Leh Travel Guide: Palace, Monasteries and Your First 48 Hours

The old town, the palace and the Tsemo ridge sit together above the Main Bazaar, with the Shanti Stupa on its own hill nearby; Spituk is just outside town, and Stok, Shey, Thiksey and Hemis lie to the south and south-east, along the road towards Hemis. The Leh district allows visits to places near town during your first 48 hours, which is what makes these the right sights for your rest days.

Leh Palace

King Sengge Namgyal had this nine-storey palace built in the 17th century, and Incredible India notes the inward-leaning walls it shares with the Potala Palace in Lhasa. The royal family left for Stok in the 19th century, and some inner sections are still in partial collapse, so carry a torch and watch the uneven floors; the prayer room and the view from the open terrace above the main entrance are the reasons to climb up. It is the only monument in Leh where the Archaeological Survey of India charges for entry.

Namgyal Tsemo

The small 16th-century Tsemo, or Victory, fort crowns the ridge above the palace and is visible from almost everywhere in town; inside its walls there is little more than prayer flags, but the climb looks out over the whole valley. Below it, three religious buildings guard the palace approach: the Soma Gompa of 1840, whose courtyard hosts dances in summer, the Chandazik Gompa with its painted thousand Buddhas, and the red Chamba Lhakhang of 1430, known for the medieval mural fragments between its walls.

Shanti Stupa

Gyomyo Nakamura, a Japanese Buddhist monk, built this white stupa on a small hill in 1991 to mark 2,500 years of Buddhism, as part of the peace pagoda mission. Relics of the Buddha, enshrined by the 14th Dalai Lama, lie at its base. The first level has a Dharmachakra with a deer on each side and a golden Buddha; the second shows the Buddha's birth and death and his defeat of the demons while meditating. Walk round it clockwise, as devotees do, for the view over the town and its villages.

Main Bazaar, the mosque and the Moravian church

From the 17th century until 1949, Incredible India says, Leh was the hub of the caravan trade between Punjab and Central Asia and between Kashmir and Tibet, and the Main Bazaar's broad pavements were laid out for horses, donkeys and camels. Today it is lined with shops selling stones, prayer wheels and pashmina, and women from nearby villages sell vegetables along the kerb. The Leh district also lists the town's mosque and its Moravian church among its sights.

Spituk Monastery

Spituk stands on a hill about 7 km south-west of Leh, looking out over the airport and the town. Incredible India dates its founding to the 11th century, and the Leh district notes that its protector goddess, Paldan Lhamo, is revered by Hindu devotees as Kali. Its masked-dance festival, Spituk Gustor, falls in January on the district's calendar. Close to town, Incredible India also points visitors to the Hall of Fame, a museum honouring the Indian Army.

Stok Palace

About 15 km south of Leh, Stok has been the home of Ladakh's former royal family since they left Leh Palace, and part of it is now a museum. Incredible India lists the king's crown, the queen's headdress set with 108 pieces of turquoise, royal robes and jewellery, old coins, the wooden palanquin in which a queen arrived for her wedding, and a set of 35 thangkas on the life of the Buddha. The Stok Guru Tsechu festival comes in late winter.

Shey Palace

Shey, about 15 km from Leh on the way to Hemis, was Ladakh's first capital. Incredible India dates the present palace to 1655, under King Deldan Namgyal; its temple holds a gilded copper Buddha that rises through three floors, surrounded by murals. Below the palace, by the roadside, five Buddhas are carved into the rock. The Leh district lists Shey Palace among the national monuments of Leh.

Thiksey Monastery

Thiksey, 19 km from Leh, is the largest monastery in central Ladakh by the Leh district's account and is widely compared with the Potala Palace. It was founded in 1433 and holds old images, stupas, scroll and wall paintings, and a 15-metre Maitreya Buddha made in the 1980s. Come early: the monks' morning prayers are held every day and tourists can attend. From the hill, villages spread out on either side with the Indus behind them. Its Gustor festival is in November.

Hemis Monastery

Hemis, 45 to 50 km from Leh by Incredible India's two figures, is the largest and richest monastery of central Ladakh, founded in the 1630s under King Sengge Namgyal. Its festival, which the Leh district places in late June or the first half of July, brings two days of masked cham dances to the courtyard, and every twelve years the monastery unveils a great embroidered thangka of Padmasambhava. It is a national monument, and the district rates it the most popular monastery for its treasures and festival.

Gurudwara Pathar Sahib, Magnetic Hill and the Sangam

On the Kargil road out of Leh, Gurudwara Pathar Sahib was built by the Indian Army with local people around a boulder linked to a visit by Guru Nanak, and langar is served to every visitor. Further on, 30 km from Leh, Magnetic Hill appears to pull a stationary vehicle uphill, an optical illusion in Incredible India's words. At the Sangam near Nimmu, the Indus meets the Zanskar; the district holds the Ladakh River Festival there in August.

IMD's 2011–2024 averages for Leh show why summer is the season. June and September days average about 23°C and nights about 9 to 10°C; July and August reach about 28°C by day and 15°C at night. In October days fall to about 16°C and nights to just above freezing, and from November to March nights average below zero, down to about minus 13°C in January. Rain hardly matters: the whole year averages 69.5 mm, and July, the wettest month, about 14 mm. The Leh district suggests summer clothes with a sweater for mornings and evenings, and woollens even by day from mid-September. Festivals mark the calendar: Spituk Gustor in January, Dosmochey in February, Hemis in late June or early July, the week-long Ladakh Festival in September and Losar in December. For the whole region, month by month, read our guide to the best time to visit Ladakh.

• By air: Leh Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport, run by the Airports Authority of India, has daily flights from New Delhi, according to the Leh district, and Ladakh's tourism department keeps an information kiosk in the arrival lounge.
• By road from Srinagar: 434 km through Drass and Kargil, open from May to November or December by the district's dates. Our 10 Days Ladakh with Srinagar starts on Dal Lake and reaches Leh by air or by road, depending on the season.
• By road from Manali: through the Atal Tunnel and over Baralacha La, open from May or June to September or October. Our Manali–Leh highway drive stops a night at Sarchu and ends with a full rest day in Leh.
• By rail: there is no railway to Leh; the nearest station the Leh district names is Jammu Tawi.

Whichever way you come, the 48 hours count from your arrival in Leh: the health advisory says a road journey "does not help at all" with acclimatisation.

Three days covers the town and the nearest monasteries, and two of them are not optional. Day one is for rest: our Ladakh Tour — 8 days suggests only a short evening walk if you feel well. Day two suits the sights at Leh's own height, the palace, the Tsemo ridge, the Shanti Stupa and the bazaar. On day three, start at Thiksey for the morning prayers and go on to Shey, Stok or Hemis. Our Leh and Khardung La road trip follows this pattern over five days, all nights in Leh, with Thiksey at dawn, Hemis and Spituk on day three and Khardung La on day four. The eight-day and ten-day tours spend two nights here at the start and two more at the end, after Nubra and Pangong; every route that stays in town is on our Leh tour packages page.