We believe anyone who has done a road trip in Ladakh has done everything, now most things in life don’t hold any meaning. We salute everyone who has taken time out, spent the effort in planning, reading forums, convincing friends, bosses, family. Once you hit the road, you realize everything, every effort was completely worth it, you were rewarded more than what you came for.
Now the ones who are still planning, think no more and make sure you are in Ladakh this summer, Take a bus, take a tour package or if you are ambitious enough get a ‘BULLET’ and ride through heaven on Earth. We did the same last year in our lazy style spending about a month. So feel free to ask all the questions that may arise in your mind. For starters, below is a break up of the money we spent in this road trip.
Category Expenses for 2 people | INR | USD |
Fuel | 11500 | 186 |
Accomodation | 18750 | 303 |
Breakfast | 3760 | 61 |
Lunch | 4210 | 68 |
Dinner | 7110 | 115 |
Bike Rent | 18200 | 294 |
Miscellaneous | 3400 | 55 |
Total | 66930 | 1082 |
For those who love to see pie-charts
The route we followed was
Delhi – Manali – Leh – Nubra Valley – Kargil – Zanskar Valley – Kargil – Srinagar – Jammu – Delhi
Summary of where we spent our money.
1. Bike Rental : We have a BULLET, but did not take it for this trip and had to rent one out. It cost us INR 650/- a day and was a major chunk of our daily budget. They are easy to rent in Karol Bagh in New Delhi. All you need to know about renting motorbikes is here
2. Food : Once you are in the mountains, food tends to get simpler, tastier and international at the popular places. We spent about INR 500 – 600/- a day on food. This could have been more, but thanks to Ishwinder, she was fasting on a lot of days and I kept on eating most of the food.
3. Accommodation : You get basic, simple, clean guest houses everywhere in the area. What they come with are stunning views, great hospitality, lovely smiles all for free. It cost us about INR 500 – 600/- and could have been less, but we decided to stay in the better places. we can skip a meal but need a nice and clean bed.
4. Fuel : We rode about 3500 kms in this trip. The roads were either the best tar roads in the country and there were no roads at all. You need to constantly keep on checking your bike to make sure you have a smooth trip. We did two checks everyday morning and evening. An important tip was to have enough engine oil, this made sure we never had a breakdown. The only trouble we had were a punctured tyre, but it resulted in lots of events and cost us about INR 2000 – 3000/-.
5. Body Suits : We are not bikers, but decided to stay safe. Researched a bit on the internet, had past experience of riding in Spiti valley and went with the body suits which cost us a whooping INR 25,000/-. But they made sure we had a great journey, were never too cold, a little warm at times. We also brought two new helmets. We did not carry any rain coats or thermals as they body suits took care of everything. This is an optional expense but highly recommended.
P.S. If you wish to have a detailed account of day to day expenses, please leave a comment and we will send you the xls.
I and my girlfriend have been planning on this trip for a some time. Sadly, we have been procrastinating due to the usual reasons. Your article has given a spark again. But we are blind on the trip planning part. It would be helpful if you could email me your day to day activities
Thejas,
The excel sheet will be in your inbox soon.
Go through it and then tell us how many days you are planning to spend and where arw you based so that we can help you plan your trip.
Empty Rucksack
Hey can u ride along on a rented jeep? Can,t ride.
Raj,
You can take buses or flights to get to leh, then lots of taxis jeeps available
Empty Rucksack
Really helpful post. Thank you. 🙂
Thanks Joyi
nice breakdown of costs. I don’t think I’d go by bike as I can barely ride a scooty- but would love to go by car.
Rachel of Hippie in Heels recently posted…17 Reasons I Love the Cows in India (Even Though One Tried to Kill Me)
Rachel,
Car bike bus doesn’t matter as long as you get there 🙂
Excellent description. Makes you feel like planning this beautiful part of India!
I will be planning it in June. Please can you email me the expense sheet where I can go the way you’ll have gone. Thanks in advance!
Hey Vipul,
Thanks. Ladakh is a lot of fun.
How many days are you planning to go for?
Empty Rucksack
I had planned for this trip last year but due to some commitment didn’t materialize, I and my wife are planning for this year.
Have been going through many travelogue this found very interesting. I need some info on Bike rental and cost.
It would be helpful if you could email me the details and your day-to-day activities, thanks in advance
Actually you can do without the whole riding suit. Better to buy a riding jacket with padded elbows and back, and knee guard separately. Jacket costs about 3000-5000, depending on style and your size, knee guards cost less than 1500.
That’s what I have done. I have had a situation where i slid on the road at about 70 kph, and slid into one of those sloped banks our Indian roads often have. The screws in my knee guards had to be replaced, but otherwise nothing was wrong. Even with the knee guards, the shop i normally use (ProBiiker in Pune) replaced the screws for free, and you can even carry the screws with you, really easy to replace.
Thermals below jeans, and knee guards above.
Tanmay,
What you have said is a very valid point.
We got the body suits not just for protection against the accidents but also the weather.
We had had very bad experiences in the past owing to weather conditions especially the rains.
The cost difference makes the argument against the body suits quite logical, and we will update the document to include your suggestions.
