There have been many queries where people ask me, “Can I visit Tso Moriri from Manali side?” That is while going to Leh from Manali they want to cover the Tso Moriri lake as well and then reach Leh.
This trend of queries for visiting Tso Moriri from Manali side had especially become common after 2014 when the inner line permits were exempted for the Indians visiting major tourist places in Ladakh, including this beautiful Tso Moriri Lake. The urge to visit Tso Moriri while coming to Leh from Manali side seems logical because it is a short detour and for those who plan to exit from Srinagar side, it makes perfect sense to save the day.
As of 2021, Inner Line Permits are not required for Indians/domestic tourists to visit Tso Moriri Lake and other inner line areas of Ladakh.
However, though what looks on the map in terms of distance does not quantify anything about altitude. Hence, in today’s article, I would like to answer this in detail why not visit Tso Moriri Lake when coming to Leh from Manali side?
Download your FREE high-resolution version pdf copy of this infographic guide of reasons for not visiting Tso Moriri from Manali side. If, you liked it and found it helpful, please feel free to share it with your family and friends to help them too.
Let's quickly dive into the details:
Planning to visit Tso Moriri from Manali side?
Below are the top five reasons I believe you should not visit Tso Moriri when you are traveling from Manali to Leh. Let us look at them one by one.
1. No Acclimatisation to sleep at Tso Moriri
You should not visit Tso Moriri from Manali to Leh because your body will never be acclimatized to sleep at such a high altitude. I never recommend people to even sleep at Sarchu while traveling from Manali to Leh. Keep in mind, that Sarchu is about 300 Mtrs less in altitude than Tso Moriri Lake and 300 Mtrs is quite a lot when it comes to altitude.
And, if you are suffering from AMS, even a difference of 100 Mtrs can save or take your life. Sarchu is even considered to be vomit Hilton as most people keep vomiting while sleeping up there, or they mostly don’t tend to sleep. Very few people get away without experiencing symptoms of AMS even at Sarchu.
Now, Tso Moriri Lake is even higher in altitude than Sarchu. So, there is no gradual ascend for your body to accept such a high altitude. You cannot sleep that early in the trip at such height. It is because you may have only slept at Manali, or even sleeping at Jispa does not help.
On the other hand, if you are coming back from Leh side, then your body is in much better condition to accept sleeping at the high altitude of Tso Moriri Lake. The main reason is that you are coming after covering other high-altitude places in Ladakh, especially sleeping at Pangong Tso. Such acclimatization will help you enjoy the beauty of the lake much more and without any worries of falling sick.
You can read more about acclimatization in my article on Acute Mountain Sickness and the Importance of Acclimatization
2. No help nearby in case of a medical emergency
Tso Moriri is located at a desolate place in Ladakh, and in case there is any help that is required whatsoever after falling severely sick due to AMS (which you can), you are looking for about an 8-hour drive to Leh.
Any wise person can judge what it means to be away from medical help for about 8 Hrs in any medical emergency. Hitting with AMS badly is indeed an emergency because AMS can be fatal if not dealt with, quickly.
The main problem is when people are suffering from AMS, they tend to avoid admitting it and either say it is motion sickness or says it is fatigue. This ignorance aggravates the symptoms further, and the condition worsens mostly.
Hence, traveling to Tso Moriri from Manali is not a good idea in case you end up needing medical help.
3. Only Leh taxis are allowed to visit Tso Moriri
As per Leh Taxi union rules, you will have to have a taxi based out in Leh to visit Tso Moriri Lake unless you are not traveling by car or bike. When coming from Manali, you will have a Manali taxi in most cases unless you plan to call a Leh-based taxi to pick you up from Manali or make such an arrangement on Manali – Leh Highway. Hence, you cannot visit Tso Moriri on such taxis unless you want to end up in a struggle with an already unacclimatized body 😉
Keep in mind if you are traveling by bus including the HPTDC deluxe bus to Leh, there is no option to travel to Tso Moriri directly in such a case as all buses run between Manali and Leh only.
4. Only Leh-rented bikes are allowed to visit Tso Moriri
As per Leh bike rental union rules, you will have to have a rented bike based out in Leh to visit Tso Moriri Lake unless you are not traveling by bike. When coming from Manali, you will be having Manali or Delhi rented bike which will not be allowed at Tso Moriri, if confronted at the various checkpoints installed by union guys.
Hence, similar to taxis, you cannot visit Tso Moriri on an outside Leh rented bike unless you want to end up in a struggle with an already unacclimatized body. In general, Tso Moriri is more or less neglected by the union guys because it is not so popular among the majority of tourists.
5. Protected Area Permits are required to visit Tso Moriri for foreigners
In case you need to visit Tso Moriri Lake from Manali or Ladakh, as of 2021, Indians do not need Ladakh Inner Line Permits to visit Inner Line areas of Ladakh, including Nubra Valley, Pangong Tso, and Tso Moriri.
You just need to apply for the Ladakh Environment Fee online.
Although inner line permits are available online, domestic tourists need to get the permit copy stamped from the DC office in Leh or the Tourist Reception Center (TRC) in Leh. Also, the fee for the Inner Line Permit needs to be paid in person.
