Hi Sanjay.....nice to see that you all are going to have a great journey and one big lifetime experience.
even i am going Leh, Ladakh, Khardungla but in June this year. i am avoiding august due to rains and so would avoid the wet rugged roads of Manali and thus utilising my whole trip nicely.

answers to your questions.
1)offcourse you can take MP route. MP roads are awesome. The tarmac is newly created and you will love them. this is latest update from NOV'12 and also i have lived and explored MP a lot(4 years of my engg done there, and toured all the places). only bad part of the route is in between Satna to Jhnasi in which only some portion is bad but easy to ride.

Also the western route via pune-rajasthan is also good but it will increase your journey length. Even while going i am taking the western route of Pune-Rajasthan-Newdelhi route and is returning back via MP.

2)Ascending through Jammu route is good choice. You would be able to get 3 things easily
a) you can easily avoid AMF(acute mountain fever while going upwards through manali route).
b) less exertion by avoiding the wet muddy traffic hit manali route and thus will be fresh and cool while riding upwards.
c) while ascending through Jammu route you could easily go to Leh first from where you can easily get Permits for Khardungla Pass, Pangong Tso lake and Tso moriri.
one advice no need to go Jammu. If you are going to delhi(rather after Rajashthan better touch Delhi and then enter Punjab) then better follow this itinerary Delhi-Ambala-Pathankot-Samba-Udhampur outer-Srinagar-Sonemarg-Kargil and Leh. with this you would be easily avoiding the rush and traffic of Jammu highway, Jammu City traffic and Udhampur City traffic.

while descending back you can follow the Leh-manali-ambala route.

now how many days will this take, then it depens on your planner and the places which you wanna explore.
If you are going to Leh then offcourse you should cover Khardungla, ChangLa, Pangong Tso and Tso moriri.

Take your main starting and ending point as Delhi, so you should take/it will take 9-10 complete days(keep it 10 preferably) for you all to cover Delhi-Leh-Manali-Delhi route.
now regarding going and coming back Hyderabard/Bangalore you can better take 3 days each.
In total you all should take/it will take 16 days minimum.

you can have a look to my detailed itinerary for my ride(Note: this only includes Delhi-Leh-Manali-Delhi route)
Day1: New Delhi - Amritsar: 460km
ride is all in plains
can also visit to WAGHA border
90% roads are four-lane highways
We cross New Delhi, Haryana, Punjab
extimated riding 7 hrs

Day2: Amritsar- Srinagar : 355km
here comes the mountains: we enter J&K
First 90km good four-lane highway
The rest 275km slow and fast hill riding with straights
Riding 10 hrs

Day3: Srinagar - Kargil : 204km
Ride of dreams:
We ride through the notorious and tough Zoji La pass at 11640feet
We also visit the Kargil War Memorial

Day4: Kargil - Leh : 214km
A day of high speed runs and sticky hill tarmac at 12000feet!
Will cross Namika La pass at 12198 feet
Will cross Fotu La pass at 13479 feet
The Hangro loops will entice you!
will also drive through Basgo plains

Day5: rest in peace :P
have to take rest and take different permits.

Day 6: Leh - Khardung La - Nubra Valley : 134km
We will be at the roof of the world - we pose for shots, we cheer, we hug!
Have Maggi at the world's highest cafe
Purchase Khardung La coffee mugs and T-shirts at the world's highest shop
We continue to Nubra Valley after taking some rest
Our base will be Diskit,and will also ahead to the Sand Dunes
Total riding time is 5-6hrs

Day 7: Nubra Valley - Pangong Tso Lake : 230km
Wari La at 17400 feet will be toughest
the detour to Karu (for petrol)
Night at the world famous Pangong Tso lake - we sleep at 13940 feet!
Total riding time is 8-9 hrs hours

Day 8: Pangong Tso - Tso Moriri : 180km
This route will never be forgotten
It is the epitome of isolation
No network - no fuel pumps - no civilzation only there can be love birds
We ride through a complete cold desert(no one should cry now)
Riding time is 8 hours
Camp night at Tso moriri lake

Day 9 : Tso Moriri to Sarchu : 222km
Anothing camping night for us at Sarchu
Riding at high speed at the Pang flats - its tarmac!
Will cross Lachulung Pass at 16,616 feet
Will cross Nakee La pass at 15,547 feet
Will cover Gata loops
Riding time is 7 hours
We sleep at 14000 feet! again , remind you we are going to camp there

Day 10: Sarchu to Manali : 216km
here comes the favorite section as bikers can kneel down and scratchs your wheels
The Baralacha La is at 16500 feet
Will get fuel at Tandi
And lastly cross the Rohtang pass at 13000 with zero oncoming traffic
Night at only 6500 feet! -and then we reach manali and
Riding time is 7-8 hrs

Day 11: Manali to Delhi : 585km
back to business - 320km hills, rest on good highways

I will be taking western route from bangalore to delhi(3 days) and would be returning back from Delhi via MP route(3 days) to bangalore.

"[QUOTE=saquib3005;922740]Hi Sanjay.....nice to see that you all are going to have a great journey and one big lifetime experience.
even i am going Leh, Ladakh, Khardungla but in June this year. i am avoiding august due to rains and so would avoid the wet rugged roads of Manali and thus utilising my whole trip nicely."



Thank you very much my friend. This will help me and i will use this information. I will have many more questions and will ask in the due course.

Regards, Sanjay

less than 90 days to open Road of LEH. i expect little more dicussion...

Hello Guys,

I would like to be a part if any group travelling in June or July and passing through Gujarat. I live in Ahmadabad.

