Leh, India - Nubra and Pangong
 

Afternoon,

I am planning to rent a motorbike from Delhi next year and ride to Leh and explore the various locations around Leh, then ride back.

The bike hire shop is suggesting that I might (will ?) need to hire a local bike from Leh if I wish to visit Pangong and Nubra Valley. I've also heard several people on YouTube say the same, although it seems to depend on which army roadblock you come across and the time of the day.

Has anybody done this on a non-local bike ? Or anybody had to hire a local bike ?

I don't suppose it matters much, the hire cost for a few days is small but would like to know before I go.

A friend has been a tour guide up there and said that the local bike rental people get upset about out of state rentals and I was told by someone else that they should not be taken out of the state they are registered in, rentals can have a different number plate to privately owned which marks them out so you could end up having to get another for part of your trip.

Thanks, so this is an informal arrangement not a law or regulation ?

The local rental people getting upset is informal but I believe the rentals operating in their home state only might be a regulation, although like many motoring regulations in India is probably "flexible", I have only ever ridden a bought bike in India so my information is from others. My own tip is make sure you have an international driving permit, I have been stopped a couple of times and asked for one.

I've just done a bit more research and found this on zoomcars web site for Jammu and Kashmir:

Advisory: Seemingly the taxi union in Ladakh is not permitting non-local vehicles from plying to certain destinations and tourists are being forced to use the services of local cab operators. In lieu of forced restriction put forth by local taxi union, we advise our customers to exercise caution if they are travelling to Ladakh and plan accordingly.

Zoomcars rent self-drive cars so this might also apply to motorbikes . . . difficult to know. But rentals have yellow and black plates so easy to identify.

Hi Steve,

I visit Leh 2018 (flight Germany -> Delhi, flight Delhi -> Leh) and stay there for nearly 2 weeks. For one day I rent a Enfield Himalayan to do a ride up to the Kadung La. This was no issue, there are a lot of shops to rent es bike.


The condition of the bikes are quiet different, you should take a look to the tire tread, and the technical stuff, (brakes, ...) because the road there can be muddy with snow and ice and rain, (I stay there at the beginning of September and got snow and ice on Kadung La)
As I know you need a permit to cross the pass but you'll get it on the rental station. If you go on your own you should organize.
We visit Nubra Valley with a bus tour it was very nice and crossing the pass was awesome.


If you has more question feel free ;)
NightAlp

Many thanks, much appreciated. I've just got a reply from another bike rental shop in Delhi:

Thanks for your mail. You can use our motorbikes anywhere in Jammu & Kashmir, even in Leh City but to visit outskirts like Nubra or Khardungla, you may have to hire a local bike due to some local union restrictions on outside registered vehicles.


SO yep, will rent a bike with the permit from Leh to visit locally. I plan going at the end of August but appreciate there will be some snow possibly. My first trip to India !

Is there anything you recommend I must see or do there ?

Allow plenty of time, you will probably only do 150-200 miles in a day and it is full on, the mountains should be a great ride which I also hope to get to next summer.

"Is there anything you recommend I must see or do there ?"


Yes indeed. Try to stay in Thiksey Monastery in the morning (early in the Morning) , it's near Leh 17km south east of Leh on the NH3.

Directly after the sunrise, the monks do a ceremony with there horns. very amazing. We woke up at 5:00am in Leh, drove to Thiksey Monastery (30 min. ride) and stay at this morning ceremony around 6:00 am. Very very amazing!!! a highlight of our trip.

The monk gave us butter tea and we can stay in the monastery during the ceremony. You must walk up on the roof of the monastery.



https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/monk...y-84715765.jpg


(It's not my pic, found it in the internet)




Enjoy your trip it could be amazing and very nice.

Thank you all, much appreciated.

Leh, India - Nubra and Pangong
 

I hired a bike from Royal India Bikes in Delhi to pop down to Kota for a wedding. They seemed pretty good. Also, we’re happy with cash deposit of 100gbp rather than changing lots of cash back and forth.

More detail at https://rachelnorfolk.me/2021/would-you-come-my-wedding



Rachel

Thanks Rachel, sounds like an interesting journey. I'll add that shop to my list.

In 2015 I managed to use the bike I rented in Delhi for all the trip, including come side valleys.
I heard reports of checkpoints etc etc and for sure some people had problems.

Usually tourists starts very early in the morning in that part of the world: I did not.
I always started past 9AM and when I passed the checkpoints nobody was there anymore

my report is here:
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...kh-delhi-84059

What a great report, many thanks !