Ladakh aka 'Little Tibet' - 3,910m
From
Intermediate
Activity
Transfers
8 Nights
4 - 12
Group size
Leaders
The Ladakh region, known as 'Little Tibet' or 'the Land beyond the Passes' is one of the most remote areas of India, lying to the north of the Himalayas on the Tibetan Plateau.
This timeless and breathtakingly beautiful region, isolated for centuries to the outside world due to its inaccessibility, is where the Tibetans fled to and re-established following the Chinese invasion of Tibet. Today it's a wonder to behold, a land of stupendous mountain-top Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, authentic remote villages, and the friendliest local people, with a rich culture steeped in history, tradition, colour and charisma. You truly are stepping into another world…
On this Ladakh hiking tour, you will walk through breathtaking mountain vistas, discover the history of ancient kingdoms, shop the bustling market in Leh, visit many of the incredible monasteries and palaces, and meet with local people in their homes.
Ladakh is far removed from the disputed and troubled region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan, renowned for its peaceful, harmonious way of life beneath the snow-capped mountains. To learn more about what to expect when visiting Ladakh, please see our journal post here.
(Available as a small group tour or tailor-made holiday)
Beginning the tour in Leh, where we visit several centuries-old functioning monasteries and the monks, we then start our trek in Ridzong. It is a short and easy route that seldom goes over 4000m. We'll pass through many medieval villages on the way experiencing their temples, libraries and the unchanged lifestyle of the locals in their fields and homes.
From the high altitude paths, surrounded by lakes and snow-capped mountains, we then head down into remote valleys dotted with lush meadows and a spectacular ochre-coloured rocky landscape that changes its mood along with the light.
This is truly the path less travelled.
The Tak Tok Festival in Ladakh is an annual Buddhist celebration held in the picturesque TakTok Monastery. Lasting two days in July or August, it features vibrant dances performed by monks in elaborate masks and costumes, re-enacting Buddhist myths and teachings.
Takthok monastery is the only Nyingma monastery (the oldest spiritual lineage of Tibetan Buddhism) in Ladakh. It was here that Guru Padmasambhava, a 9th-century Vadja master and the founder of the Nyingma order, brought the tradition of monastic dance in Tibetan Buddhism to Ladakh. He would dance to subdue obstacles and demons in Tibet during the reign of King Trisong Detsen.
The festival honours Guru Padmasambhava's visit to the cave above the monastery and symbolises a spiritual victory over evil. During the festival, the monks perform a special 'cham', or dance, called Guru Tsengyat Cham - the eight manifestations of Guru Padmasambhava.
Rich in tradition, featuring mesmerising masked dance performances, and attended by Ladakhis from far and wide, it's a rare opportunity to immerse in Ladakhi culture and spirituality in a stunning Himalayan setting.
The next Tak-Tok festival will be held on 4th - 5th August 2025 - and we have a special itinerary that includes it if you would like to see it as part of your wider Ladak tour (tour dates: 1st - 9th August).
*Please be aware that both our itineraries and Ladakhi festival dates can change.
Transfer
Dinner
Boutique Hotel
Leh is 3500m above sea level so the body needs time to acclimatise to the lower pressure and relative lack of oxygen (for further information please reference the Essential Information on our Ladakh pages).
Gentle exercise and plentiful hydration is the best way to spend the first day.
Flights arrive mid to late morning, so after lunch we’ll spend the afternoon resting, meandering through the small streets of the town, exploring shops filled with prayer flags and Buddhist trinkets, drinking mint tea or hot lemon and honey, and trying the local momos. We will enjoy our first dinner as a group at the hotel this evening.
Recommended flights: we recommend flying via Delhi the day before, and spending a night in Delhi. We are happy to help you with this: booking you a suitable hotel for your stopover in Delhi, arranging the transfers to and from the airport. Please contact us about this by email or add it as an add-on to your trip (see below).
Overnight: Omasila Hotel
Transfer
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Boutique Hotel
Some of the most colourful and interesting monasteries in the world are situated close to Leh, so while we are still acclimatising, we spend day 2 visiting three of them.
