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Pangong Tso

Pangong Tso

Leh & Ladakh

Pangong Tso is an endorheic lake at roughly 4,225 metres on the Changtang plateau of eastern Ladakh.

State
Leh & Ladakh
Type
Other
Best season
Monsoon
Things to do
2+

Pangong Tso is an endorheic lake at roughly 4,225 metres on the Changtang plateau of eastern Ladakh. It runs nearly 134 kilometres end to end, about a third of that in India and the rest in Tibet. The colour changes through the day, from azure to turquoise to a hard indigo. Stark, barren mountains stand around the basin, and the water is clear enough to hold them like a mirror. The lake is saline and brackish, and it still freezes solid in the worst of the winter, sheet ice from shore to shore.

When to go

Summer months from June to September provide unblocked road links via Chang La pass and comfortable camping conditions.

Why visit

About a third of Pangong is in India and the rest is in Tibet, which is the fact that makes standing there feel the way it does. Spangmik is where most people stop; Merak and Man are quieter. At 4,350 metres it is worth sleeping a night rather than turning straight round.

Cultural notes

The lake sits right on the Line of Actual Control between India and China, which gives it great strategic weight, and the nomadic Changpa herders keep their camps near its banks.

How to reach

Reached from Leh by driving over the high Chang La pass, in a private or shared four-wheel drive tourist vehicle.

Pangong Tso guide & itineraries

Popular attractions

The places in Pangong Tso most people come for.

Spangmik Village

Spangmik Village

Accommodation Area

3 Idiots Point

3 Idiots Point

Viewpoint

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Leh sits at 3,500 metres and the single most important thing about it is that you cannot skip the first two days. Fly in and you arrive from sea level in ninety minutes. Spend the first forty-eight hours doing almost nothing — walk slowly, drink far more water than feels reasonable, no alcohol, no trekking. People who ignore this lose a week to altitude sickness or end up on a flight out. Coming overland from Manali or Srinagar acclimatises you properly, and if you have the days it is the better arrival. Once you are adjusted: Thiksey monastery at dawn for the morning prayers, which visitors are welcome at and which almost nobody attends. Hemis is grander but further. The Indus valley villages between Leh and Nimmu are where you see how people actually live at this altitude. Pangong and Nubra both need inner-line permits, arranged in Leh in a morning, and both are long hard drives. Pangong as a day trip is a mistake — twelve hours in a car for an hour at a lake. The road season is roughly June to September. Outside it the passes close and Leh is reachable only by air.

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