Ultimate Ladakh With Hanle Umlingla Puga Valley and Tso Moriri

After breakfast, head out in your 4x4 for the classic Leh sightseeing circuit. Visit the Hall of Fame museum, experience the illusion at Magnetic Hill, and visit Gurudwara Pathar Sahib. The highlight is Sangam, the point where the Indus and Zanskar rivers meet in two completely different colours that you can see with your own eyes. Visit Spituk Monastery on the return and enjoy the evening at Leh Market. This is also your last full day with mobile network and ATMs, so stock up on cash and supplies.

Cross Khardung La at 18,380 ft, your first major high pass, and descend into the surreal Nubra Valley. Visit the 106 ft Maitreya Buddha at Diskit Monastery and walk through the sand dunes at Hunder where you can take an optional Bactrian camel ride. Evening bonfire if weather permits. This day starts your progressive altitude preparation for the bigger days ahead.

Drive along the dramatic Shyok River towards Pangong Tso. The first glimpse of the lake is unforgettable, an impossible blue that keeps shifting as the light changes. Settle into your lakeside camp, walk along the shore, watch the sunset, and stay up for the stars. Enjoy tonight because tomorrow the trip shifts into expedition mode as you head towards the Changthang plateau.

This is the day the trip transforms. Drive along Pangong's less visited eastern shore through the remote Changpa settlements of Man and Merak. Cross Tsaga La into the vast Changthang plateau and stop at the Rezang La War Memorial, the site of one of India's most heroic last stands in 1962. Continue to Hanle and visit the ancient monastery. After dinner at your homestay, step outside. The Milky Way from Hanle is not something you just see. It is something you feel. The skies here are among the darkest in India, and on a clear night, the galaxy stretches from horizon to horizon.

This is the day you came for. Leave early and drive through the Changthang plateau towards Umlingla Pass at 19,024 ft, the world's highest motorable road. That is higher than Everest Base Camp. At the summit, you get 360 degree views of the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges stretching to the horizon. Take your photos at the famous signboard and soak in the enormity of where you are standing. Return to Hanle by afternoon and rest. The two night Hanle stay means you do this day trip comfortably without rushing, and you get a second shot at stargazing tonight if the first night was cloudy.

Drive from Hanle towards Nyoma and into Puga Valley, a geothermal wonderland with bubbling mud pools and steaming sulphur vents that looks like it belongs in Iceland, not India. Continue to Tso Moriri, a pristine high altitude lake at 4,522 metres and a designated Ramsar Wetland. This lake is quieter, more remote, and less crowded than Pangong. Walk along the shore, look for black necked cranes and other migratory birds, and watch the evening light turn the water and surrounding mountains into something otherworldly.

Wake up early for a Tso Moriri sunrise and visit Korzok Monastery, the highest monastery on the lake's edge. After breakfast, begin the long but scenic return to Leh. Stop at Chumathang Hot Springs for a warm soak, the perfect way to unwind after days in the cold desert. The drive follows the Indus River through Upshi back to Leh. Arrive by evening for a farewell dinner and your last night in the mountains.

A final breakfast in Leh before your 4x4 takes you to the airport. Your Ultimate Ladakh trip comes to a close. You have stood at 19,024 ft, seen the Milky Way from Hanle, watched Pangong change colour, soaked in hot springs after days in the cold desert, and driven through landscapes that most people only see in documentaries. This one stays with you.