There's a moment on every Ladakh trip when the group goes quiet. This time it came on the slopes just below the ancient palace in Zangla, now a playful descent hidden in the Western Himalaya.
That was day five. We'd barely started.
The setup: shuttles, yoga lofts, and a soft start
Ladakh starts at 11,500 feet above sea level, and pretending otherwise is how trips go wrong. So this tour starts slowly on purpose: two easy days at Nimmu House, a heritage home among the orchards where the Indus and Zanskar Rivers meet. Morning yoga in the loft, garden dinners, short walks along irrigation channels. By the time we loaded the bikes onto the Gurkha for the first shuttle, lungs and legs were ready.
One valley over was the warm-up: mostly downhill, in and out of old farming villages, and hidden viewpoints our shuttle crew has been perfecting for years.
Into Zanskar: palace laps and a pass few people cross
The long drive from Nimmu to Zangla is an experience in itself — but the riding on the far side is why we came. Beneath the walls of Khar Kongma, Zangla's royal palace, there's a short, cliffy descent that the shuttle turns into repeatable laps: twisting corners, quick decisions, and a backdrop that makes every run feel cinematic.
From there the trip splits high and wild. While the cultural track spent time with the girls at the Chomo Gonpa school, where part of every tour payment supports community education, the adventure crew scrambled up the trail to the Ralakhoun pass — the biggest day of the trip, where the bikes couldn't ride, they traveled the old way.
Nerak: the freeride playground
If we had to pick one place that captures what Zanskar riding is about, it's Nerak. A 4WD track climbs to a viewpoint high above the village, and from there the line drops through freeride slopes and faint yak trails that almost no one has ridden. Our guides know every turn; the shuttle waits at the bottom for anyone whose legs vote for another lap.
Not just handlebars
This is a multisport trip with two parallel tracks, and the culture side kept pulling riders across: monastery rooftops with the Zanskar range filling the horizon, an afternoon of masked dances in a monastery courtyard, and evenings in family homes that no amount of singletrack can replace.
The honest notes
A few things worth knowing, just in case this dispatch has you checking flights. July is peak season and the weather treated us well, but this is high-altitude riding — acclimatization days aren't optional, and we build them in without exceptions. The descents at Zangla and Nerak reward intermediate-and-up bike handling. This is not for beginners. The culture track means a mixed family group never has to split up for good. And one last thing, Ladakh requires permits — see our full guide.
The trails will still be there next July. And so will the momos.