Leh Ladakh with Manali: Accommodations

Accommodations in Leh Ladakh are available in all price ranges but the choice of hotels are limited in the 4 or 5-star category. In Leh city, there are tons of hotels but there are only a few luxury hotels. Nubra Valley has two or three good luxury properties the rest of them are all tents. In Pangong Tso, Keylong and Jispa there are only basic hotels or tented camps. Manali obviously has endless options and they were cheap too as we went in monsoon which is the off-season.

Leh

Hotel – The Grand Dragon Ladakh

This is probably the best hotel in Leh. It’s in the price range of Rs. 10,000. Needless to say, it varies depending on the season, weekends or long holidays. I booked this online as it was cheaper by Rs. 1000 than on the hotel’s website.

Pros:

• Excellent service – The staff were always very polite and ready to help with any and everything. On request, they allowed us to have breakfast in our room and even offered to send it to us.
• Delicious food with amazing views – The hotel has an open terrace where we had one of our meals. The views are good and the food was top-notch with very reasonable prices. On some days, we ordered room service which was good too.
• All the rooms offer an excellent view of the mountain ranges. We could even see Shanti Stupa from our room.
• If you’re feeling unwell due to AMS, they can even call for a doctor to attend to you in your room for a fee of Rs. 1000 and they offer free oxygen if required.
• They arranged for an inner line permit for us at a service fee of Rs. 500 per person.
• They managed to get us same rooms for an extra night due to a change in our plans.

Cons:

• Need a bit of maintenance. Had to call them up to get the light and other things fixed.
• Since I had booked online, they could not switch the dates (We had to change plans as Kapil got sick) and we had to pay extra for one night.

You can book The Grand Dragon Ladakh here. Other hotels we considered were The Zen Ladakh which is in the same league as The Grand Dragon Ladakh and Gomang Boutique hotel which is a 3-star hotel.

The Grand Dragon Ladakh – Grandeur entrance with intricate carvings

View from our room

Nubra Valley

Hotel – Nubra Eco-Lodge

I really wanted to stay at this lodge because the views from the rooms looked mind-blowing. They only have two cottages, few tents and two guest rooms. Cottages were not available on either of the days I wanted (3rd or 4th day of our trip), so I took the risk and booked it for our 2nd day of the Leh Ladakh road trip. It didn’t go as planned, yet they managed to get us one guest room and one cottage at the last minute.

Pros:

• They allowed us to change the date at the last minute without any extra cost. This was highly appreciated as most hotels don’t do it.
• The cottage was great – Big room and decent sized bathroom.
• Food was delicious as they grow their own produce. They served paratha with pickles for breakfast which was one of the best we ever had.
• The lodge had stunning views all around. The entire morning, we lay in bed and gazed at the snow-clad mountains.

Cons:

• It’s in Sumur which is 45 minutes away from Hunder which is where most of the attractions are located.
• There was a shortage of staff and we had to carry the water jug to our room by our self.
• They had a very tough time providing us with an extra blanket.
• There is a flat 30 meters walkway to the cottage along the stony path.
• Strict with their policies and didn’t allow us to have breakfast in our room.
• No air-conditioner – It got hot during the night and we definitely missed it. As it was only for a night, we were fine but if planning to stay for two nights, this will be the biggest drawback.
• Electricity was available only during the evening.
• Guest Rooms are very small. Stay here only if you can book a cottage or tent.

You can book Nubra Eco-Lodge here. The only other property I considered was Lchang Nang Retreat.

A stony path to the room but views are mind-blowing 🙂

Nubra Eco-Lodge – our cottage

No filter or exaggeration – this is the view from our bed in the cottage 🙂

The vegetable garden at Nubra Eco-Lodge is the reason for fresh delicious food!

Beautiful sunflower in Nubra Eco-Lodge

They let mom pluck some apples from the tree 🙂

Keylong

Hotel – Hotel Deykid

There were no rooms available at Padma Lodge in Jispa which was my first choice, furthermore, they were very tough to deal with. So I booked Hotel Deykid which was 45 minutes away from Jispa. I didn’t expect much out of it but it turned out to be delightful considering the area and the cost.

Prices are in the range of Rs. 2500. You should be very careful and book directly with the hotel. Prices on the online website were triple of that on the hotel’s website. 

Pros:

• Total value for money
• Decent rooms and a nice bathroom
• The food was fresh as they use produce from their own farm and the menu had a large variety of items to choose from.
• The room had thick blankets which could be very handy during the nights.
• Even at this price, the room had a lovely view.

Cons:

• The approach road was very narrow.
• No air-conditioner, but it was fine during the night.
• No elevator but we got the room on the first floor.

You can book Hotel Deykid here. The other properties I considered was Padma Lodge and Hotel Ibex. Padma Lodge was very tough to deal with – they would not respond to e-mails and phone calls, they would say we’re busy, call later. Eventually, they said we only have tents available for our dates. So we booked Hotel Deykid and were very happy with the choice. Our driver said Hotel Ibex is better than Padma Lodge.

Our room at Hotel Deykid – Pretty good and most importantly neat and clean

View from the room at Hotel Deykid

Manali – Larisa Resort

Once I saw photos of the resort, I was fixated on it and it definitely lived up to my expectations. This was one of those hotels where you can just go and chill. It was in the range of Rs. 5000 without any meals.

Pros:

• Huge room and bathroom. It was probably bigger than any other five-star hotel’s standard rooms.
• Interiors were done up very nicely and it was very comfortable and cosy.
• The view from the room was spectacular, surrounded by trees laden with apples.
• It had a nice pool with a valley view.
• It was total value for money.
• We choose the base category room but they also have a higher category room on the first floor of each cottage which has a Jacuzzi in the room.

Cons:

• It’s in a small village called Haripur which is 15 Km from Mall road.
• Food could have been better. We went to eat at their restaurant, service was very slow and they brought our food wrapped in aluminium foil like a takeaway joint. They didn’t even allow us to change toppings on the pizza and we had to do with what was on their menu.
• Room service took 45 minutes to get a club sandwich. It had a huge thick slice of potato and paneer, very different from what a sandwich should be like.
• They didn’t allow us to pluck or even purchase apples. Mom was in love with them and tried her hardest to purchase some apples from them, but they refused saying that they only sell to the local market.
• It had a 4 poster bed which obstructed the view of the T.V.

You can book Larisa Resort here. The other property I considered was Manuallaya – The Resort Spa (2.5 Km from Mall Road) which didn’t seem worth it for double the price of Larisa Resort. Apple Country resort (3 Km from Mall Road) was a short-list too in the similar price range but Larisa Resort won hands down in terms of amenities it offers for the price, the only drawback being the distance from Manali.

Our room at Larisa Resort is surrounded by apple trees 🙂

Our lovely room with a 4 poster bed

The bathroom had all modern amenities, no less than any 5-star hotel’s bathroom

Pool with amazing valley views 🙂

Mom is in love with the apple trees, wish they would let her pluck or buy one

That’s it for accommodations in Leh Ladakh and Manali. All of our hotels were satisfying without any big problems or complaints and I would probably choose the same again.

Planning a trip to Leh Ladakh?

Check out all the other posts in Leh Ladakh with Manali series:
Leh Ladakh Trip Planning Essentials
Our Detailed Itinerary and Trip Report
Vegetarian Food in Ladakh and Manali

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored or free trip – We have paid for all our Holiday expenses but I spend a lot of time researching for the best deals and at times do get a discount as I run a travel business as well.