We take a quiet country road to the Sashi Zampa – a bridge over the Indus River – and take a short walk to visit Shay Monastery. Following this we go just a few miles down the valley to Thiksey Monastery. Modelled on the Potala Palace in Tibet, Thiksey is a large collection of buildings which cascade down the hillside, and house a large collection of well preserved murals and paintings. The magnificent Maitreya Buddha is housed in one of the temples and is three storeys high.
If we have time we will also fit in a visit to Shey Palace and climb up to the huge Buddha & stupa. On our return to Leh we have a further chance to rest and acclimatise or enjoy the hustle and bustle of the town. Some may have the energy to explore the market.
Overnight: Omasila Hotel
Transfer
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Boutique Hotel
Today we get to stretch our legs properly - testing how they feel at altitude. After breakfast we walk up through the village and ascend the many steps (565!) to Shanti Stupa – the startlingly bright white monument overlooking the town. As well as being extremely beautiful and photogenic, it offers panoramic views across the Leh, valley and across to the Stok mountain range dominated by the peak of Stok Kangri. We walk through the old villages that have been swallowed up by Leh - it feels rural, ancient and very quiet.
From here we can continue to Tsemo Palace, worth it for the views alone, and then take on the steep descent to Leh Palace. On our return to Leh we have the afternoon at leisure with a further chance to rest and acclimatise as required. The day’s walk and visits take approximately 4 hours.
Overnight: Omasila Hotel
Transfer
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Guest house
Today (on the August 1st 2025 departure) you can experience the Taktok Festival where both the monks and the local people dance! The dances depict different aspects of the wrathful and compassionate deities and a variety of animals.
We then travel to Alchi, 70km downstream from Leh, where we will find the 12th Century Alchi monastery, which contains unique Kashmiri artwork on its statues and intricate wooden carvings: enjoy the wonderful ancient buildings, murals, medals and thankas on show. We lunch in Nimruu and en-route we stop to visit the Giant Buddha in Likir. Depending on arrival times, we will have the chance to wander the streets of Alchi tonight before settling into our Guest House.
Overnight: Zimskhang Holiday Home
Breakfast
Packed Lunch
Dinner
Guest house
From our accommodation in Alchi, we drive to Rizong (around 30 mins) in a peaceful and beautiful valley and, before our trek, we make a brief visit to the Monastery and nunnery. This monastery is known for its strict order of monks, who only possess their books and robes.
We begin our trek from the monastery with a very pleasant walk to the village of Yangthang. Our path starts as a jeep track but soon becomes a single track path along the edge of the River Utley. We head up to the high plateau where Yangtang Village is situated (3670m).
Overnight: Padma homestay
Breakfast
Packed Lunch
Dinner
Guest house
In a 2.5hr walk before stopping for lunch, we drop down to cross the river, followed by a long climb up to the pass of Tsermanchanla at 3910m. We then descend gently for around an hour to the large village of Hemis Shukpachen at 3596m (Hemis of the Juniper Trees). We are likely to meet children walking to school in the morning. We will visit some typical village homes in the afternoon with an opportunity to learn more about the local culture.
Overnight: Phekarpa Homestay
Transfer
Breakfast
Packed Lunch
Dinner
Guest house
Today is a longer day on foot and is all about undulating! Crossing farmland we leave the village and head west, to a gradual climb up and over our first small pass about an hour into our walk. We then descend steeply to a dry and dusty valley before some long zig zags (around 300m ascent) to our 2nd pass of the day, with great views, Mebtak La, at 3840m. From here we enjoy a long (90min) meander down to the fertile village of Ang, hopefully stopping at a small campsite with a tea tent en route!
A rough jeep track guides us, in around an hour, to the prosperous village of Tingmosgang - 3250m - which was once the ancient capital of Ladakh and one of the largest in the area. The ruins of the castle and small temple dominate the landscape here above Tingmosgang and are well worth a visit in the evening.
