Trek in the Indian Himalayas and Spiti Valley: Please Help

Spitivalleytours.com has a lot of information on their home page.

thank you. I will definitely check them out!
:-)

I did the complete Zanzkar trek, from Lamayuru to Darcha, 1 1/2 years ago. One of the definite highlights is Phuktal Gompa, and they have a small guesthouse there, you should stay there at least one night. Most people rush in, take a few pictures, and leave again as quick as they came...
Apart from that I thought that the more spectacular landscape was between Lamayuru and Padum. After Phuktal Gompa, until Shingo La pass, you will walk mainly through valleys. Not bad, but not very exciting.
As was pointed out already, homestay trekking is almost entirely possible on the "main route", but still you have to camp at one or two places where there's no village or tea tent, so bring a small bicouac tent and a little bit of food even on the main trekking route.
You also find a lot of information about trekking in the Himalaya on the Indiamike-forum, www.indiamike.com , and information about independent trekking (without guide and horses) here:
http://trek.micahimages.com/
Take care
Mike

Thank you so much, Mike.

I justed had a look at the maps, and there's an option where you could combine Phuktal Gompa with the northern half of the Zanskar trek, which is, as others also pointed out, the more spectacular half...
If you start the trek in Padum (getting there from Kargil), you could go first to Phuktal Gompa. Then continue along the Tsarap river, but turn north after a few kilometers towards Trantrag and Shaded. You have then actually two possibilities, one trail leads to sTongde (a bit north of Padum), the other farther north to Zangla. From either of these villages continue on to Lamayuru.
On both trails you cross passes higher than the Shingo La, and the whole affair - Padum-Phuktal Gompa-Shaded-Zangla-Lamayuru - would take about 2 weeks, I'd say.
Just as an idea...
To get some orientation, try to find the Olizane maps, they are not cheap, but the best. Otherwise give me some time, there were some maps on the internet, pretty accurate, but I have to see whether I guarded the URL...

Ok, here's the URL, forget google maps:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/india/
If you scroll down the page, you find the links to each section.
Leh, for example, is NI-43-08, and it includes Lamayuru and the first kilometers of the Zanskar trek with Wanla, Phanjila, until Hanupatta.
As I mentioned, for Ladakh there are also the Olizane maps which include virtually all trails and all tea tents.
If you want to go to Spiti valley, it gets more difficult, I think these AMS-maps are probably the best you can get. The major part of Spiti valley is on NI-43-16 and NI-44-13. You can print either the maps entirely or sections of these maps, which will give you a very good idea about the region...

Just read this post on Spiti Vallley and Zanskar, so I would like to share my experience here. No doubt both valleys are incredible but the difference is Zanskar is more wild, small and narrow valleys, while Spiti is big and wide valley. There are more options of trekking in Zanskar than Spiti and Darcha Lamayuru is one of the best. Spiti could be nice destination to explore Buddhist monasteries and Buddhist learnings. Still there is one more reason to go Pukhtal is its superb location,,, The only trek that connects Spiti to Zanskar is

Chandertaal - Baralacha La (Kailang Sarai) - Phirtse La - Purni - Pukhtal - Thongde La (5400 Mts.) - Thongde - Zangla. Fro Zangla you can carry on your trek to Lamayuru or you can finish in Padum and further drive to Leh via Kargil.
This is the best option, where you visit Spiti Valley and after start your trek from Chandertaal, the most beautiful and fresh water lake of Western Himalaya. Also you will explore the inner parts of Zanskar Himalaya...ask for detailed program, will be happy to help my fellow travelers.

Thank you so much guys. The info you provide is terrific!

I'm puzzled. Unfortunately, I don't have two full weeks available just for Zanskar. I do have 2 weeks, but I was hoping to visit both Zanskar and Spiti during that time. I could start from Lamayuru going south, but I will need to be back in Delhi within 2 weeks, as my flight out of Delhi has already been booked.

How many days would that trek from Lamayuru to Spiti take? If I do decide to go for the variation sirius described (which sounds awesome), I might not have enough time to visit Spiti...

I will arrive in Kargil on July 15th. Then I have the freedom to plan whatever I wish until August 1st... my flight back home. All I want is to spend some time trekking in a very scenic area of Zanskar and visit Spiti as well, but spending less time there. I thought that the most efficient way to link these 2 locations would be going from Padum to Darcha, then to Spiti, then back to Delhi. But now that it seems that this area is much less scenic than the northern area, I really don't know how to organize these 2 weeks getting a glimpse of both areas, and be back in Delhi in time for my flight. I have been to the Indus valley from Leh to Lamayuru, so I was trying to avoid retracing myself for this time.

I really appreciate all suggestions you may have.

Thank you, again. I'm kinda confused now.

Ok, this sounds complicated...

I think you have to forget Spiti valley, if that's definite being the 15th in Kargil and flying out of Delhi 17 days later. It's simply impossible if your main goal is to do a lot of trekking, and not spending endless days on winding roads. In fact, the only possibility to get to Spiti would be to go by bus or jeep from Kargil to Leh, from there to Darcha, from there to Spiti valley. Altogether 4 - 5 days of driving... Is that what you are looking for?

Other points to have in mind:
Spiti has only two access roads and as far as I know requires 2 days minimum to/from Delhi. The more common route is through Manali. You will be there in summer and with a good probability there won't be rain or snow. But don't rely on it to get back to Delhi on the last moment, because when I was there (late summer, although in 2010, the year with the terrible weather conditions) it was raining and snowing and rumours went that they would close the two access roads. I had problems finding a jeep out (was not totally urgent, but my flight out from Delhi... )
This is the Himalaya, where you cannot rely for sure on perfect weather!

I think that leaves you only with the option of trekking in Zanskar, which isn't really a bad option.

First of all, don't forget that you have to acclimatize. You cannot just start trekking upon arrival. I think the rule is to spend at least three nights at an altitude of 3500 or 4000 mts before starting to do some serious trekking. Kargil would be the first night... (for exact info check Wikipedia, "AMS" = acute mountain syndrom).

The Zanskar trek can be divided in two parts, each of one takes about 1 1/2 weeks, Lamayuru to Padum and Padum to Darcha.
If choosing the first part, think about starting the 17th or 18th (3 nights after arriving in Kargil). This means to arrive in Padum around the 27/28th. The only way out would then to take a bus or jeep back to Kargil. There would be no time to go to Phuktal Gompa.
Second option could be to drive from Kargil to Padum. Then there are again two alternatives. Padum to Darcha, including Phuktal Gompa, counting again about 10 days. From Darcha returning to Delhi via Keylong and Manali.
Or making a round trip Padum - Phuktal Gompa, continuing from there as I described, including maybe some other detours, because you will have enough time, and returning to Padum from sTongde or Zangla. From there as described above, back to Kargil.

I don't see other possibilities.
Ok, there could be one other option... I assume you have to be back for work, right? You should do everything to talk your boss into granting you one or two weeks of unpaid leave. You don't know when you will get back to the Himalaya and it's the only life you got... Even if it costs a few bucks to change the flight: this would be only money, but what you see and experience there is simply priceless... GIVE IT A TRY !!!!!

Then we could talk about a lot of other possibilities to spend the time up there...
Mike

One more thing...
I flew out of Delhi at 1 o'clock in the morning. If you have a similar departure time (which country are you from?) then you have to be back at the latest in the afternoon of july 31st... which means one day less to count with...