Leh sits at about 3,500 metres in a side valley off the Indus, and almost everyone who comes to Ladakh starts here whether they intend to or not. The flight from Delhi takes ninety minutes and lifts you from 216 metres to 3,500, which is a faster ascent than any trekker would ever choose deliberately. The result is that your first two or three days in Leh are not optional sightseeing days. They are medical necessity, and the city is unusually good at absorbing them.
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That is what this post is about: the city rather than the region. Leh Palace above the old town, the Namgyal Tsemo ridge, the bazaar, the mud brick lanes below the palace, and a set of short day trips that do not gain much height. If you are planning the wider Ladakh trip, the passes, Pangong, Nubra and the treks, that is a different and larger undertaking.
What Makes Leh Different to Pack For
Altitude on arrival, before you have done anything
Headache, breathlessness on stairs, poor sleep and loss of appetite are normal in the first 48 hours and affect most people regardless of fitness. The rule every operator, guidebook and local doctor gives is the same: do nothing at all for the first two days. No trekking, no high passes, no alcohol.
Pack for sitting still in cold air, which is not the same as pack for walking. You will be in a guesthouse courtyard or on a rooftop reading, and you will be colder than you expect.
A high desert with an enormous daily swing
Leh is in the rain shadow of the Himalaya and gets almost no rainfall. Summer, June to September, runs 7°C to 25°C with intense sun and cold nights. Winter runs minus 15°C to 2°C and much of the region closes. The swing between a sunlit courtyard and the same courtyard in shade can be fifteen degrees within a metre.
A merino wool base layer for women is the most useful single garment here. It handles the sun to shade transition, it works for sleeping in an unheated room, and it does not need washing often, which matters where water is scarce.
Water is genuinely limited
Ladakh is a desert and Leh has a water problem that tourism has made worse. Guesthouses may have limited hot water and some use dry compost toilets, which are the traditional and far more sensible system. Plastic bottled water is discouraged and refill stations for filtered water exist across town.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Leh Packing List
Footwear
Comfortable shoes with grip that come off easily, since monasteries require it. The old town lanes are uneven stone and packed earth with steps, and the climb to Namgyal Tsemo is loose gravel on a slope. Waterproof hiking shoes are right if you are doing any of the day walks or continuing into the region afterwards, though for the city alone a sturdy trainer does.
Warm socks for unheated rooms and for cold monastery floors.
Clothing
Layers with a large range. A base layer, a fleece or down mid layer, and a windproof shell, even in July. A warm hat and gloves for evenings and early mornings year round.
Ladakh is culturally Tibetan Buddhist with a significant Muslim population in Leh itself, and it is conservative. Shoulders and knees covered in town and at monasteries, and a scarf is useful for both.
For sun at altitude
This is where people get caught out. The UV at 3,500 metres in thin dry air is severe and the cold air disguises it completely. High factor sunscreen reapplied, a lip balm with protection, sunglasses rated for altitude, and a wide brim sun hat. Sunburn on the underside of the nose from reflected light is a Ladakhi speciality.
Altitude and medical
Discuss acetazolamide with a doctor before travelling. Rehydration salts, and drink three to four litres a day, which is the most effective thing you can do. Basic painkillers for the arrival headache. Any prescription medication in quantity. A moisturiser and a nasal saline spray, because the dryness cracks skin and sinuses within a day.
Practical
Cash, because ATMs in Leh exist but run dry in season and nothing outside the city takes cards. A power bank, since load shedding is routine. A refillable bottle for the filtered water stations. Permits for the outlying areas, arranged through an agent in Leh with passport copies.
What to Wear at Key Sites
Leh Palace
A nine storey mud brick and timber palace built by Sengge Namgyal in the early seventeenth century, modelled on the Potala in Lhasa and abandoned when the royal family moved to Stok. It is partially restored and you can climb through it.
Practically: a steep approach from the old town, then dark internal stairs and ladders with uneven treads and few railings, and open floors with drops. A torch helps genuinely. It is a short climb but at this altitude on your second day it will feel long.
Namgyal Tsemo
The gompa and fort on the ridge directly above the palace, with a large Maitreya statue and the best view over Leh, the Indus valley and the Stok range beyond.
Practically: around thirty to forty minutes up on a rough path of loose gravel and rock, exposed the whole way. Do not do this on day one. Sunset is the reason to go, which means walking down in fading light, so take a torch.
The old town and the bazaar
The mud brick quarter below the palace is being restored by the Leh Old Town Initiative after decades of decay, and it is a maze of lanes, chortens and old merchant houses. The main bazaar is the commercial spine, with Ladakhi women selling vegetables from the roadside in the mornings, apricots and pashmina and a great deal of trekking gear.
