Nubra Valley

Lies in the North of Leh, locked between the Ladakh Range and the eastern Karakoram mountains. A region part green, part rocky and barren like much of Ladakh, and Part, rather surprisingly, desert. You have actually Sand dunes here, amidst the high Himalaya. And camels too, though the Bactrian double variety.

Reached by crossing the Ladakh Range over Khardonlg La, the world highest motorable road in the world (5602mt, 18380ft) the drive to Nubra itself is very interesting, the dramatic ascent to the pass and the breathtaking panoramic view from the top. And then the amazing views of the vast sandy confluence of the Nubra and Shayok rivers. The villages of Nubra are surrounded by greenery, charming little oases arid landscape.

You need a minimum of (2-3 days) days to visit whole Nubra if you stretch to Turtuk which is the last Village of Indian Territory but one could easily spend a whole week in the region. Diskit is the headquarters of the Nubra Valley and thus has lot of government offices with basic facilities. It is also connected by road with Leh. The 32 metre Maitreya Buddha statue is the landmark of Nubra Valley and is maintained by the Diskit Monastery.

The deep-cut Shayok and Nubra River Valleys offer tremendous scenery on a grand scale, with green oasis villages surrounded by thrillingly stark scree slopes, and harsh arid mountains, strongly reminiscent of Pakistan’s Northern Areas. There are sand dunes, monasteries, a ruined palace and – at Turtuk and Bogdang – a whole different culture (Balti) to discover.

Disket Monastery:- dating back to early 15^th century , is Nubra most historic monastery , situated 150mt above the village, situated on a rugged mountains , the gompa sprawls  almost vertically across a steep slope, its building piled one above other . the Disket monastery belongs to the Gelukpa order falls within the orbit of Thiksay Gompa. founded in 1420 by Shesrab Zangpo one of the chief disciple of Tsongkhapa.

Hundar:- A charming village just 7 km away from Disket , Hundar means “old village”, there are dozens of crumbling chorten , the village Gompa is a midst two storied structure  with a giant Mongoloid feature statue of Maitrya, hundar is mostly popular for sand dune and camel ride ,

Sumur:- on the opposite side of  Disket lies Sumur,  the village is famous for the Samstangling gompa ,established in 1841, it is a Gelukpa order monasteries falls under the orbit of Rizong gompa ,

Turtuk:- located in the Nubra valley, 205 km from the district headquarter Leh, on the banks of the Shayok  River. It is the only Balti region under the Indian administration and was under Pakistan’s control until 1971, after which India gained control over this strategic area. Geographically, Turtuk lies in the Baltistan Region and is one among four such villages in India, the other three being Tyakshi, Chalunkha and Thang. Turtuk is very famous for the availability of different varieties of fruits especially apricots.