The Leh–Manali Highway is a 428 km (266 mile) mountain road across the Indian Himalaya, running from Manali in Himachal Pradesh to Leh in Ladakh as part of National Highway 3. It crosses four named passes — Rohtang La, Baralacha La, Lachulung La and Taglang La — holds an average elevation above 4,000 m (13,000 ft), and tops out at 5,328 m (17,480 ft). It is usually open for roughly six months, from around the first week of May when the Border Roads Organisation finishes snow clearance until October. Two days is the normal riding time. This guide covers the route, the altitude problem, fuel gaps and the season window (verified August 2026).
What the road is actually like
This is not a pass road in the Alpine sense, where you climb for an hour and descend into a valley with fuel and coffee. The Leh–Manali Highway climbs onto a high plateau and stays there. After Darcha the greenery disappears entirely and the mountains turn brown and arid, because the whole northern half sits in the Himalayan rain shadow. The highway is generally two lanes wide with no divider, and narrows to one or one and a half lanes in places. It carries the heaviest army vehicles and crosses meltwater streams without bridges — water that runs higher as the day warms.
The surface is a mixture. Long stretches of decent tarmac alternate with broken sections, gravel, and water crossings that change week to week. The Border Roads Organisation of the Indian Army designed, built and maintains it, which is why the road exists at all — this is a strategic military artery that tourism happens to use.
Route at a glance
| Length | 428 km (266 miles), Manali to Leh, part of NH3 |
| Split | 177 km in Himachal Pradesh, 251 km in Ladakh; state line at Sarchu |
| Highest point | Taglang La, 5,328 m (17,480 ft) |
| Average elevation | Above 4,000 m (13,000 ft) |
| Passes crossed | Rohtang La (bypassed by the Atal Tunnel), Baralacha La, Lachulung La, Taglang La |
| Season | Roughly first week of May to October, about six months (as of August 2026) |
| Riding time | Two days with one overnight halt is the normal pace |
| Longest fuel gap | Historically 330 km Tandi to Karu; a Keylong pump has been operational since September 2021 |
Open the Manali to Leh route in Google Maps — it runs Manali, Keylong, Sarchu, Leh, so you can send the whole thing to your navigation before you leave the last town with data coverage.
The Atal Tunnel changed the first day completely
Until October 2020, every rider heading north from Manali had to go over the Rohtang Pass at 3,980 m (13,058 ft) — a pass with a reputation for sudden snowstorms, and the reason Lahaul was cut off for six months a year. The Atal Tunnel, 9.02 km long and inaugurated on 3 October 2020, removed that requirement. It is the world's longest highway single-tube tunnel above 3,048 m (10,000 ft).
The numbers reshape day one. The old route from Manali to Keylong via Gramphu was 116 km and took five to six hours in good conditions. Through the tunnel it is 71 km and about two hours, and it bypasses most of the avalanche and blockade-prone ground. Keylong, at 3,080 m (10,100 ft), is now reachable year-round rather than being sealed off from late October to mid-May.
Rohtang itself is still rideable in season, and plenty of riders take it as a scenic detour. It is not a free choice, though: vehicles going over the pass need a Rohtang permit, issued online by the Deputy Commissioner of Kullu through the official rohtangpermits.nic.in portal, under a daily vehicle cap imposed by the National Green Tribunal. Fees and quotas change, so check the portal for current terms.
The four passes, north to south
Rohtang La, 3,980 m (13,058 ft). The gateway pass on the eastern end of the Pir Panjal range, about 51 km (32 miles) from Manali. Open May to November. Not high by Himalayan standards but with a well-earned reputation for unpredictable snowstorms and blizzards. Most riders now go under it.
Baralacha La. The pass between the Bhaga and Chandra valleys and the marker for the state line country around Sarchu. This is where the road commits to real altitude and where BRO snow clearance crews usually work longest in spring.
Lachulung La, 5,059 m (16,600 ft). Also spelled Lāchālūng La or Lungalacha La, sitting 54 km (34 miles) north of Sarchu and 24 km (15 miles) west of Pang. A rail-cum-road tunnel is under construction beneath it.
Taglang La, 5,328 m (17,480 ft). The highest point of the highway, in Leh district. Worth noting for a reason that has nothing to do with riding: the elevation on the local signboard here agrees with SRTM satellite data, which is not something you can say about every pass sign in this region. Older signs claiming Taglang La is the world's second highest motorable pass are out of date — several higher motorable passes have been built since, and it ranked twelfth as of 2015.
Altitude is the real difficulty, not the road
Riders who get into trouble on this highway usually do so because of elevation, not because of corners. At these heights the air holds less oxygen and acute mountain sickness becomes a genuine risk, with headache, nausea, dizziness and vomiting as the common symptoms. It can be fatal. This is not a nuisance to ride through — it is the thing that decides whether your trip works.