I have riding experience of 300KM per day, not big trips like this before. But I am confident I can do this too. Since long its in my to do list.

I own Pulsar 150, 2.5yrs old. I think it will do the job.

I am closely following this thread for any opportunity but just in case if I missed it, please reply to my comment.

I didn't know that I wasn't the only one here to have taken the route in Bold. For the people who are not aware, its good when you are lucky to have dry weather. Saves you over an hour and a half compared to the regular longer route (this is almost 55-60km less and has practically no traffic). But IF it happens to rain, the conditions turn to the worst possible. On 4th of August 2012, there was a cloudburst on this particular road and I had done this route on 8th August 2012, i.e., 4 days after the incident. I was blissfully unaware of the situation since I preferred not to follow the news (because I was on holiday) since I left from Nasik on August 4th! There was another cloudburst a few days after my return to civilization on the exact same route.

Moral of the story: Don't venture on this route alone. Its dangerous. If going solo, stick to the regular route via Jammu. The reason I went there even though I was riding solo was that I had the company of 2 fellow riders from Turkey on this stretch of road.

Detailed Itinerary..

Dear Friends,

can you have a look on this Schedule??

LEH 2013

Thanks for the advice. Such hint always kick into mind and reminds forever to be aware of unwanted mishaps.
Yes I am avoiding the worst situations and would prefer it cover this route when it is dry. Reminding again my trip is in late june which no where marks the start of rainy season on this route or anywhere nearby in northern India at that time.
Moreover, the fun fill adrenaline pumping route makes the ride more adventurous and mark a lifetime experience.

just follow people who are planning for the trip and are frequent on this thread.
Also do prepare your own itinerary.
moreover do keep travelling and ride more frequently to bit farther places to gain more riding experience both mentally and physically and most important prepare yourself for the ride.

My observation on the Amritsar Srinagar route:
I feel the only way to do it in 1 day is to take Samba - Mansar lake - Udhampur route or else you won't be able to make it. As I already said, its dangerous and should be avoided.
This is the Turn-off point:


Even otherwise, the route is time consuming and you can encounter many traffic jams en route. Try to break it up if possible. If going in a group, there is very little chance of making it to Srinagar before sundown. If you stay the extra day, you can visit Gulmarg and take a Shikara ride in the evening, enjoy local cuisine (if you are non-vegetarian i.e.). Its a nice place for *touristy* things .

From Amritsar till Samba(J&K), the road is good and mostly 4-laned especially after you enter J&K.
For Udhampur to Patnitop, I felt that the road was similar to what we find in Pasarni ghat - Panchgani - Mahabaleshwar (curves with excellent road surface). After Patnitop - Jawahar tunnel is similar to Mahabaleshwar - Poladpur (curves with worse road surface). After Jawahar tunnel till Srinagar, it feels like the 2-lane sections (especially Sangamner to Chakan) on Nasik Pune NH50 (comparatively wider curvy road).

The rest seems alright apart from the plan to go back to Leh from Pangong. If you carry enough cash to Pangong, you can stay there for the night, come back to Karu(/Khagru) the next morning, tank up(bunk doesn't accept card) and without going to Leh (saving an unnecessary 65km round trip), proceed towards Sarchu for your night halt. Its not very hard to reach Sarchu from Pangong in 1 day. It took me just about 3-3.5 hours for Pangong to Karu and another 5 hours (including a breakfast stop and multiple photo breaks as per usual at every notable place) to make it to Sarchu from Upshi(15 from Karu towards Manali).

P.S.: @Everyone, Please invest in a good pair of Polarized Sunglasses. It will help you a lot when encountering water crossings.

I would disagree with the Amritsar - Srinagar break-up part. It should easily be doable on a sun-rise to sun-down basis. Last year i did Gurgaon to Srinagar in a day and it was a 3.30AM to 8.30PM ride. My friends on an Impulse and a zma were able to do the Amritsar-Srinagar route a day before comfortably too.
Anyway, if one is getting late, i think Banihal has some decent accommodation In late evening the Jawahar tunnel to Srinagar stretch can be a pain with high beamed taxi wallahs and moths/insects making the going a bit tough. Otherwise, Srinagar last year was a chirpy city even at ten at night.

EDIT: Missed the shikara part. Yup for enjoying a shikara ride in the evening, Amritsar to Srinagar will not be easy unless one leaves Amritsar very early

Another point to take care of this time- the political situation. Ever since the Afzal hanging the valley has been a bed of discontent. Do keep watching some genuine news channels for updates and be flexible with your plan (i.e. coming and going from the Manali side only)

@Antz: Polarized Sunglasses for water crossings - not getting the connection I know that its a must-have for snow clad mountains.

I seriously can't fathom what's wrong with samba route

so many of us have gone the same way & never encountered anything which can be termed as dangerous on a serious level

Darknight it is dangerous but in Rainy season. In rainy there are chances of cloud burst and high erosion and torment water flow. but rest of the year its perfect

That makes two of us. I think early to mid June is probably one of the best times.

Hey Ankit, I am from Mumbai too. I am also planning for Leh this year. You are right June is probably the best time for it.

@Antz: the samba - udhampur road is not dangerous per se in rains IMO, the only thing is that it has a few cosways, and you might have to wait a little for the water flow to ebb, and the road is not in very good condition. I have ridden on this road a couple of time in rains and did not face any serious problems. Although, I do agree that this route can be avoided during rains, especially for riders going solo. As for cloudbursts, they can happen anywhere, you cannot plan for them.