Leh was the starting point of my Ladakh trip and the glimpse of Leh from aircraft itself gave an idea of scenic beauty which was in store for us during the trip. It’s not a big city and if you are comfortable walking distances then
you can cover lots of places on foot itself and with a bike each and every corner will be accessible.
With the increase in tourism to Ladakh, the number of vehicles have increased tremendously leading to lots of pollution in central Leh areas, in fact during rush hours it will remind you of Delhi traffic. Increased tourism has also added a challenge in form of waste management.
One thing i didn’t liked about Leh was food, may be it was impacted by tourism but most of stuff was oily, fried and it left me quite disappointed. Food in Leh is not very costly even in good restaurants. Most of restaurants are located around main market but shops close quite early, almost whole market is shut by 10pm.
Leh has quite a few places which one can check out, and most famous among them is Shanti Stupa. Its located at Hill top and is easily accessible via road. Shanti stupa gives you a good view of Leh and nothing else really unless you are spiritual or interested in history.
Some of other places around Leh include Leh palace, Kyigu Drak Gompa [A place to view Sunset], Moti Market [You can get some cheap stuff here], Sankar Gompa [One can skip this], Thikse Monastry. All these will give you a flavour of Leh.
If i had to summarise how i felt in Leh then i would say semi commercialised Heaven. Its still quite beautiful and peaceful but with increasing number of tourists there will be need to more Infrastructure which undoubtedly will take toll on this beautiful city.