-night stay is preferable to witness the mesmerizing beauty of Nubra Valley truly. Of course, a night stay will help you ride the Bactrian Camels over the Sand Dunes of Hunder around sunrise and sunset (i.e., cooler conditions) increasing the charm of your vacation to a further extent. Most people, generally do:

Day 1 | Leh – Khardung La – Diskit – Hunder

• Head for Nubra Valley and stay overnight at Hunder / Diskit
• On the way enjoy a cup of soup at Highest Motorable Pass (as claimed) Khardung La
• Diskit has monasteries with the tallest lord Buddha statue and Hunder has dunes and bacteria camel safari

Day 2 | Hunder / Diskit – Sumur – Panamik – Sumur – Khardung La – Leh

• Sumur has a Samstanling monastery to check out nearby
• Panamik has hot water springs and a sacred Yarab Tso lake
• Overnight at Leh

You MUST add a day to your schedule and go ahead to visit Turtuk, about 95 km from Diskit. Turtuk was opened in 2010 for domestic tourists and in 2013 for foreign tourists. It is an amazing place, quite different from the rest of the landscape in Nubra Valley and houses a different affinity for culture too.

Places to Visit in Nubra Valley

You can visit the following places in Nubra Valley for your 2-3 day trip from Leh. Let’s explain these places in detail in some other articles to maintain the brevity of this article.

• Diskit: Diskit has a monastery which is the largest and oldest Buddhist monastery in Nubra Valley and houses a 106-foot-tall Maitreya Buddha statue. There is Lachung Temple as well which is quite close to the monastery.
• Hunder: It is famous for its dunes and double-humped bacterium camel safari.
• Sumur: Somewhere between Sumur and Kyagar, you can visit the Samstanling monastery.
• Panamik: It has hot water springs and a sacred Yarab Tso lake near the entrance of the village.
• Turtuk: Opened for tourists in 2010, Turtuk offers a much different landscape and cultural orientation than the rest of the Nubra Valley. You can see apricot trees loaded around the entire village with views closer to the Karakorum range. If you have time, a MUST VISIT place in Nubra Valley.

Warshi – Tyakshi Villages

Now we as Indian tourists can also travel up to Warshi village in Nubra Valley which is ahead of Panamik on the way towards Siachen Base Camp. You can hence cover Yarma Gompa & Yarma Gonboo monasteries if you like to visit them, which falls upon this route. The route goes like Panamik – Taksha – Sasoma – Warshi, which is about 39 km ahead of Panamik. As per Nubra Valley permits, you do not need any special permits for this route as well. Siachen base camp is still out of sight for permission to civilians. From the Hunder side in Nubra Valley, you can travel up to Tyakshi village ahead of Turtuk from where you can see the Indo-Pak borderline.

Travel Tips:

1. Medical Facilities: Diskit Village has a hospital where you will be able to get basic medical aid and treatment.
2. Food Joints: Most of the time you will be eating out in Hotels or Camps or Guest Houses or Homestays you will be staying in. However, there are dhabhas or eating joints at Khalsar and Khardung villages where people generally stop for lunch while on the way to or from Leh.
3. Phone Signals: BSNL Postpaid Connection does work like a charm in most parts of Nubra Valley with some loss of signal at a few places though.
4. Petrol Pumps: Do not forget to refill petrol/diesel at the Leh petrol pump. Update 2016: Things have improved and the petrol pump at Deskit, Nubra is mostly found in working conditions nowadays even in winter. Do not forget to check my article on petrol or fuel availability in Ladakh.
5. ATMs: You will not find any ATMs in Nubra Valley and hence, it is always better to carry cash from Leh (the only place where you find ATMs in Ladakh).

Nubra is a must-have place to visit, and when you visit Leh Ladakh, this one surely is not the place you would like to exclude from the itinerary of the Leh Ladakh trip.