The standard advice is structural rather than medical. If you arrive by air into thin air, spend at least one night at your starting point before going higher. Break the ride with an overnight at Keylong, Jispa or Darcha — all still in the 3,000 m band — before pushing over the highest passes. Deliberately do not overnight at Sarchu (4,201 m / 13,783 ft) or Pang if you can avoid it, because sleeping that high without a stepped approach is where people get hurt. Minimise time spent standing around at pass summits. Carry high-energy food. If symptoms get worse rather than better, the only reliable treatment is losing altitude, and the road gives you that option in both directions.
None of this is medical advice and we are not going to give you drug names or doses — that conversation belongs with a doctor before you leave. What we will say is that riding from 2,000 m to 5,300 m inside 36 hours is aggressive by any mountaineering standard, and the riders who enjoy this road are almost always the ones who gave it an extra day.
Season, fuel and the practical details
Season. The highway is usually open about six months a year, from around the first week of May when snow clearance finishes to October when snowfall closes the high passes again. There is no fixed calendar date. BRO clears from both ends each spring and the reopening announcement moves by weeks depending on the winter. Verified as of August 2026 — before you commit, check the Lahaul and Spiti district administration's official road status page, which lists Manali–Keylong and Keylong–Leh separately.
Fuel. This is the number that catches people out. There used to be no fuel station at all for 330 km (210 miles) between Tandi and Karu. A pump at Keylong has been operational since September 2021, which shortens the worst gap, but the planning rule still holds: fill at the start of the stretch, and if you are on a small tank, carry fuel in cans. Fuel can sometimes be bought informally at Jispa, Zingzingbar, Sarchu and Pang, but it may be adulterated and expensive, and it is not something to build a route around.
Weather. Ladakh is a cold semi-arid desert. Days are warm in direct sun and nights are very cold even in summer. Rainfall between Darcha and Leh is scanty even during the July to September monsoon, but the Himachal side gets the full monsoon and landslides are a routine cause of delays.
Water crossings. Glacial melt runs across the road in many places without a bridge, and the flow increases as the day warms, so riders generally cross these early. The water is ice-cold and deep enough in places to matter.
Traffic. Military convoys, trucks and tourist vehicles share narrow lanes with blind corners. Buses leave Manali from 4 am, and HRTC and HPTDC services cover the full highway in two days.
Gear notes for a road with no signal and no shops
Two things about the Leh–Manali Highway punish a setup built for populated countries. First, there is no reliable mobile data for most of the route, so a navigation system that depends on a live connection stops being navigation. Downloading the route before you leave Manali and running it on a screen that survives dust, hail and a stream crossing is the difference between navigating and guessing — our guide to choosing a motorcycle GPS setup covers what offline capability actually means in practice, and a JADO S6 riding system keeps the route, the cameras and your phone's music on one display without the phone leaving your jacket.
Second, the pressure swing across this route is larger than most riders ever experience. You start at 2,000 m in Manali and sleep above 3,000 m, then ride to 5,328 m, and the ambient temperature between a sunny afternoon at Sarchu and a dawn start can differ by twenty degrees. Cold air drops tire pressure, and there is nobody at 4,500 m with a gauge — why tire pressure falls in cold weather explains the physics, and a TPMS sensor tells you about a slow leak while you can still do something about it, which matters a lot when the nearest tire shop is 200 km away. Charging is the third gap: there are no sockets between halts, so a bi-directional fast charger that can take power from the bike and put it back into a phone or an action camera earns its space in the tank bag on a route like this.
FAQ
How many days do you need for the Leh–Manali Highway?
Two days with one overnight halt is the normal pace, and since the Atal Tunnel opened it is physically possible to do the whole 428 km in 14 to 16 hours if nothing blocks the road. Doing it in one day is a bad idea for a different reason: it takes you from 2,000 m to 3,524 m in a single push, which is exactly the altitude profile that causes trouble. Three days with acclimatisation halts is the version most riders enjoy.
When does the Leh–Manali Highway open?
Usually around the first week of May, once BRO finishes clearing snow, and it stays open until roughly October. There is no fixed date and the reopening moves by weeks year to year. Check the district road status page before you commit to dates.
Do you need a permit for the Leh–Manali Highway?
Not for the highway itself. You need a Rohtang permit if you ride over the Rohtang Pass rather than through the Atal Tunnel, applied for online through the DC Kullu portal. Separately, an Inner Line Permit is required for restricted areas within Ladakh such as Nubra, Pangong and Khardung La — that is a different system, applied for through the Leh district portal.
Is there fuel on the Leh–Manali Highway?
Sparse. The historic gap was 330 km between Tandi and Karu with nothing in between; a Keylong pump has been operating since September 2021. Fill whenever you can, and carry spare fuel if your tank range is under about 250 km.
Which direction is better, Manali to Leh or Leh to Manali?
Riding Manali to Leh means gaining altitude gradually over two days with sensible overnight stops available at 3,000 m. Riding Leh to Manali means starting already acclimatised if you have spent days in Ladakh, and descending at the end. Neither is wrong; the Manali start is harder on your body and easier on your logistics.
