Zanskar and Ladakh on a CB350: My Route, My Costs, My Thoughts

Note: I’m writing this almost three months after the trip, with no notes. Everything here is from memory, and the group’s WhatsApp chat. So some parts are thin. :(

In June 2026 I rode through Zanskar and Ladakh with a group from my riding club, BBC. Twelve days, starting in Sonamarg and ending in Keylong, on my Honda CB350.

This post is the route we took, what it cost me, and what went wrong with my bike (a lot).

The group

The trip was organised by Animesh and Anoop from the club. We paid one fixed amount per person, and it covered:

• Hotels from Sonamarg to Keylong, on double sharing
• Breakfast and dinner every day
• A backup vehicle for our luggage, with spare fuel
• A mechanic
• An oxygen cylinder, just in case
• Inner line permits

Fuel and lunch were on us. For lunch we just put ₹2,000 each into a pool, one person paid, and we settled the rest on Splitwise at the end.

This is who rode, and on what:

From Leh to Keylong, DG joined us with another rider, Sunny, and a photographer.

Where we stayed

All the stays came with the package. This is where we stayed each night:

The rest of the group also stayed at Hotel PR in Jammu on the 19th and Hotel Neel Gagan in Sonamarg on the 20th. I missed both because of the wedding.

The route at a glance

Getting the bike there

Most of the group rode from Mumbai to Jammu. I didn’t have that kind of leave, so I shipped my bike. Neel and I sent ours through V Express from Mumbai to Jammu. It cost ₹5,322 per bike, plus about ₹1,200 each for packing. The bikes reached Jammu on 12th June, a week before the trip.

One warning from someone in the group: some transporters load and unload bikes at stops along the way, which can damage them. He recommended Safexpress instead. Ours arrived fine.

Everyone else met in Jammu on 19th June. That was meant to be the rest day before the ride.

Day 1: Pune, a wedding, and a late start

The ride started on 20th June with Jammu to Sonamarg. I missed it. A friend was getting married in Pune that day, and I wasn’t going to skip that.

So on the morning of the 21st, Neel and I flew from Pune to Srinagar. We landed around 10 AM.

Then we did the stupidest thing of the trip. We took a photo of ourselves with the aircraft. They’d announced on the flight that photography wasn’t allowed (Srinagar airport is also an Air Force base). The authorities caught us, told us not to do it again, and asked us to delete the photo. I deleted it. :)

We bought SIM cards at the airport. Prepaid SIMs from outside J&K don’t work there, so you need a local one. I already had a local SIM from my ski trip to Gulmarg in February, but it didn’t work. If you don’t recharge one of these SIMs for three months, it gets discontinued. So I had to buy a new one.

From the airport we took a private cab to Sonamarg. It took about three hours and cost around ₹4,000, which is a lot for that distance. Neel and I split it.

The group had already collected our bikes from the transporter in Jammu and brought them to Sonamarg. Everyone else had left for Panikhar in the morning. Only Animesh waited for us. We finally started around 2 PM, rode over Zoji La, through Drass and Kargil, and reached the hotel in Panikhar after dark. The organisers had asked us to avoid riding at night. We didn’t manage that on day one.

My bike had a bad trip

I’ll get this out of the way.

My CB350 had power problems the whole time. It was slow on climbs and slow to pick up speed compared to every other bike in the group. I was last in line most days, holding the throttle wide open just to keep up. Half the group had 390s and the 310 GS. Animesh was on a Z900. I knew I’d be slower than them. This was worse than that.

By the end of the tour, the bike was burning engine oil and blowing white smoke out of the exhaust. I think the service before the trip wasn’t done properly. If you’re taking your bike up there, get it serviced properly, and check the work yourself.

Day 2: Panikhar to Padum

On the 22nd we rode from Panikhar to Padum. The first stop was the monastery at Rangdum. Then Pensi La, and then down into the Zanskar valley.

Zanskar felt unreal. I don’t have a better word for it.

We reached Padum around 4:30 PM. The police asked us to move our bikes from outside the hotel because it was a no parking zone, so we moved them to a pay-and-park 200 meters away. No fine.

Day 3: Rest day in Padum

The 23rd was a rest day, but most of us rode anyway. We went to Gonbo Rangjon, about 150 km there and back. On the way, a few people spotted an off-road trail and decided to try it. Some made it. Some didn’t.

Day 4: Padum to Leh via Nimmu

We left at 6 AM sharp on the 24th and took the new road north from Padum to Nimmu, along the Zanskar river. Near Nimmu is the Sangam point, where the Zanskar river meets the Indus. We stopped there.

This road didn’t exist a few years ago. BRO has built really good roads in this region. I’ve watched videos of the old routes, and what we rode was much easier.