Overnight: Gopa Residency
Transfer
Breakfast
Packed Lunch
Dinner
Boutique Hotel
If you didn't get to see the monastery on the hill above Tingmosgang yesterday, then there is the option of doing that this morning. It is the site of an ancient palace and well worth the several hundred steps up!
From Tingmosgang we walk up through the village on the opposite side of the hill from Tingmosgang, and take the long easy switchbacks up to the Bongbong La pass at 3580m which is a perfect place to stop for a snack.
Our descent to the village of Bhalukhar takes us through a lovely hanging valley and down some steep zigzags to where we meet with our vehicles (around 3000m altitude).
The drive back to Leh takes around 1.5hrs, so leaves some time for optional souvenir shopping and compulsory celebration of all we have seen and done, on our final evening.
Overnight: Omasila Hotel
Transfer
Breakfast
All good things must come to an end and today you enjoy your last breakfast in Ladakh. Transfers are arranged for your flight out of Leh Airport, connecting in Delhi for flights home.
To get to Leh, you will no doubt have to travel via Delhi. We recommend flying via Delhi the day before, and spending a night in Delhi. We very much recommend experiencing this incredible city whilst you stop over. The Hotel Dharampura is a gateway to Old Delhi. Rest and rejuvenate in the Indian boutique-style rooms equipped with all modern amenities screened from the brouhaha of the surrounding streets by thick stone walls. Please note this will have to be booked independently.
Single rooms are available on a first come, first served basis, however, due to the nature of the accommodation we are using on this adventure, there are some nights where single rooms are not possible, so the supplement price reflects this (it varies depending on the season, so please check with us if you are not sure). We will charge on a pro-rata basis if a single room is not available to book for part of the trip where it would have been possible.
Carbon Compensation is not the perfect solution, and it is important to first reduce our carbon emissions as much as we can, yet trees remain an excellent natural technology to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to slow global warming.
For every client and guide who attends a YellowWood Adventure, we donate £30 to our partner charity WeForest to plant 15 trees to (over) compensate for the carbon footprint of the tour.
We also invite our clients to match this with an optional additional £30 for another 15 trees to be planted to help compensate for the carbon footprint of their international flights.
WeForest run many tree planting and tree maintenance projects such as this seedling nursery in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil and many other projects in other countries including Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania & India.
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We fully believe in, and practice, Responsible Tourism and use hotels run by locals. We put time and effort into building our relationship with them to ensure you have a a great trip.
The accommodation on this adventure involves both hotels and homestays. We choose accommodation based on cleanliness, comfort, safety, proximity to our route (to avoid unnecessary extra travel), and a warm client welcome, as well as reliability in their service to us. Some hotels will be basic, and in modern buildings and or in towns. Wherever we can, we will choose smaller more characterful, individual hotels, but in areas where tourism is still developing, this may not be available.
An aspect of our adventures is to escape the ‘trappings’ of modern Western lifestyles and to experience new things which is exciting and memorable, and reflects the countries we are visiting.
This is adventure travel and on occasion the advertised services at a hotel (eg wifi, or hot showers!) may not be functional on our arrival. This tends to occur in the smaller, more remote hotels, guest houses or camps. Very rarely a hotel lets us down and we are required to find alternative suitable accommodation that might not be our first choice.
Not all homestay accommodation will be en-suite but many now have western style toilets with sinks and running water, and there are hot shower facilities in some. Others may be more rustic and offer long drop toilets and bucket showers. Bedding is usually supplemented by plenty of warm blankets for chilly evenings. Food is usually excellent and plentiful. Electricity supplies are usually not! There may be limited mobile signals, if any.
Supporting you on your holiday will be a local, English speaking guide(s).
This ensures you the perfect balance of information and support on your trip, with your Ladakhi guides offering insight into local life and customs, as well as routes during walking excursions.
Your group will be any number from our minimum group size of 4, up to a maximum of 12 clients. This number works really well with the ratio of guides, and ensures an optimal level of service to you during your adventure.
