Visit the Lovely City of Leh in India

The State of Jammu and Kashmir in India is full of beautiful tourist attractions. Leh is one such tourist attraction. Leh is the coldest city in India and it is not convenient to visit Leh during the winter. Tourists have to plan their visit to Leh between the months of May and November. I was lucky to get an opportunity to visit Leh in 2004 with my family. The pleasant memories of this visit are stored in my mind. Leh is 12,000 feet from sea level and 7 miles away from the shore of River Sindhu.

Leh can be reached by air or bus from Shrinagar. There are daily flights for Leh from Shrinagar. The bus service is also plying every day from Shrinagar. However, if you travel by bus, you need to stay at Kargil in the way for the night halt. The separate jeep and the taxis are also available from Shrinagar for Leh. There are many hotels like Hotel Thangala- Chaing, Hotel Idsu, Hotel Tibet International, Hotel Himalaya, and Hotel Dreamland at Leh. These are some of the famous and luxurious hotels at Leh. Such hotels charge around Rs.4000 ($100) per day for a nice double room. The economic hotels like Hotel Rainbow, Hotel Sabina, Hotel Shalimar, and Hotel Khan are also available in the range of Rs.1200 ($30) to Rs.2400 ($60) per day for a double room. We had stayed at Hotel Himalaya, which is a nice hotel providing excellent three star facilities. Leh is an ancient city of small lanes and simple layout. The palace of Leh, built by the King Sowang Namgyal in the Sixteenth century, is the most vital place of tourist's attraction here. This palace is called Khar Palace. This palace is situated on the hill, as if protecting the entire city of Leh. There are beautiful ancient pictures showing the life story of Lord Buddha stored in this palace. There is a Buddha Math at Leh. The ancient golden statues of Lord Buddha, the artistic paintings, and the hand written Buddha religious slogans before around 5000 years are worth seeing here at this math. There is a large statue of Lord Buddha, around 28 feet high, which is known as Vsumo Gopa, at this math. The summer palace of Leh, known as Shay palace, is also worth seeing here at Leh. The golden, silver, and the bronze statues of Lord Buddha are kept at the town of Chogalamasar in the city of Leh. There is an eighteen holes Golf course, which is considered the highest golf course in the world. There is a large and beautiful polo ground at Leh.

The famous math of Hamish Gopa is situated at around 30 miles away from Leh. This is the largest math here in the entire region. The golden statues of Lord Buddha, decorated with most beautiful diamonds, are kept here at this math. This math was built in the tenth century. There is a solid gold circular stupa at this math, which was built in seventh century. The city of Leh is full of Buddha gopas in all its corners. Various means of transportations like jeep, taxis and the buses are available to reach all these places. The tourists can stay here at Leh for around 3 days to cover all the sites seeing spots of Leh. We had stayed here at Leh for four days and were able to enjoy it thoroughly. The famous Shangri-La Park and the Hermit Kingdom are also worth seeing places at Leh. The city of Leh is most famous for the rare animal yak, which can be viewed here only at Leh. The famous Muslim Masjid, built in the year 1594, is also worth seeing place here. This mosque is made in the mix art traditions of Turkistan and Iran.

It would be really a life time experience to visit Leh in spite of its very extreme cold weather. The tourists are really able to enjoy the beauty of Himalaya Mountains from this ancient city of Leh. Many foreign tourists also visit this lovely city of Leh. Make sure to plan your visit to Leh during your next visit to India.