However, in case you are a foreigner, you need a protected area permit to visit Tso Moriri. This permit is issued from the DC office in Leh as well as online. In the case of PAP online, you can select the travel agent and pay the fee as well. So, this is a trivial issue for a foreigner visiting Tso Moriri Lake.
You can more read about the Protected Area Permit.
Don’t have time to read the full article? You can check this short video on Discover With Dheeraj YouTube Channel on this topic. If you like my video, please do not forget to SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel.
Conclusion
Well, I have tried to enlist the five reasons not to visit Tso Moriri from Manali side. However, the first reason combined with the second reason should be enough for any wise person not to risk their life and play with the emotions of family/friends sitting back at home, wishing for his safe return.
Why do I say so?
Well, because I have been through many such incidents where youngsters set aside such important tips and think their young bodies can overpower biology and the body’s acclimatization needs. However, many such incidents bring agony, chaos, or panic to them as well as family and friends who can’t do anything sitting three days or 1500 KM away from them back at home.
Have a travel question?? You can subscribe to my YouTube channel and leave a comment to ask your travel questions on traveling to the Himalayas.
In the end, a humble request to you all to seriously consider the above tips and avoid ending up in trouble. Add one extra day to your plan or drop any other place as I am sure that is not more valuable than your life or your loved ones.
Did you face any issues while visiting Tso Moriri or do you have more such reasons? I will be glad to hear them in the comments section or on my Instagram account Of course, it will help other fellow travelers too.
Please feel free to share this article with your friends or family who you know will be going on a trip to Ladakh or planning to visit Tso Moriri from Manali side, you may end up saving a life 😉 🙂 …
22 Comments
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Hi Deeraj,
We 4 members planned our itinerary to Leh from Manali. Total no. of days 7, we will reach manali on 7th August 2018. Please suggest a road plan and places to visit in between and back to Manali.
Thanks in advance
It will take 4 days to reach Leh from Srinagar side starting from Delhi with stop overs at Jammu, Srinagar, Kargil and 3 days to come back from Leh from Manali side to Delhi with stopovers at Sarchu, Manali. This makes it 7 days. 1 Day is required in Leh for acclimatization. You have about 10 days. 1 Day can be used as Day trip to Pangong Tso and other day can be used as day trip to Nubra Valley or just Khardung La pass.
Opt to go via Manali – Leh Highway and I will suggest that you refer the thread for more details on the route and night halts though it is of 9 days: Manali – Leh – Ladakh – Manali | Itinerary for 9 Days. You can fit in plan I suggested in above para in this plan
Hi Dheeraj. This yaer again we are planning for Ladakh Trip, but start from Manali side. We are planning to reach LEH in below schedule
1 Day – Manali to JIspa
2 Day – Jispa to Tso-Moriri
3 Day – Tso-Moriri to Leh City.
Can we able to do this trip by any Innova Car with Manali Numbers, if yes – what will be the cost
If HP numbers are not allowed, then what will be the best options for this route and what will be thae cost in Innova.
Thanks in Advance
Hrishikesh
Hrishikesh, please read the article as it states not to do it.
do we require permit for pangong to tso moriri or leh to tso moriri if yes from where and how
Update April 2017 = Pay environment fees and apply for permits again
The environment fees of Rs 400 & Inner Line Permits (most likely as well) will again be required in Ladakh for Indian Tourists / Nationals with effect from April 1st, 2017. This has been recently announced and is available on official website of Leh administration. It is expected that a public circular should follow soon as well. Hence, like it used to happen before 2014, all Indian Nationals or Indian Tourists WILL need to pay environment fees and may need to also get the inner line permits in Leh – Ladakh region in order to visit the restricted places like Dah, Hanu Villages, Pangong Tso, Man, Merak, Tso Moriri, Nyoma, Loma Bend, Khardung La, Nubra Valley, Turtuk, Tyakshi, Digger La, Tangyar (for trekking only).
For details on inner line permits process and to download application form read the link All you want to know about Inner Line Permits for Ladakh
Dear sir thanks a lot for this nice page their lots of thing to learn about Ladakh , There is lots of information about Ladakh , can u help me by giving any innova car driver for our 8 days tour ,
Actually we r from Bangladesh so that we have not good idea regarding this Ladakh if possible please help me
For the leh – ladakh taxi union rate list 2017 – 18 including the contacts of some reliable taxi drivers within Leh – Ladakh, check the link here. You can get about 12-15% of discount by directly getting in touch with drivers and of course, talking in person rather on phone always help in bargaining more. You can call the local drivers directly to connect with them and check the more comprehensive List of Taxi Drivers for Ladakh – Srinagar – Leh – Manali with recommendations/reviews for DoW community members.
Hi, We are planning to visit leh on 23rd may 2017 and will hire bike from srinagar to leh. Is it possible for us to do local sightseeing in leh on those bike and if not what options do we have?
Hiring another bike in leh for local sightseeing means we have to hire twice one from sri to leh and other for leh sightseeing thereby incurring double cost. Please give your suggestion. Thank You.