We get clients booking alone, as couples and in small groups of friends. If you have a larger group of friends or family who are interested in having their own customised trip, then please let us know and we can cost it out for you. Our links with in-country travel experts often mean that we can assist you in developing a personalised itinerary.
You are visiting the Himalaya, and although you will only be walking through valleys between the mountains, you will be walking at altitude between 3000 and 4000m.
Distances walked vary between 6km and 16km, with up to 500m of ascent during the day.
To get the most of out of this adventure, you therefore need to be a regular walker and in good physical condition. You do not need to be experienced in trekking, however. Any hiking is undertaken at the natural pace of the group, with regular stops.
You will be carrying just a day pack with bottle of water, your packed lunch and basics.
As with all active holidays, the fitter you are, the more you can relax and enjoy the stunning route, and the better you can cope with challenges such as the outside elements.
Clients are advised to get into a regular walking pattern before the trip as convenient.
NB: If you have bought new hiking boots for this adventure, this is the right time to wear them in, not on the trip itself.
Your YellowWood adventure starts at the airport in Leh. We understand that arriving into an unfamiliar airport can be very daunting, so we aim to give you as much information here as possible, to help you prepare.
Flights are not included in the cost of your holiday, and whilst we are happy to help advise you, responsibility for booking the correct flights rests with you. We recommend that you use a comparison tool such as www.momondo.co.uk or www.skyscanner.net when searching for flights. We will send you a Flight Information Sheet with further pointers on which flights to book for your adventure.
For the latest travel advice from the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), including security and local laws, plus passport and visa information, check www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice. We also receive notifications direct from the FCDO so we are always aware of the ‘status’ in our destination countries.
Leh Airport is a military airport on the outskirts of the town, only a ten minute drive from the main centre. It is a very small airport which only caters for 200 or so people at a time, and therefore has only very basic facilities – a new civilian terminal is being built and was expected to open in 2020 but in the meantime please remember you’re in a military airbase and not to take any photos!
You will need to fill out a disembarkation form on the plane or in the terminal (in any case, before you leave the terminal) and go through passport control.
Once through, collect your baggage and make your way in to arrivals where you will be met by your Guide (look out for a Yellowwood sign!) and a local driver for transport to your hotel.
Toilets are available in arrivals, though you might need your own toilet paper.
On arrival at your hotel you will be welcomed and have time to settle in to your room. Once the group have arrived (they may be on a variety of different flights), you will have lunch and a trip briefing, followed by a leisurely walk around Leh to kickstart your trip and point out the key facilities – ATMs, currency exchange, internet access and the best coffee!
Holiday insurance is essential for all Yellow Wood Adventures. Unfortunately, anyone without insurance is not able to take part in the holiday, so please make sure you arrange cover. We recommend arranging your insurance cover when you book so that if you have problems during the run up to your holiday, and need to cancel, you are covered.
YellowWood partners with battleface as a travel insurance provider. Click here for a quote.
battleface insurance is provided in the UK by battleface Insurance Services Limited, a UK insurance intermediary authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Details provided on this webpage are for information only. Terms, conditions, exclusions, and limitations apply. Always read the description of cover contained within your policy to ensure it is suitable for your needs.
Prior to the holiday, we will ask you to send us details of your insurer, policy number, 24 hour emergency assistance contact details and the name, address, and telephone numbers of your NOK or persons to be notified in the event of an emergency.
You must ensure the travel insurance you purchase provides you with suitable cover for the entirety of your trip. Your travel insurance must include cover in the event that you have to cancel for a reason outside your control prior to departure, for any medical expenses you may incur whilst away (including repatriation in the case of medical need) and for the activities which you may participate in during your trip.
For information on Ladakh, such as climate, weather, language, social norms, food & drink etc, please have a read of our Country specific information.
