At Shyok River Lodge you can stay as long as you like, of course. It is entirely up to you if you merely want to soak up the peace, quiet and natural beauty of the place, or take off on walks and rides daily, or even set out on a long trek.


Short stay

A
mimimum stay at Shyok River Lodge is three nights/four days. As parts of day 1 and day 4 would be spent on traveling, this gives you two full days at the lodge. The reason we maintain a minimum stay is that staying shorter would not allow you to truly enjoy the quality of the place. After all, Shyok River Lodge is not a hotel, where people come and go, it’s a destination.


Price:

INR 10.500/ USD 145 per day per person (2-4 persons, twin sharing).

INR 8.000/ USD 112 per day per person (parties of 5 persons or more, twin sharing).

Single supplement INR 3.250 pp./ USD 45 per day.


This includes: full board, village walks and guided nature walks.

Additional: multi-day treks, horse riding, yoga lessons, jeep excursions.


Package 1: SRL plus Pangong Lake - 3 nights/4 days

Day 1. Our representative will pick you up from your hotel or form the airport. On your way to Shyok River Lodge you’ll visit two of the lesser known and more atmospheric gompas (Buddhist monasteries) of the Indus Valley: Stakna Gompa and Chemre Gompa, both dramatically perched on a high rock.

Lunch will be had on the way, depending on the departure time in Karu or as a pack lunch. The 4-5 hour journey (excl. of stops) will take you over the ancient caravan trail to Tibet. You’ll cross 5300 m high Chang La, one of the highest motorable passes in the world. On the way up you’ll get magnificent views of the Indus Valley and the Zanskar Mountains behind it. You’ll reach Shyok River Lodge late afternoon (providing an early start). After tea you’ll be taken on a short village walk. Dinner will be served at the lodge. After that a slide show will be shown on Ladakh, Shyok and the ancient caravan trails that connected Ladakh with Tibet and Turkmenistan.

Day 2. Early morning we set out for a magnificent 4 hour walk over an ancient part of the caravan route to Tibet and Yarkand (Turkmenistan). Our guide will tell you about the mountains, the vegetation and wildlife. With some luck, you’ll see Ladakhi blue sheep, one of wild ungulates of Ladakh, and many colourful birds. Lunch will be served at the lodge.

After lunch you’ll be taken on another walk, this time a very short one. One of the villagers will take you through the fields and up to the village gompa. You’ll learn about the way the Ladakhis manage to grow barley and vegetables in this desert environment by a very efficient form of irrigation. At the gompa, the monks will serve you tea and tell you about their way of life.

Dinner will be served at the lodge again. After that a slide show will be shown on Ladakh, Shyok and the ancient caravan trails that connected Ladakh with Tibet and Turkmenistan.


Day 3. After breakfast, a jeep will take you to the famous Pangong Lake. This enormous salty lake is less than 2 hours drive from Shyok River Lodge. It straddles the border with Tibet (China) and has become famous in India because of the film “Three Idiots” that was partly shot here. The deep blue lake, situated at an altitude of 4400 m and set amidst barren light-coloured mountains, is an impressive sight. Little imagination is needed to imagine the conditions here in winter, and one can only awe at the small community that lives here throughout the year.

Lunch will be had at one of the better tented accommodations near the lake, or if clients prefer, picnic-style on a scenic spot. After returning to the lodge, the remainder of the afternoon is at leisure. Dinner will be served at the lodge.


Day 4. After breakfast, you can spend the last morning at Shyok as you wish. You can be driven by jeep along the shores of the Shyok River, following the river upstreams for about twenty kilometers into the Karakoram. Or you can opt for another guide nature walk further down in the valley. For those who feel comfortable on the back of a horse there is the possibility to do a 2-3 hour horse ride along the shores of the Shyok River. And there is always the option to relax with a book among the willow groves on the lodge’s premises.

After lunch, which will be served at the lodge, you’ll be driven back to Leh. Time permitting, stops can be made at some of the other gompa’s along the road, such as Hemis, Thikse and Shey.


Price: 2 pers. INR 42.000 pp.; 3, 4 pers. INR 29.000 pp.; 5 pers. 26.000 pp.; 6 - 8 pers. INR 22.000 pp.

(Using one SUV per 3 travelers, small bus for parties of 5 and above)

Additional days at SRL: INR 5750 pp. per day.

Single supplement INR 9.750 pp. per package.


Coming from Manali?

For those who come by road from Manali (Himachal Pradesh) there is no need to go to Leh first. You can be picked up at Karu (where you reach the Indus Valley) or we can arrange your complete road itinerary from Manali (or even Shimla or Delhi; see for instance here). Likewise, you can continue to Manali after staying at SRL.


Package 2: SRL plus Pangong Lake and Nubra Valley - 5 nights/6 days

Day 1-3 will be as in Package 1.


