Ladakh

Why women travel to Ladakh with Wovoyage

Ladakh is the part of India most people see on Instagram before they see it in real life. Pangong's electric-blue lake. The rooftop of Khardung La at 5,359 metres. Monks in red robes setting up for morning prayer at Thiksey. The thing those photos don't tell you is how thin the air is, how cold the nights get even in July, and how absurdly hospitable Ladakhi families are once you sit down in their kitchen for butter tea.

It's also our most popular women-only destination. We've been running departures to Ladakh since 2022, mostly the Leh, Nubra, Pangong loop with a Turtuk Village add-on, and most of our travellers come solo. The combination of dramatic landscape, female-led Buddhist culture, and a 7-day group format that takes the logistics off your plate is, judging from how full our June departures fill, the perfect women-trip in India right now.

When to plan your Ladakh trip

Ladakh is a seasonal destination, and the calendar is non-negotiable:

• June to early September is peak season. Both road routes (Manali to Leh and Srinagar to Leh) are open, the Pangong and Nubra roads are accessible, the high passes are clear, and the apricot orchards in Nubra are still green. This is when we run our flagship Leh, Nubra, Pangong, Turtuk and Suru Valley, Kargil departures. Expect 22°C days and 6°C nights in Leh; warmer in the valleys, colder at Pangong.
• April (Apricot Blossom Trail) is a short window, late March to mid-April, when the apricot trees flower across Nubra and Turtuk. We offer customised trips during this window. Roads from Manali are still closed; you fly into Leh and drive from there.
• October to mid-November is quieter, with dramatic golden light and fewer travellers. Some passes start to close. Good for repeat visitors who've already done the headline circuit.
• December to March is winter Ladakh: frozen Pangong, the Chadar Trek on the frozen Zanskar river, snow leopards in Hemis National Park. Highly specialised and physically demanding. We don't run open departures here yet.

One practical thing: most flights to Leh land before 9 AM because of afternoon winds. You'll want to plan your Day 1 around resting, not exploring. The altitude will make sure of that.

A typical Wovoyage week in Ladakh

Our flagship 6 to 7 day itinerary goes Leh, then Nubra Valley, then Turtuk, back through Leh, on to Pangong Lake, and back to Leh. The Suru Valley alternative routes through Kargil and the Aryan Valley (Dha and Hanu villages) and skips Pangong. Different feel, more cultural, fewer travellers.

Day 1 is intentionally light: arrive in Leh, drink lemon-ginger-honey at the guesthouse, walk slowly to the Leh market in the evening if you feel up to it, sleep early. Day 2 stays in Leh. Shanti Stupa at sunrise, Thiksey monastery for morning prayer (the chanting at 7 AM is one of those moments you'll come back for), Stok Palace, maybe a short hike to a smaller monastery to keep acclimatising.

Day 3 is the drive to Nubra over Khardung La. We stop at the top for the obligatory photos (and oxygen if anyone needs it), then descend to Diskit for the 32-metre Maitreya Buddha statue. Nights in Nubra are at a homestay near Hunder where you can watch sand dunes catch the last light of the day. Bring layers; it drops to 4°C even in June.

Day 4 takes you all the way to Turtuk, the northernmost village in India, on the old Silk Road, less than 10 km from the Pakistan border. It's a Balti community, very different food, apricots growing everywhere. Most groups end up staying longer than planned in the family-run cafes.

The Pangong day is high-drama: the drive over Chang La (5,360 m), the first sight of the lake from above, and then sitting on the bank watching the colour shift from turquoise to navy to silver depending on the time of day. We camp lakeside in eco-tents and the sky at night is, fairly literally, the most stars you'll see in one place.

What it's actually like as a woman traveler here

Ladakh has a genuinely matriarchal current in its rural Buddhist culture. Ladakhi families are often run by the women, and you'll notice it in homestays and cafes and small shops along the way. We've never had a safety incident here in four years of running departures. The bigger risks are the things you can't argue with:

• Altitude (AMS) is real and not optional. Leh itself is at 3,500 m and the passes go past 5,000 m. Every Wovoyage Ladakh departure includes a full Day-1 rest, gradual acclimatisation, a pulse oximeter, diamox in the medical kit, and a trip leader trained to spot the early signs. Tell us if you've had AMS issues before; we plan around them.
• Period products: Leh has a couple of pharmacies that stock pads, but nothing else does. Bring tampons, cups, and pain relief from home. Hot water bottles are surprisingly useful at altitude.
• Mobile signal: only postpaid BSNL and Jio work in Ladakh. Prepaid SIMs from outside J&K stop working at the airport. Expect no signal beyond Nubra and patchy Wi-Fi everywhere else. Tell people at home not to worry.
• Permits: Pangong, Nubra, Tso Moriri, Turtuk and the Aryan Valley all need Inner Line Permits. We handle the paperwork; you don't need to do anything except bring your ID.
• Sun: the sun at 3,500 m burns you in a way that doesn't quite register until that evening. SPF 50, lip balm with SPF, sunglasses. Even on cloudy days.

What's included in a Wovoyage Ladakh trip

From the moment we pick you up at Leh airport to the moment we drop you back:

• All accommodation: a mix of mid-range hotels in Leh and traditional homestays or eco-camps in Nubra, Turtuk, and Pangong. Twin-sharing default, single rooms on supplement.
• A private Innova or Tempo Traveller with a local driver who's done these roads through every season.
• All breakfasts and dinners; lunches at handpicked dhabas (₹250 to ₹400 per meal usually).
• Inner Line Permits for restricted areas, handled before you arrive.
• Monastery entry fees on the itinerary (Thiksey, Diskit, Likir, Hemis).
• A female Wovoyage trip leader on every departure.
• Pulse oximeter, oxygen cylinder, diamox and a stocked medical kit.

Flights to Leh, alcohol, and personal expenses aren't included.

Real cost picture

Our scheduled Ladakh departures are ₹32,000 to ₹40,000 per person twin-sharing, depending on length and route. Customised trips for couples and small private groups start at ₹85,000 for a short Apricot Blossom escape and go up to ₹1,50,000 for the full Long Trail.

On top of the trip cost, plan for:

• Flight to Leh from Delhi: ₹6,000 to ₹12,000 each way, lower if booked early.
• Lunches over 6 to 7 days: ₹2,000 to ₹3,000.
• Optional add-ons: Tso Moriri detour (₹6,500), Khardung La / Nubra add-on for customised trips (₹4,500), Pangong overnight upgrade to a glamping tent (₹2,800).
• Tips for driver and trip leader: customary ₹1,500 to ₹2,500 per traveller.
• Shopping: Ladakh has the most beautiful pashmina shawls and silver jewellery in India, fair warning.

All-in, most travellers spend between ₹45,000 and ₹60,000 for a week.

What surprised our last group

People come for Pangong. They go home talking about Turtuk. The Pakistan-border Balti village, with apricots drying on rooftops and a single restaurant family who'll cook you mok-mok if you ask politely, is the moment most of our last June group identified as the trip's emotional peak. Pangong is the photo; Turtuk is the experience. We've slowly built our itinerary around making sure travellers actually have time there, not just stopping for an hour to take pictures.