impressions of ladakh

We meet in the frenetic capital of New Delhi, for an initial group dinner before catching a morning flight to Leh, the main city in Ladakh. Much of the rest of the day is free for you to acclimatise to the altitude, and explore.

Leh has a distinctly Tibetan feel, and there are a number of monuments to explore, including the Leh Palace, which resembles the Potala Palace in Lhasa, and the Tsemo Gompa.

On our second day in Leh, we explore some of the sights and get a feeling of this magical place.

Although we tend to think in terms of sights, it is often the journeys that are equally as impressive. By predominantly using our own transport, we are able to stop to photograph views and any notable things we pass on our journeys.

For the next few days we drive to some of the more notable monasteries and towns in the region before returning to Leh. We will pass through stunning scenery and visit a number of places, including the atmospheric Lamayuru Monastery, the Spituk Gompa and the Stok Palace Museum.

After over-nighting in Leh, we drive to the famous Hemis Gompa, via a Royal Palace and the monks of the Thiksey Gompa.

We spend a night camped in Hemis, before heading to Tak Thok, where we will camp for two nights to visit the incredible Tak Thok Tse Chu festival. This is similar in style to the more well known and touristed Hemis Festival.

We spend the whole of the following day at the Tse Chu festival, where will should witness many pilgrims and monks carrying out their traditional masked dancing.

This is a fantastic opportunity to see a traditional festival, and as we are camping at Tak Thok we will be able to truly soak up the atmosphere of this festival and the monastery.

After the festival we head to Manali along the fabled Leh-Manali highway. This is one of the highest motorable roads in the world and we pass a number of high passes, including the 17,585 ft Lachangla Pass, before over nighting in Serchu.

The next day, we continue on to Manali in Himachal Pradesh where we spend a welcome two nights at a hotel!

Manali is a pretty town, with a different feel to Leh, set in a deep valley amidst picturesque apple orchards. We have a whole day to explore before continuing on to Dharamsala.

Dharamsala is the home of the exiled Dalai Lama and the government of Tibet in exile. As you might expect there are a lot of Tibetan refugees living in this town and a number of monasteries. If we are lucky we might even get the chance to see the Dalai Lama himself.

On our penultimate day we drive down to Delhi: an interesting drive through changing scenery until we arrive in time for a final group meal and a night in a hotel before the tour ends.