How to Reach Ladakh

Ladakh is called the Hermit Kingdom due to its remoteness and in accessibility. Ladakh is connected to the main land through two roads namely Leh-Srinagar national highway and Leh-Manali road. These two roads remains open only during summer months and during the winter it remains closed for more than 7 months due to closure of the passes (Zojila, Rotang Pass, Baralacha, Changla) . Leh District is connected to the Block Headquarter by roads, through a network of roads. The average distance of the block headquarter from Leh is 180 Kms. Bus services and other means of communication is very poor. Border roads organization maintains most of the highway connecting the block head quarter and PWD maintains a road length of 1060 Kms. As some of the roads to the block head quarter passes through the world highest motorable roads, it is frequently closed due to the avalanches and snowfall in the passes. Durbuk block and Nubra Block remains closed in winter months due to closure of Khardongla and the Changla Pass.

The transport service comprises of roads, motor vehicles, civil aviation, railways, and water transport. . All this constituents form the base of economic infrastructure. The adequate availability of this infrastructure leads to rapid economicdevelopment, though the railways and water transport does not exist in the district.The road transport is the major and principle mode of mobility of men and material in the district. Roads are thus considered as arteries of our economy, which plays crucial role in sustaining economic growth and is vital for the development of all segments of the society. Due to difficult terrain of the district, it is very difficult to provide road facilities, however Public Works Department has constructed and maintained substantial road network in the district. Out of 113 villages of the district, 97 stands connected with the motorable road by ending March 2009.The Border Road Organization (Project Himank) is also contributing a lot in the economic development of the district by constructing /maintaining a huge chunk of road network, connecting the border areas.

JKSRTC provides services from Srinagar to Leh (434Kms) which takes two days and HRTC provides services from Manali to Leh (474Kms) which takes about 20hours or two days if you halt in between. Private taxies also operates between Leh-Srinagar and Leh-Manali everyday.

Air Services

Then the only route accessible to Ladakh during the winter is air, Indian Air Lines operates daily flight services form Leh to Delhi and return besides Jet airway and airgo. Moreover in winter months the air services is not frequent as there are too many cancellations of flights due to fog in Delhi and snowfalls in Leh. Life in Ladakh comes to a stand still in winter months and remains cut off from the rest of the world.

There are two Airports in the district namely K.G Bakula Airport at Leh and army Airport at Thoise Nubra. Leh airport connects the national capital of Delhi and state capital of Srinagar and Jammu.