Practically: flat and easy, which makes the bazaar the right activity for an acclimatisation day. The Jama Masjid sits at the top of the bazaar and the Soma Gompa nearby.
Shanti Stupa
A white Japanese built peace pagoda on a hill west of town, reached by around 500 steps or a road.
Practically: the steps are a real effort at this altitude and a taxi to the top is not cheating on day two. Superb at sunset and very cold immediately afterwards.
Day trips that do not gain height
Shey, Thiksey and Hemis monasteries sit along the Indus at similar or lower altitude and make an ideal third day. Thiksey's morning puja is worth the early start. The Hall of Fame museum and the Sindhu Ghat are closer still.
Practically: all are lower than Leh, which is why they are the right acclimatisation outing. Shoes off, covered shoulders and knees, and photography restrictions inside some shrine rooms.
What Not to Bring
Leave any plan that involves arriving and driving straight to a high pass, which is how people end up seriously ill. Leave alcohol for the first two days at least. Leave plastic bottled water, which Ladakh does not need more of.
Leave the assumption that summer means warm. Leave a tight schedule, since flights in and out of Leh cancel for weather with some regularity.
Essential Resources for Women in Leh
Emergency numbers in India: 112 is the national emergency number. Police 100, ambulance 102 or 108, fire 101. The women's helpline is 1091. Mobile coverage in Leh itself is reasonable on Indian networks; note that prepaid SIMs issued elsewhere in India do not work in Ladakh, which catches out almost every visitor, and you need a postpaid connection or a locally issued SIM.
Tourist support: India operates a 24 hour multilingual tourist helpline on 1363. Ladakh has a tourist police presence in Leh during the season and the district police handle reports. A stolen passport needs an FIR filed locally, and it is more complicated here because your inner line permits are tied to it.
US Embassy and consulate: the embassy is in New Delhi at Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, telephone +91 11 2419 8000, at in.usembassy.gov. Delhi is a ninety minute flight and there is no consular presence in Ladakh. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: the Sonam Norboo Memorial Hospital in Leh is the district hospital and is experienced in altitude illness, which is the main reason visitors present. It has oxygen and a hyperbaric facility. Serious cases are evacuated to Delhi by air. Travel insurance covering high altitude and air evacuation is essential; many standard policies cap altitude coverage well below what Ladakh involves.
Official health authority: the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at mohfw.gov.in.
US State Department travel advisory for India: current advisory level and detail, which carries specific guidance on the border regions of Ladakh. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for India: entry requirements, safety and health guidance.
Official tourism authority: Incredible India at incredibleindia.gov.in, with the Ladakh administration's tourism department for permits, road status on the Manali and Srinagar highways, and which outlying areas are currently open to foreign nationals.
Solo women safety assessment: Leh is among the safest and most comfortable places in India for a woman travelling alone. Ladakhi society is Buddhist and Muslim rather than north Indian in its norms, Ladakhi women are visible and active in public life and run much of the trade in the bazaar, and the staring and harassment common in the plains is largely absent. Crime against visitors is very low, walking alone in the evening in the main bazaar area is normal, guesthouses are family run and protective, and solo women travellers are a common sight. Eating alone is unremarkable. Dress conservatively and the town is entirely easy. The real risk here is altitude and it deserves to be taken seriously rather than treated as discomfort. Acute mountain sickness is common in Leh and occasionally becomes life threatening, with high altitude cerebral and pulmonary oedema both recorded here every season. Worsening headache, vomiting, confusion, breathlessness at rest or a cough with frothy sputum are emergencies: descend and get to the hospital. Do not fly in and go straight to a high pass, do not drink for the first two days, and do not let a tight itinerary push you upward before you are ready. Beyond altitude, the dryness dehydrates you faster than you notice, and the physical hazards are falls on the palace stairs and the Namgyal Tsemo path in poor light. If you are continuing into the region, road accidents on the mountain highways are the most likely serious incident on any Ladakh trip, so choose a reputable operator and avoid night driving.
Reading On
Leh is where every Ladakh trip begins, and the days you spend here doing very little are the ones that make the rest of it possible. The Ladakh travel guide for women is the regional parent and covers the passes, Pangong and Nubra, the treks and the permits, and the Ladakh packing list for women covers the wider region and its acclimatisation rules in depth. The India travel guide for women is the parent for the whole country and the India packing list for women covers a multi region trip. Elsewhere in the Indian Himalaya, the Dharamsala packing list for women covers McLeod Ganj and the Dhauladhar, the Gangtok packing list for women covers Sikkim in the east, and the Darjeeling packing list for women and Rishikesh travel guide for women cover the foothills. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why merino is the right fibre in a cold high desert where water is scarce and washing is discouraged, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
