Places to visit in Ladakh
45 places to visit in Ladakh, each with LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own: Alchi Monastery, Hemis Monastery, Leh Palace and more. Stand at any of them with the app open and the stamp is yours, confirmed on site, in your Ladakh volume.
6 National monuments · 6 Famous places to visit · 17 Offbeat places · 16 Hidden gems
National monuments in Ladakh (6)
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Alchi Monastery
Kashmiri painting from the eleventh century, untouched.
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Hemis Monastery
The largest and wealthiest gompa in Ladakh, founded in 1672 and hidden in a gorge that kept it safe.
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Leh Palace
Nine storeys of mud brick, modelled on the Potala.
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Likir Monastery
A gold Maitreya sitting out in the open.
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Shey Monastery
The old summer capital of Ladakh, fifteen kilometres from Leh, with the palace and the gompa on one rock.
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Thiksey Monastery
Twelve storeys stepped up a hill in the manner of the Potala, with a fifteen metre Maitreya inside.
Famous places to visit in Ladakh (6)
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Gonbo Rangjon
A pyramid of rock on the Darcha-Padum trail that the Zanskaris hold sacred.
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Kargil War Memorial
Tololing and Tiger Hill from the road below.
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Kun
The lower of the Nun Kun pair, and the more climbed of the two.
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Mig La
Umling La on the Changthang plateau, carrying what is held to be the highest motorable road in the world.
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Rezang La
Where a hundred and twenty men of 13 Kumaon held the pass in 1962 until almost all were dead.
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Saser Kangri
A wall of ice above the old Silk Road caravan track over the Saser La.
Offbeat places in Ladakh (17)
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Chang La
The pass on the way to Pangong.
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Dras
The second coldest inhabited place on earth, and the town below the ridges the Kargil war was fought on.
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Hanle Observatory
The darkest sky reserve in India.
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Hunder Sand Dunes
Cold desert dunes at three thousand metres where Bactrian camels left over from the Silk Road still graze.
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Khardung La
Fifty four hundred metres, long claimed as the highest motorable pass in the world, and cold in every month.
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Lamayuru Monastery
The oldest gompa in Ladakh, standing over eroded clay hills that people here call the moonland.
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Nubra Valley
Cold desert at three thousand metres where sand dunes and two humped camels sit under snow peaks.
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Pangong Tso
A salt lake at forty three hundred metres that changes colour through the day, two thirds of it in China.
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Phugtal Monastery
Built into a cliff cave, reached only on foot.
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Suru Valley
Apricots below Nun and Kun.
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Tiger Hill, Kargil
Point 5062 above Drass, taken back in the Kargil war of 1999.
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Tso Kar
A salt lake with black necked cranes.
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Tso Moriri
A high altitude lake at forty five hundred metres, a Ramsar wetland, and the summer breeding ground of the black necked crane.
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Turtuk
Balti village, Indian only since 1971.
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Umling La
The highest motorable road in the world.
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Zanskar Valley
Cut off by snow for seven months.
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Zoji La
The gate between Kashmir and Ladakh.
Hidden gems in Ladakh (16)
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Basgo
Mud ramparts on a ridge, on the watch list once.
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Diskit Monastery
The Maitreya looking towards Pakistan.
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Fotu La
The highest point on the Srinagar-Leh road, above Lamayuru.
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Hemis National Park
The high cold park where the snow leopard is counted rather than glimpsed, above the Indus.
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Kang Yatze
The peak at the head of the Markha valley, with a trekking summit and a serious one.
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Lachulung La
A pass on the Manali-Leh road between Nakee La and Pang.
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Magnetic Hill
A stretch of road where the slope of the land tricks the eye into seeing cars roll uphill.
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Mamostong Kangri
A high peak in the eastern Karakoram, approached up the Siachen side.
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Marsimik La
One of the highest motorable passes anywhere, east of Pangong, and a permit is required.
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Namika La
The pillar of the sky, a pass on the Srinagar-Leh road between Kargil and Lamayuru.
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Pensi La
The pass between Suru and Zanskar, with the Drang Drung glacier laid out below it.
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Sasser La
A pass on the old trade route to Yarkand, and the graveyard of a great many pack animals.
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Shanti Stupa
A white dome built by Japanese Buddhists in 1991 on a hill above Leh, best reached on foot up the steps.
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Stok Kangri
The trekking peak above Leh, closed since 2020 to let the mountain rest.
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Stok Palace
Still the royal family's, and a museum in part.
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Taglang La
The high pass on the Manali-Leh road, with a sign that overstates its height.
Collecting in Ladakh
What are the best places to visit in Ladakh?
LOQAH lists 45 places in Ladakh. The best known include Alchi Monastery, Hemis Monastery, Leh Palace, Likir Monastery and Shey Monastery. Each has a stamp of its own to collect when you are there.
How many LOQAH stamps are there in Ladakh?
45, and more are added over time. Each place has LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own.
How do I collect a stamp in Ladakh?
Open LOQAH at the place and get its stamp. LOQAH checks where you are once, at that moment; at the place itself the stamp is confirmed on site, with a gold badge.
I have been to places in Ladakh before. Can I add them?
Yes. In Earlier trips, choose Ladakh and swipe through its stamps, or import your Google Timeline. Each one goes into your volume with the date, if you know it.
More in India
Collect your first stamp.
LOQAH is free on iPhone and Android, in India and 20 more countries, with more countries on the way. Stand at a place, collect its stamp, and keep every trip in a passport that grows.