ZANSKAR SIGHTSEEING

SURU VALLEY (THE JOURNEY  TO ZANSKAR)

Never had a journey been so beautiful than the destination. A drive from Kargil to Padum takes you through some exquisite lush green valleys, landscapes, wild flora, snow capped mountains, melting glaciers & gushing streams. 

A drive to the ZANSKAR valley located in the south east of KARGIL is one such experience. The 240 kms drive south east of Kargil to PADUM is a blend of good roads & off road stretches, a majority of them being off road. The first 40 kms stretch is all good tarred road from Kargil to SANKOO and takes you through lush green fields with the SURU river flowing on your left side. From Kargil, as you pass through Minjee village & proceed further, your first halt should be at Trespone village for a complete glimpse of the beautiful SURU valley. Ask for the TRESPONE Mosque which is on your right side of the road. 

Entering the Suru Valley from Kargil with the Suru river flowing alongside

TRESPONE MOSQUE (SURU VALLEY VIEW POINT)

There is a Mosque on the right side a little after Trespone. Although, it is on the road itself, there is every possibility that you may go past it without noticing. Hence, please check at Trespone for the mosque. You will find a flight of stairs reaching the mosque. Looking at the mosque from its gate, you would not be able to imagine what it has to offer. But once you climb the stairs & reach the balcony, you would be dumbstruck with the enchanting view of the SURU Valley. The location of the mosque is such that you get a 270 degrees view of the SURU valley. The lush greenery, gigantic barren mountains, the SURU river flowing by its side. I spend about 20 minutes there taking photos from all angles. A MUST VISIT PLACE to experience why SURU valley is so well known for its beauty.

Proceeding further, you can see the Army camp at KUMBATHANG nestled below the gigantic mountains on the right side.

The Trespone Mosque on the Kargil - Zanskar road
Central view from Trespone Mosque
Panikhar side view of the Suru Valley from Trespone Mosque
Kargil side view from Trespone Mosque

SANKOO VILLAGE

As you proceed further on the well laden tarmac, you go pass SANKOO village. There’s a pass by the name of UMBA LA which connects SANKOO to DRASS directly, bypassing KARGIL. But you would have to check at DRASS whether it would be open or not. As you proceed further the valley becomes more beautiful. After SANKOO, you would be crossing the SURU river a couple of times on bridges. As you cross the bridges, you would find the river on your right side & then again it continues to be on your left side till PANIKHAR.

At Kumbathang, little before Sankoo

PURIKUTCHEY

About 12 kms before PANIKHAR is a place called as PURIKUTCHEY. You can see the twin sister peaks NUN & KUN. There’s a JKTDC guest house at PURIKUTCHEY on the right side of the road. There are about 6 guest rooms at the guest house. Although, not perfectly maintained, it would be an ideal place to retire for the day 

For tourists with self owned vehiles travelling to ZANSKAR from SRINAGAR or LEH, I strongly  recommend that instead of taking a halt at KARGIL for the night, you should start early from SRINAGAR / LEH & extend your journey till PURIKUTCHEY which is about 65 kms from KARGIL towards PADUM. Once you reach KARGIL, you can visit the JKTDC booking centre to get the reservation for PURIKUTCHEY stay. You can reserve your stay for this guest house at KARGIL itself. It may not take more than 15-20 minutes at KARGIL. During my solo bike ride to Zanskar, I reached the JKTDC booking centre at Kargil at about 4.00 pm from Srinagar side.  I was told to go to the guest house directly and approach the caretaker, since the reservation staff was not available. When I reached the guest house, there were no tourists. The resident caretaker took good care of me and served the local tea, made dinner & breakfast in the morning. The charges are very nominal. I remember having paid some Rs.500-600 for my stay & food put together.

