Nubra Valley

Nubra Valley is situated about 150 km north of Leh, the capital town of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India. The common way to access this valley is to travel over the Khardung La from Leh where one will first encounter the Shyok valley. To enter the Nubra valley, one must cross over the Shyok river via a small bridge and pass through a military checkpoint. An "Inner Line" permit is required to pass. The Nubra valley contains the small towns of Sumur and Panamik. Sumur has a Buddhist Gompa or monastery while Panamik is noted for its hot springs.

Before the region passed into the administrative hands of Leh Nubra's ancient kings ruled from a palace in in Charasa, toping an isolated hillock opposite Summur home to the valley's principal monastery. Further up the Nubra River the host springs of Panamik .

Nubra Valley unfolding beyond the worlds' highest stretch of motorable road as it crosses the Khardung La can be visited with a seven day permit which gives you enough time to explore the stark terrain and trek out to one or tow gompas. The Valley's  mountain beckbone looks east to the Nubra River and west to the Shyok River which meet amid silver grey sand dunes and boulder fields. To the north and east the mighty Karakoram Range markes the Indian border with China and Pakistan. In the Valley its relatively mild though dust storms are common whipping up sand and light debris in choking clouds above the braod riverbeds.

There are two villages accessible to foreigners in the Shyok valley - Disket and Hundar. Disket is home to a busy and dramatically positioned Gompa. Hundar is one of those rare places on earth where you can see in one place the splendid beauty of a desert with bactrian camels (two-humped), sand dunes, rolling mountains and snow peaks.

Valley of Ladakh

The Suru Valley

Diving two of the world's most formidable mountain ranges, the Suru Valley winds south from Kargil to the desolate Pensi La the main entry point for Zanskar. 

North of Leh : Nubra Valley

Until 1994, the lands north of Leh were off limits to tourists and had been unexplored by outsiders since the nineteenth century.

Drass Valley

Drass (3230 m), 60 km west of Kargil on the road to Srinagar, is a small township lying in the centre of the valley of the same name . 

Shyok Valley

The Shyok River receives the waters of the Nubra and Changchenmo rivers. It rises from the Khumdang glacier, which can be approached from Shyok.