Travel Plan to Leh and Ladakh via Manali

Distance from Delhi to Chandigarh : 274 KM approx

Possible Options to commute :

1) Via Roadways Bus. (It would be the most economical, I would suggest to go via Bus)
2) Shatabdi (If we want to go via luxury, but would be expensive the fare is 420)
3) Personal car would be really expensive. (It would cost 5000+)

Travel Plans From Delhi to Chandigarh:

Start date : 13th June,2010
Start time : 3pm-4pm (Preferably 3pm)
Reach time : 11pm-12am (Midnight)

Summary: We started from Delhi ISBT around 3'o clock in the afternoon and then we proceeded further to Chandigarh via roadways bus , if we can expect to reach Chandigarh around 12 midnight we can have our dinner on the way to Chandigarh, kaushik will be ready the mini bus (tempo traveller) and we can get down from roadways bus and proceed towards manali same night. No dinner break as we will have the same during our way to Chandigarh and kaushik will have in his home only, this way we will save time of 1hr or more. Let's say we move around 1 am from Chandigarh to manali in tempo traveller booked by kaushik.

Distance from Chandigarh to manali : 233 KM approx


The only way to commute :

1) Tempo traveller booked by kaushik.

Travel plans from Chandigarh to manali:

Start date: 14th June,2010
Start time : 1am-2am (Preferably 1am)
Reach time : 9am

Summary: After getting down from bus and meeting kaushik in some common location where he will be waiting for us in the mini bus, booked by him we will make a start from there itself and try to reach manali atmost by 9am (Try to reach there early by making to pit stops In between as we need to commute a lot on this particular day) we will have a break of 2hrs for local sight seeing which includes hidimba temple and market iske alawa kuch khas nahi hai as I know.

Please refer the link for Manali : http://hptdc.nic.in/cir0203.htm

Distance from manali to Leh : 480 KM approx (Please see the below image for the route undertaking)



The only way to commute :

1) Tempo traveller booked by kaushik.

Start date: 14th June,2010
Start time : 11:30am-12Noon (Preferably 11:30am)
Reach time : 10pm
Destination: Sharchu (Distance between Manali and Sarchu is 222 km )

Summary: After roaming in manali for few hours then we can make a move to rohtang pass around 11:30 (from 9-11:30 driver can have a power nap) after having our breakfast which is 51km away from manali we should try and reach there by 2'o clock. If anyone of us wants to enjoy there then we can stop there but as far as I think we should not waste time in this area coz there is ample distance that we need to travel on this day and moreover we can cover this area when we come back. While enjoying the natural beauty on the way and keeping time for photoshoot and lunch or any other breaks we can try and reach sharchu around 10pm at night as it is 180+ KM from rohtang pass after reaching here we can make necessary arangements for alcohol and dinner though we require it for after such a tiering journey.
Else we can make a stop at keylong which is 120KM from manali and would be 70 odd KM from rohtang pass if one want's to enjoy in rohtang pass first then we can plan for making a stop at keylong this would be on discretion of the saptrishi's what to do.{Though we need to decide so that we can make necessary arrangements for the same} or if the whether or roads doesn't permit us to make a move, but I would recommend to reach sharchu on this particular day as then it would be headache to travel 350+ KM on next day.

Start date: 15th June,2010
Start time : 10am-11am (Preferably 10am)
Reach time : 9pm
Destination: Leh (Distance from Sarchu to Leh is 257 km)

Day2 Summary : After reaching sharchu which I would recommend that we should reach there only and not stop at keylong else we need to commute 3days in travelling only. We would start from sharchu early morning around 9'oclock after having our breakfast we should be ready to make a move around 10 in the morning as we need to travel a lot this day also to reach Leh and should aim to reach Leh around 8pm at night after having various pit halts for lunch, photshoot or beer on the way, then we can chekin to our pre booked hotels which we would do in advance in order to avoid any hassels there. After this point guys the entire night is ours we need not to travel such a long for coming 3-4 days we will have daaru took by us from chandigarh and make a mess there and in the lush green grass of the hotel we can recollect the memories of our college ground.

Further plans after reaching Leh are :

From Monday to Thursday: We will book ourselves for the local sight seeing and any other adventure sports or anything of that sort, and of course the quota of drinks that we will take along us.
Don't know much what exactly will we do but we can explore there as we go by local people and the guides over there.

Please refer the link for Leh: http://www.indiacar.com/infobank/drv_sep01_01.htm
http://www.tripadvisor.in/Attractions-g297625-Activities-Leh_Ladakh_Jammu_and_Kashmir.html

Plans for Back to Delhi :

Start date: 20th June,2010
Start time : 7am-8am (Preferably 7am)
Reach time : 8pm
Destination: Sarchu (Distance from Leh to Sarchu is 257 km)

Summary: After enjoying in Leh for four days it will be time to pack up and leave to delhi again in the same trasnport booked by kaushik and we would again make a hault at Sarchu as we cannot cover the distance to manali in one stretch. After reaching saruchu while enjoying the natural beauty of the distance again we will have party in the hotel with daaru and recollect our golden days. And anything else that on discretion of saptrishi's like bonn fire or something of that sort.

Start date: 21th June,2010
Start time : 8am-9am (Preferably 9am)
Reach time : 10pm
Destination: Manali (Distance between Sarchu and Manali is 222 km )

Day2 Summary : After starting from sharchu early at 8am then we will make a halt in keylong and enjoy the beauty there as it is also good place to enjoy there {Please refer the link below for details}. We will start from keylong at 3-4pm and would target that we reach manali around 10pm in the night, where we can look for any reasonable dharamshala where we can just checkin for few night only as early morning we gonna leave for chandigarh.

Please refer the link for keylong : http://hptdc.nic.in/cir0401.htm#keylong

Start date: 22nd June,2010
Start time : 8am only
Reach time : 3pm
Destination : Chandigarh ( Distance from chandigarh to manali : 233 KM approx )

Summary: After reaching chandigarh we would have bath in kaushik's house and refresh ourselves for one more journey back home, so that we can resume our offices on Monday. Though we will wnjoy here for two hours and would plan that we make a move around 5pm in the evening.

Travel Plans From delhi to chandigarh:

Start date : 13th June,2010
Start time : 3pm-4pm (Preferably 3pm)
Reach time : 11pm-12am (Midnight)
Destination: Delhi (Distance from delhi to chandigarh 274 KM approx )

Possibe Options to commute :

1) Via Roadways Bus. (It would be the most economical, I would suggest to go via Bus)
2) We can hire a cab or taxi till delhi whichever would be economical.

SO guys just be happy we have finally made this dream turn to reality by completing this legendary trip :-)

Cost of the entire trip From Chandigarh to Leh too and fro :

Cost of vehicle (tempo traveller) = 12Rs/Km
So total Km = 2{233+480+300} [Chandigarh to manali, manali to leh, Local Sightseeing]
= 2(1013)
= 2026
Total Cost = 2026*12
= 24312
Cost of accomodation = Number of days* Cost per day
= 6 * 3000
= 18000

Driver Charges = 200*Number of nights
= 200*9
= 1800
Food charges = Number of people * Number of days * Per head per day
= 8*9*300
= 21600
Road Tax or other Chungi charges = Maximum 1200 (To and fro)

Other unidentified and random charges : 5000

Total Charges = 24312 + 18000 + 1800 + 21600 + 1200 + 5000
= 71192 (At Max)