This guest house is located on the right side of the road and is about 65 kms from Kargil. But it is not clearly visible from the road side as the gate of the guest house is diagonal to the road. During my travel, I missed the guest house & reached till Panikhar. I had to backtrack about 10-11 kms to the guest house. But I spend the most memorable evening at the guest house. Sitting on the doorsteps, I could see the massive NUN & KUN peaks towering above the vast valley & the SURU river. The guest house is average & is fairly maintained. Of course, you can’t expect a luxurious stay, but would be definitely satisfying & a better option than being put up in some hotel in Kargil. There would be no Dhabas nearby to venture out, but the care taker usually takes care of the meals.

The advantage of extending your journey till Purikutchey is that you will get sufficient time the next day to take any number of halts for capturing beautiful moments enroute. The next day, you should start a little early, say by 07:00 – 07:30 pm. Feast your eyes on the NUN KUN peaks with all its radiance in the serene hours of the morning.

Nun & Kun peak from Purikutchey in the evening
JKTDC Bunglow & the caretaker in the backdrop of the towering peaks at Purikutchey

PANIKHAR

As you proceed further, you will reach PANIKHAR where you have to register yourself at the JKTDC check post. From there, there are 2 routes. A very narrow route on the right side takes you through the PANIKHAR village. This route is unpaved & the loose gravel road starts from here. The other route goes through a bridge on the left side which takes you across a tributary of the Suru river through small villages enroute. I strongly suggest you take the left route, since the beautiful valley widens at a point on this route & offers the most beautiful vistas of the SURU valley. If you take this left turn, the tar road would follow you for another 12-15 kms. Take some time on this route to halt for some memorable clicks

Valley widens at a point beyond Panikhar
Vistas of the Suru Valley from Panikhar

PARAKCHIK GLACIER

As you approach the beautiful PARAKCHIK village, the road completely turns to an offbeat track. Next, get ready to be blessed with the views of the massive PARAKCHIK glacier on your right side above the SURU river. The gigantic PARAKCHIK glacier is a divine sight to see. The glacier looks like melted vanilla icecream with OREO scattered all over it. The NUN peak is visible in the backdrop. At a certain point, there is a low lying stretch for about 25-50 metres, after the PARAKCHIK glacier. The SURU river water sometimes floods the offroad path. However, it is quite manageable on a 2 / 4 wheeler to cross it. Soon you will find quite a few water crossings / water flooding the road & streams of water flowing from the melting snows on your left side. 

THE JOURNEY

A little further, the valley takes a complete Right Turn. The valley opens up wide at this point & is very scenic with lush green meadows all over. Colourful grasslands of rustic, green, yellow blends are seen at this widest point. The offbeat track now becomes more difficult & your speed slows down. The entire distance till RANGDUM continues to enchant you with vide valleys surrounded by towering, barren, tapering mountain cliffs.  This entire stretch is completely isolated with no signs of human life for miles. You will find the shy marmots running in the meadows, sometimes across your path everywhere on this stretch. You can see the long stretches of the track on which you are travelling on this road. Maybe once or twice on this route, you would come across a small shop selling biscuits, tea, cigarettes, etc.  I bet, you would enjoy this day in the midst of mother nature at its best. Just a few kilometres before RANGDUM and about 100 kms from KARGIL, you would find the first signs of Buddhist chortens. These are the first signs of Buddhist dwellings in the entire stretch from KARGIL. A little further at about 102 kms point from KARGIL, there is a ferocious water crossing. It’s a bit tricky, since the surface below is full of stones & since the water stream is quite strong, you cannot get a feel of the surface below. However, its not much of a problem for 4 wheelers. For 2 wheelers, I would suggest that one should get a feel of the surface below the water before you cross it.  While going through this water crossing from the Kargil side, you should be on your right side as much as possible since the surface at the centre is very uneven. This water crossing is quite manageable till 02:00 – 03:00 pm, beyond which the water streams becomes more fierce and 2 wheelers may need help to get through.

a little before Rangdum

This article depicts the beauty of the SURU VALLEY & the journey to ZANSKAR. A journey never experienced before. If you find my article useful, please forward it to your friends and near ones aspiring to travel to ZANSKAR. 

Please feel free to write to me in the section below if you have anything else to know.