Day 4. After breakfast you’ll embark on a thrilling 125 km jeep drive following the untamed Shyok, freely meandering River until it merges with the Nubra River in Nubra Valley. Thanks to a new rough road, which has been opened up very recently, there is no need to travel all the way back to Leh and then cross the time-consuming Khardong La in order to visit Nubra Valley. Instead we follow the wide and wild valley of the Shyok, passing small hamlets of Ladakhi farms, crossing small rivers and sand dunes that are reminiscent of the Taklamakan Desert on the other side of the Karakoram. This very scenic drive takes most of the day. Lunch will be had picnic style. At evening time you reach Hundar, a small village near Deskit, the capital of Nubra, where you’ll check in to a comfortable guesthouse. Dinner will be had at the guesthouse.


Day 5. In the morning you’ll be taken westward, following the Nubra River down along villages hidden among lush green willow and apricot groves. As the altitude is lower here (approx. 3000 m) the growing season is longer than In Shyok, and especially fruit trees thrive well in the long, warm summers. Today you have two options: you can ride the jeep to Turtuk, a small town not far from the Pakistani border, or do a camel safari and a walk.

The jeep drive is a scenic one, as the Nubra Valley occasionally narrows to a gorge between steep walls over which a precarious semblance of a road is cut. You’ll notice the change in landscape and vegetation as you get lower, as well as the cultural changes. While in Deskit and Hundar the people are predominantly Buddhist, here moslims are the majority.

If you opt for the ‘active’ program you’ll be taken on a ride through the dunes near Hundar on the back of Bactrians, two-humped camels that descend from animals that worked the caravan trails to Yarkand and Kashgar. Though right on the banks of the river, the landscape is a true desert here, and riding the camels you may easily forget you’re actually in between the Himalayas and the Karakoram! In the afternoon you can follow a small mountain trail that climbs high above the Nubra river to a remote little gompa.


Day 6. After breakfast, your jeep will take you back to Leh. The road leads over the Khardung La, at 5450 m most likely the highest motorable road in the world. Again, the drive is spectacular, and especially the dramatic views over the oasis of Leh while descending from the pass won’t be forgotten easily.


Price: 2 pers. INR 53.000 pp.; 3, 4 pers. INR 39.500 pp.; 5 pers. INR 37.500 pp.; 6 - 8 pers. INR 32.000 pp.

(Using one SUV per 3 travelers, small bus for parties of 5 and above)

Additional days at SRL: INR 5750 pp. per day.

Single supplement INR 14.500 pp. per package.


Long stay

If you
stay a week or longer we can offer activities that require more time, like a short trek of 2 - 4 days, a 6 day yoga course, a course on the ecology of the Himalayas, and excursions by jeep further afield, such as visiting remoter parts of the Changtang Plateau.


Price indication: INR 7500/ USD $ 100 per person per day (4 persons, twin sharing).

This includes: transport from and to Leh, full board, village walks and guided nature walks.

Additional: multi-day treks, horse riding, yoga lessons, jeep excursions.

Price indication for multi-activity program (additional): $ 60 per person per day.


Trekking

It is a beautiful moderately strenuous 8 or 9-day trek to reach Shyok River Lodge on foot. The starting point is Leh, the capital of Ladakh. If you are into trekking, we feel this is by far the most interesting and rewarding way to get there.

After relaxing a couple of days at the lodge, you can either return to Leh, continue trekking into Rupshu or move to the other Shyok River Lodge and trek out from there.

Especially Shyok River Lodge is an excellent starting point for treks into Rupshu and Changtang.


Price indication: $ 80 per day per person (min 4 persons, sharing 2-person tents).

This includes: transport from and to trekking starting and ending point, all meals, tents and matrasses and transportation of luggage by horses.

Additional: Dutch or English speaking/western guide, single tent.


Horse riding

From late summer 2021 onwards we will offer short rides and multi-day treks in the area near the lodge. On longer treks we venture out into the fascinating Rupshu, the domain of Tibetan nomads. It is also home to some fascinating wildlife, such as the wild yak and the kyang (photo). Kyang are one of the few species of wild horses remaining in the world, and only found on the Tibetan Plateau. They are quite shy but relatively easily approached on horseback.


Price indication:  please enquire.


Canoeing & rating

We can organise multi-day canoeing ad rafting trips on the Shyok River. On this fast flowing river this is not for total beginners. However, anyone who has experience with grade 2/3 rapids should feel comfortable on the Shyok.


Yoga courses, photography and wildlife tours

Due to uncertainty caused by the Covid pandemic, we have no yoga courses planned for 2021. However, this can change. Please enquire if you are interested. To get an idea of the courses/ tours please look at here: Yoga tours.

For tailor-made programs and prices please enquire.

 

Packages