Zanskar Valley Tour

Zanskar valley tour

zanskar valley

Zanskar valley is one of the most exciting regions of Jammu & Kashmir. A relatively new destination for new age trekkers and travellers to explore, zanskar is gaining popularity with the government’s attention for better accessibility. Zanskar is subdistrict of kargil bordering Himachal Pradesh, kashmir valley & ladakh. Historically, its culture and terrain was part of erstwhile Tibetan kingdom and the ladscape is still pristine and relatively unexplored. While of late, lot of interest is being shown by domestic travellers, it continues to receive its dose of foreign trekkers and travel enthusiasts. Though the route from kargil to padum is still in a bad condition, the valley is mostly toured and explored for its excellent trekking & mountaineering routes.

Similar to ladakhi terrain, zanskar has its own unique natural beauty with commanding views, glaciers & amazing high altitude villages. Padum is its administrative center and the last point that can be reached by zanskar road from kargil. As of now, it is approachable only through kargil and takes about 11 hours to get reach by a vehicle. Further to padum are karsha & zangla both offering spectacular views and also accessible by road. Padum is center point from where trekkers can regroup/resupply and span out to different points in the valley by foot.

• Kargil:In the old world, Kargil meant “the place” (or) center point of all trade that passed from china to central asia. I’m sure there are many more versions how it got its name. The town of kargil and district were barely visited by the outside world including Indians. All that changed with the kargil war in 1999. Military bases, better highways connecting kargil with Srinagar/leh and the recent growing popularity of ladakh as a tourist hotspot have all contributed to its importance as connecting destination.

  Kargil is starting point to the gateway of suru and zanskar valley. To reach these valley either from Srinagar or leh, you need to pass through kargil. Often, the town of kargil is used as rest over for acclimatization & better time management for travel to suru and zanskar.

• Rangdum:
  Rangdum often serves as midpoint of journey from kargil to padum. High in altitude, at about 12000ft it’s a beautiful valley with suru river flowing in its midst. It has thick grass covered in its plains and surrounded by majestic mountains. The grass is thick and juicy enough to attract bakarwalas with their sheep for grazing. They make their ardent journey all the way from jammu. It is also home to many wild animals including the famed marmots.Rangdum is often recommended a stopover enroute or return from padum. Darung drung glacier and pensi la pass top is closest to rangdum, so it becomes the most convenient stopover for a day’s visit to the great glacier. For an overnight stay, Rangdum offers a shabbily maintained tourist bunglow, few tents and a new hotel. The new hotel La Hotel offers clean rooms and tasty food. To make a booking, send a mail here.
• Darung drang glacier:
  There are not many glaciers in the world that can be reached by foot. Darung drang glacier is one of them one of the wonders in the Indian travel scene. It is India’s second largest glacier after saichen, and 23kms in length, more than half the glacier is visible along with doda peak and easily accessible from main zanskar road.
  

  Drang drung glacier

• Pensila pass top:
  At 14500 ft pensi la pass top presents one of the greatest sights of any valley in the world. The pass indicates sort of mid point between suru valley and zanskar valley. Pensila pass top is where zanskar starts and suru valley ends. To reach pensile pass top one has to drive six hours from kargil with an overnight stop over at rangdum that is reached before reaching pensi la.
  
• Zangla:
  Zangla is a district of kargil and 32kms from padum. It’s got incredible vantage points to view the valley and makes a spectacular 1 day Padum-Strongdey-Zangla-Karsha-Padum round trip. In your itinerary to padum from kargil, it would be ideal and worthwhile to fit in zangla since you have tranvelled this far from kargil.
  
• Karsha gompa:
  Karsha is oldest and most significant of all monasteries of the zanskar range. The gompa is nestled at a vantage point overlooking the doda river. At 14 kms from padum, It’s a must see monastery especially for its exquisite paintings by Lama Dzadpa Dorje. A popular festival, the gustor festival is held every year as per Tibetan calendar. The sacred dance at the festival attracts everyone in the vicinity.
• Padum:
  Named after the tantric tibetan buddhist padmasambhava, padum is the one of the ancient capitals of kingdom of zanskar. Presently, it is the administrative headquarter of zanskar and serves as the end point of the route between kargil and zanskar. From here, valley of zangla and karsha gompa is easily accessible along with many historic trekking routes including chardar trek. There is a lot of infrastructure planned by govt of india to connect padum to various parts of himachal and ladakh.
• How to plan journey to zanskar:
  To travel to the magnificient valley of zanskar, one has to hire a vehicle either at kargil, Srinagar or leh. If you need to drive straight from airport to zanskar, then you need to alight either at Srinagar or leh. Travelling from Srinagar is recommended as it’s the shortest route accompanied by travelling pass through sonamarg and zozila pass.

Best Time to Visit Zanskar

Months from May end to August are the best time to visit Zanskar Valley since the temperature of the day falls below zero in the other months.