Wendy
I had a wonderful trip to Ladakh with YellowWood Adventures. Extraordinary scenery and wonderful monasteries, lovely walking but extremely hot! Rigzen, our guide was extremely knowledgeable with endless information about the culture and Buddhism. The homestays were fun with delicious suppers and charming hosts. The driver was a very nice guy and I enjoyed the views on the road trips.
Hiking the High Tibetan Monasteries of Ladakh - July 2024
Ross & Zenobia Barritt
Hiking the High Monasteries of Ladakh (prev. Ladakh Mountain Adventure), 2019
Lisa
Katherine
"The Omasila Hotel was fantastic – the food and service from the staff was wonderful. I would definitely recommend it and we met some really interesting people, not part of our group, but who were also there for different treks in the area.
After Leh we moved to Alchi which had a really chilled vibe. We all had a good walk around the village and near to the dam after we had visited the monastery complex in Alchi. I was blown away by the paintings at Alchi, it looked as if the walls had been wallpapered but it was fine and detailed small paintings of the different deities. Amazing.
In fact all of the monastery visits blew me away. I have always wanted to hear the dungchen Tibetan horn in real life and we got to hear it at Thiksey monastery which although was the most touristy was actually one of my favourites. We met amazing people at all of the monasteries and made to feel welcome by the monks and nun who we met. I have joined in Buddhist prayer ceremonies in the past as a family we visit Samye Ling monastery in Langholm but was still a privilege and so special to be a part of the ceremonies at the monasteries we visited in Ladakh.
The homestays on the trek were all great but in different ways. Our first homestay in Yangthang was particularly interesting as there was evidence of animism as well as Buddhism in the village and our host was married with 2 husbands which we were told is common in the region." 2023
John
Ladakh walking trip. Very enjoyable trip with a good mix of visiting monasteries and learning about the culture and then some walking through local villages staying in homestays. The local guide Rigzen was amazing and really made the trip. Would recommend asking for him if you book through Yellowwood. The walking itself isn't too challenging, it's at altitude but plenty of time each day to do it.
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To help you choose the right adventure for you, we have given each itinerary a grading that relates to the level of Walking / Trekking you will experience during the trip. This grading can be found on the Yellow map on the adventure page of the website.
All of our trips involve a level of general activity so are designed for people who are in good health, enjoy the outdoors, and have a taste for adventure and some level of fitness. As will be clear from our destinations, the climate (and altitude) may be different to that which you are used to, so please take this into consideration when choosing the most suitable holiday.
Please read our Adventure Itinerary & Essential Information for more information and don't hesitate to contact us if you would like to chat through whether you have found a suitable adventure for you.
You need to be in good physical health to enjoy your active holiday, but you don’t need to be an experienced hiker. These itineraries offer a mix of sightseeing and easier walking for around 2-4hrs a day, with the emphasis on sights and cultural experiences.
Walks will be well marked or on defined pathways, and often around sites of interest. The expected amount of descent/ascent will depend on the landscapes of the destination, but will not exceed 400m/day, and will often be much less. Walks are at low altitude (below 3000m).
You will not be required to carry more than a day sack with water and essentials. Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have a pair of comfortable and worn in walking shoes/boots.
You need to have a good level of fitness and be a regular walker for these adventures, with ideally some trekking experience. You can expect to be walking for 3-6 hours per day, not including rest stops, normally on good trail paths but with some uneven surfaces at times.
You will not be required to carry more than a day sack. You may be walking in more challenging temperatures. You will generally be walking at low altitude (below 3000m) but may walk at altitudes up to 4000m. The amount of ascent could be up to 800m in a day but will frequently be less. You may walk on consecutive days.
Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have suitable clothing for this adventure.
You need to have a good level of fitness with previous experience of trekking. Extra training before your trip will ensure that you get the most out of your adventure. Areas will be remote and terrain uneven.
Expect to walk for 5 – 8 hours a day, not including breaks, with some very steep ascents and descents. You will be walking at altitude (over 3000m but not higher than 5000m).
Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have suitable equipment/clothing for this adventure (see the packing list for your adventure).
Please check individual itineraries for details of what you will need to be carrying with you.
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