Day 5: Rest day in Leh

The 25th was a rest day in Leh. I got the bike washed in the morning. In the afternoon a few of us went to the Hall of Fame war memorial. Anush rode pillion with me. After that we went to Leh Palace and walked around the market. I also saw the Leh monastery and Shanti Stupa.

Leh is clean and beautiful.

Day 6: Khardung La to Hunder

On the 26th we rode from Leh over Khardung La into the Nubra valley. We stopped at the Diskit monastery and the big Buddha statue at Diskit, and ended the day in Hunder with a camel ride on the sand dunes.

Day 7: Nubra to Pangong

On the 27th we rode to Pangong Lake. It’s as beautiful as everyone says.

Day 8: Pangong to Hanle

On the 28th we rode from Pangong to Hanle, through Chushul and over Kaksang La, then Mahe and Nyoma.

Day 9: Umling La, and the best day of my life

On the 29th we rode from Hanle over Photi La to Umling La and back. The BRO sign at the top says it’s the highest motorable pass in the world, at 19,024 ft. (Mig La, close by, now claims that record. We didn’t go there.)

The ride back from Umling La to Hanle was the best day of my life. The road just doesn’t end. It goes on and on across a huge empty plain.

Day 10: Hanle to Tso Kar

On the 30th we filled up in Nyoma and rode to Tso Kar.

Day 11: Tso Kar to Keylong

On 1st July we crossed Baralacha La into Himachal. The wind at the top of Baralacha La was insane. We reached Keylong around 5 PM, and that was the end of the group tour.

Things that went wrong

A few incidents, apart from my bike:

• Sumit had a minor accident with a car. He was fine.
• Sreelal crashed, and in the last two or three days his KTM’s chassis broke. We tried to find a mechanic, but there’s no KTM service center out there. He somehow kept riding until the end. Watching everyone try to fix that bike together was one of the more interesting parts of the trip.

On leading: Animesh led the group until Leh, and he did it well. From Leh, DG took over. I didn’t like DG’s lead that much. He didn’t seem to know how to ride in a group. Sunny, who came with him, was good.

Getting home

On 2nd July we rode down from Keylong to Chandigarh. Neel, Sumit and I sent our bikes back to Mumbai by truck from there. Some of the group rode all the way back to Mumbai.

I took the train from Chandigarh and reached Bandra Terminus on 4th July. The bikes reached the Wadala depot about a week later.

What it cost me

These are my own costs. Neel and I paid for a few things together and settled up later, so some of these are approximate.

That doesn’t include about ₹10,000 I spent before the trip on a riding pant, chain lube, brake work and a few small things.

What to pack

Animesh shared this list before the trip. I’d take the same things again.

• Helmet, balaclava and a sun cap
• Riding jacket, riding pants, riding boots
• Waterproof gloves, plus summer gloves if you want them
• Thermal inners for your hands (Decathlon has them)
• Two sets of base layers, top and bottom
• Thermal liners for your jacket and pants
• A raincoat, top and bottom
• Waterproof socks, plus at least five pairs of cotton and woollen socks
• Polarised sunglasses
• Dri-fit T-shirts, track pants, a sweatshirt and shorts for the evenings
• Toiletries and a towel
• Documents: RC, insurance, Aadhaar and PAN
• Chargers, a power bank and cables

Tips if you’re planning this

• Service your bike properly before you go. Change the coolant and brake oil if they’re due. Old brake oil can let air into the brakes at high altitude and on long downhills. Get the swing arm greased and the fork oil changed. Learn from my CB350.
• Don’t mix coolants. If you want to carry coolant for a top-up, carry the same one that’s already in your bike. Mixing brands can thicken it and block the system.
• Get a local SIM. Prepaid SIMs from outside J&K don’t work here. You can buy one at Srinagar airport. If you already have one from an earlier trip, it stops working if you haven’t recharged it for three months.
• Don’t ride at night. Plan your day so you reach the hotel before dark.
• Cross Khardung La early in the morning. It gets crowded and stressful later in the day.
• Fill up wherever you can. Most of the route has petrol pumps now. Our fuel stops were Sonamarg, Kargil, Padum, Leh, Diskit, Tangtse and Nyoma. The backup vehicle carried about 50 liters in jerry cans, and we needed them for Tso Kar to Keylong.
• Payments. Cards and UPI worked almost everywhere, even at petrol pumps and small shops in Zanskar. Keep some cash anyway.
• Don’t take photos at Srinagar airport. Ask me how I know.

Reels

I made a few reels on the trip:

What I thought

• BRO has done amazing work. The roads are good almost everywhere now, and the new ones like Padum to Nimmu make this trip a lot easier than it used to be.
• Ladakhi people are sweet.
• Zanskar was unreal. If you only have time for one new thing, add Zanskar to your Ladakh trip.
• The best thing in the mountains is hot Maggi at high altitude. I’m serious.

I’d recommend this trip to anyone. Go. It’s much easier to do now than it was a few years ago. Just get your bike serviced properly first.