You will have to hire the bike twice in such a case. It is best to travel by public transport to Leh and then hire a bike over there unless you are OK with paying twice and do not have any budget constraints.
Thanks Dheeraj! I will take your reccomendation into account and not go in that direction. My compliments for your extensive and very informative website, it has helped me a lot in my preperations!
Thank you so much Luke and have a great trip to Ladakh
Dear Dheeraj,
Hi Just a suggestion or may be i am doing something wrong, whenever I open to read any article,
on the left side there is a vertical table of facebook, twitter printer etc, which hide the some of the writing and we have to often do ups and down, can it be shifted to right or bottom for so that we can read your brilliant articles without much scrolling.
https://discoverwithdheeraj.com/how-to-make-ladakh-trip-in-9-days/
thanks
warm regards,
Manish
Hi Manish, Sorry about that. Can you please tell me which browser and which phone are you using to open the web pages. We corrected that issue an year back to disable the share article bar on mobiles.
Hi Dheeraj,
I’m planning to drive down to tso moirir from Leh on a bike rented from Leh itself but a couple of my friends who went there were saying there have been a few incidents where cars and bikes have been burned by the locals. Just wanted to check if you know if there’s been any change in the situation of travelling to Tso Moriri on bikes rented from leh??
Ishaan, they are all rumours. There is no issue of taking a personal bike or Leh rented bike anywhere in Ladakh. The issue arise when you take outside Leh rented bike to sightseeing places in Ladakh.
Dear Dheeraj,
Please do suggest an itinerary of leh tour.We had planned for leh ladakh via Srinagar, we will reach Srinagar on 31st August ’16 and back on 11th september from delhi to kolkata. So I would request you to help us for making the itinerary , we would like to visit maximum places including Tsomoriri ,Pangong ,Nubra,etc.
Replied to the other comment.
Dear Dheeraj,
Please do suggest an itinerary of leh tour.We are 4 friends planned for ladakh tour, we will reach Srinagar on 31st August ’16 and back on 11th september from delhi to kolkata. So I would request you to help us for making the itinerary , we would like to visit maximum places including Tsomoriri ,Pangong ,Nubra,etc.
You can follow the below plan:
Day 1 | Delhi – Srinagar
— Enjoy walk around Dal lake and may be Shikara ride as well
— If you have time then check out, floating market, Shalimar Garden.
— Overnight at Srinagar
Day 2 | Srinagar – Sonamarg – Zozi La – Drass – Kargil
— Enjoy the vistas enroute
— Have late drunch meal at Drass is you are a vegetarian as sometimes it gets difficult to find veg. food at Kargil
— Overnight at Kargil
Day 3 | Kargil – Lamayuru – Leh
— Cover Mulbekh Maitrey, Lamayuru Moanstery, Lunar Landscapes
— On the way you can also see Gurudwara Pather Sahib, Magnetic Hills, Confluence at Nimmu
— Overnight at Leh
Day 4 | Leh Local Sightseeing + Acclimatization
— To know the about the places to visit check the link: Travel Guide for Local Sightseeing of Leh Town in Ladakh
— Overnight at Leh
Day 5 | Leh – Khardung La – Diskit – Hunder
— Head for Nubra Valley and stay overnight at Hunder / Diskit
— On the way enjoy a cup of soup at Highest Motorable Pass (as claimed) Khardung La
— Diskit has monasteries with tallest lord Buddha statue and Hunder has sand dunes and bacterian camel safari
Day 6 | Hunder / Diskit – Sumur – Panamik – Sumur – Khardung La – Leh
— Sumur has a famous monastery to check out and Panamik has hot water springs
— Overnight at Leh
Day 7 | Leh – Hemis Monastery – Pangong Tso Lake
— Cover either of Hemis, Thicksey and Shey on the go towards Pangong Tso
— Overnight at Pangong Tso (Spangmik or Lukung)
Day 8 | Pangong Tso Lake – Thicksey Monastery – Shey Palace – Leh
— Cover either of Hemis, Thicksey and Shey on return to Leh
— Overnight at Leh
Day 9 | Leh – Tso Moriri via Chumathang
— Cover Karzok Monastery
— Overnight at Karzok or Tso Moriri
Day 10 | Tso Moriri – Tso Kar – Debring (Manali – Leh Highway starts) – Taglang La – Upshi – Leh
— Come back via Tso Kar and Manali – Leh Highway to Leh
— Overnight at Leh
Day 11 | Fly back
Dear Dheeraj, A bit short notice but we, two friends fromHolland, will fly to Delhi and travel to Manali 3-5 september where we will rent bikes to ride up to Leh. From what I read on your wonderful site, it might be nice to continue after Leh to Kargil and Srinagar to head back to Manali. Do you have a suggestion of what would be a good route from Srinagar to Manali and in how many days?
Thanks! Luke from Holland
Hello Luke, there is an unrest in the Kashmir valley with curfews just lifted but conditions at some places are still not so good. It is not recommended at all to travel beyond Kargil. So, you can travel to Kargil from Leh, at max Drass and come back the same route to Leh. Then, you need to follow the same route back to Manali from Leh.