Leh

Let's get the altitude out of the way first: Leh sits around 3,500 metres up in the Ladakh region of northern India, and your body will notice. The trick is to slow down, drink water, and give yourself a full day (ideally two) to acclimatise before you chase anything strenuous. Do that, and Leh rewards you with some of the most cinematic high-Himalayan landscapes on the planet. The town itself is a compact, walkable base wrapped around a bustling main bazaar, with the old palace watching over it from the hillside. Whitewashed stupas, prayer flags snapping in the thin air, and the scent of butter tea set the tone. This is a deeply Buddhist corner of the country, and the monasteries are the headline act. Thiksey, with its Potala-like tiers, and Hemis, home to a famous summer festival, are unmissable. Time your visit to a monastery festival and you'll catch masked cham dances that feel genuinely otherworldly. Beyond town is where Ladakh really opens up. Pangong Lake shifts through impossible blues against bare mountains. The Nubra Valley, reached over the sky-high Khardung La pass, delivers sand dunes, double-humped camels, and villages that feel wonderfully off the map. Between them runs a landscape so stark and vast it borders on lunar, which is exactly why photographers and road-trippers keep coming back. Getting here is half the adventure. You can fly straight into Leh for the fast option, or earn your arrival on the epic two-day road journeys from Manali or Srinagar, both of which cross dramatic high passes and are usually only open in the warmer months. If you fly in, the altitude hits harder, so the rest-day rule matters even more. A few honest notes: this is high-altitude desert, so days can be warm while nights turn cold, and the sun is fierce even when the air isn't. Permits are required for some border-area destinations like Nubra and Pangong, easily arranged locally or through operators. Cash is king in remote valleys, and mobile coverage gets patchy fast once you leave town. Come for the monasteries, the passes, and the lakes; stay for the sheer scale of the silence. Leh isn't a tick-box city break, it's a slow, breathtaking immersion in the roof of India. Want me to map out an acclimatisation-friendly route that eases you up before the big passes? Just say the word.