Empty Rucksack
Yeah, in Ladakh that makes sense. But buying the jacket and the pants separately is still a bargain…
Great article otherwise, anyway 🙂
Totally agreed Tanmay.
We may have spoken otherwise had we not spent that much money on the body suits 😛
Hahaha true 🙂
Btw, when r u going to leh?
And share some pics from yr abad trip
Me and wife are planning ladakh trip with 2 other couple.
Need your advise the trip and essential required for bike tour.
Suggest a suitable itineray
Yash,
That’s great, how many days do you guys have?
Where are you based? Do you have your own bikes?
Please answer these questions and then we will take it forward.
Empty Rucksack
We have 15 days.
We are from ahmedabad .
We are planning to rent bike from Srinagar or manali.
The only drawback of renting bikes from Manali or Srinagar is that you will have to come to your starting point. If you can manage the riding it is better to get the bike from Delhi so that you can manage the complete circuit Delhi – Manali – Leh – Srinagar – Delhi, plus bike rentals are cheaper in Delhi.
And from what I know, you can get overnight buses from Ahemdabad to Delhi. I haven’t heard of many bike rentals in Srinagar, there are many in Manali though which are overpriced but yes they r there.
This article will help you about the kind of things you will need to buy for your trip
https://www.emptyrucksack.com/what-to-buy-for-ladakh-road-trip
And this article will give you idea about the rentals
https://www.emptyrucksack.com/renting-motorbike-for-ladakh
Hi
Im planning to go ladakh next week with my friend. Planning to get a bike from delhi. Can u pls send the itineraries ie, where you stayed, hidden gems etc.
Thank you somuch.
any contact person in manali to get bullets in good conditions, as have heard that d bullets there are in d worst conditions !!???
Totally agree with what you have heard, they are in really bad conditions and we would strongly advise againt renting the bikes in manali.
When are you travelling?
Hi, we are 6 people from delhi, travelling to Ladakh in August 1st week.
Can you send us your travel plan, we have made one but just wanted to check out a few things.
Thanks a lot!!
Hello Shaurya,
Have emailed you the detailed sheet. How long is your trip for? And how are you guys traveling?
Empty Rucksack
Hi,
We are a group of 7 travelling to Leh from 8th to 17th. Landing in srinagar and then planning on renting bikes there. Any good places you know. It will surely help us. And flying back to bangalore from srinagar itself. Any not-so-touristy-must-see-places recommendations would also help a lot. (and the daily expense sheet too 😉
Ashish,
Srinagar will be a little difficult to rent motorbike, here is one guy but he charges a lot.
http://theliontravels.com/Bikeonrent.aspx
Since you are there only for a week,and already 7 people it would be advisable to get a taxi, it will turn out cheaper and you will less time in transfers.
For staying in leh, call Goba Guest house, and book rooms in their new building, it should be about 600-700.
You can easily rent bikes in Leh if you want to.
Send more details of your itinerary and then we can suggest more things
Empty Rucksack
Hi,
We 4 ppl are planning a ladakh bike trip in this august. The information you have provided is very useful. It will be very helpful if you can provide the day to day detail expense ?
Rosh,
Have sent you the mail, and feel free to ask any questions that you may have,we will be happy to answer them.
Empty Rucksack
hI,
Thanx for your Blog ,its realli encouraging and we are planning a trip around this 20th would you please provide the detailed expenses and your day to day activity list ?How much time would it take to travel from delhi ?and is it better to rent a bike from delhi or manali ?
Thanx in advance
Akash, email sent. My recommendation is to get a bike from Delhi, this post covers all information about bike rentals, take a look.
https://www.emptyrucksack.com/renting-motorbike-for-ladakh
Thanx for replying VIK one more thing is it good to carry a pillion or just alone ??I was wondering if we have pillion we can interchange for rest in between .whats your say ?
Akash,
The sheet I sent was expenses for two people, we rode two on a bike, with me riding and my wife as pillion, it’s easily doable if you don’t exert yourself too much and keep 2-3 days buffer. Share details of your trip and I will be able to suggest better
We are 4 guys planning bike trip to Ladakh in June. Can you please suggest me the best way to get there and what are the do’s and dont’s for the same :). Will 7 days will be enough for the trip. And the most important part is cost. Please send me xls file for budget. Our budget is 30 to 40k per person.
Imran,
7 days is certainly not enough, but if that is all you have, it can be done but you may need to fly from Delhi. And the flight tickets will be the major expense of your trip.
When you say June, you mean June 2015??
Check out these itineraries, you could see the most famous things in about a week,and 30-40 should be enough. But if u can make it two weeks, then the same money will easily last you 15 days.
Please mail me yours day to day expense, it will help a lot
Rahul,
Email sent
Please mail me yours day to day expense, it will help a lot
I would love to know more about the expenses that you incurred during the trip. Could you please send that excel sheet
Excellent write up!
Could you email me the expenses breakup to lehroad2015@gmail.com
Hi ,
We planed our trip from Srinagar to leh (6th June -15 june), but problem we r not getting any bikes on rent.
Can you please help us out?
Or we can ask from any company who can deliver bikes to Srinagar ?
Please suggest something
Regards
Rajiv