Below is some information on the more minor roads we cycled in the Indian Himalaya. For the more well known routes, like Manali-Leh, Leh-Srinagar, Spiti and Kinnaur, buy yourself a copy of Laura Stone’s excellent ‘Himalaya by Bike’ Trailblazer Guide. Well worth investing in.

For the ‘difficulty’ ratings we’ve used the same as in our Andes by Bike site: Routes rated 5 are the most difficult and will feature most, or all, of the following: high altitudes, steep roads, large amounts of climbing, bad surfaces, long distances between food and water sources, possibility of extreme weather.Routes rated 1 are the easiest of those described on this site.

Region	Route	Distance (of which paved)	Time cycling
Himachal-Zanskar	Darcha – Zanskar Sumdo – Shingo La – Dorzong – Padum	143km (20km)	8 days (1 cycling, 7 trekking)
Zanskar	Padum – Penzi La – Sanku	190km (20km)	3 days
Kargil	Sapi – Sapi La – Shergol	40km (4km)	1 day
Ladakh: Nubra, Pangong	Leh – Khardung La – Wari La – Shakti – Chang La – Tangtse – Harong – Parma Checkpost	295km (~230km)	5 days
Ladakh: Indus, Rupshu	Upshi – Mahe Bridge – Puga – Tso Kar	181km (154km)	2 1/2 days
Ladakh: Indus, Changtang	Mahe Bridge – Mahe – Hor La – Kaksang La	42km (15km)	1 day
Ladakh: Rupshu	Tso Kar to Tso Moriri: Tso Kar – Nuruchang – Kozur La – Yalung Nyau La – Korzog	74km (9km)	4 days
Himachal: Kinnaur	Old Hindustan-Tibet byway: Spillow – Jangi – Kalpa – Urni – Tapri	82km (~50%)	2 days
Himachal, Uttarakhand	Kinnaur Highway (at Jeori) – Rohru – Ghansali – Rudraprayag – Bageshwar – Munsyari – Tanakpur	1,076km (~80%)	14 days
West Nepal	Mahendranagar – Jogbuddha – Sanfe Bazaar – Silgadhi – Mangalsen – Manma	391km (227km)	6 days
Central Nepal	Pokhara – Bholetar – Gorkha – Arughat – Trishuli – Kathmandu	289km (109km)	5 days