Ladakh

Pangong's blues, Nubra's dunes and Turtuk — the Balti village most itineraries skip. Flights in, everything else handled.

• ✦Khardung La, one of the world's highest motorable passes
• ✦Bactrian camel dunes at Hunder
• ✦Turtuk village — apricot orchards and Balti kitchens
• ✦A night beside Pangong Tso

Eleven days, two highways, five high passes and a Himalayan 411 under you. The ride every biker keeps promising themselves.

• ✦Five passes above 15,000 ft on one ride
• ✦Gata Loops and the More Plains
• ✦Nubra and Pangong loop from Leh
• ✦Magnetic Hill, Lamayuru moonland and Zoji La

Five days, two nights at altitude done safely — Leh's monasteries, Nubra dunes and one perfect morning at Pangong.

• ✦Full acclimatisation day in Leh
• ✦Thiksey and Shey monasteries
• ✦Khardung La and the Hunder dunes
• ✦Sunrise at Pangong Tso

The dark-sky reserve at Hanle and the highest motorable road on earth at Umling La, 19,024 ft. Very few groups go here.

• ✦Umling La at 19,024 ft
• ✦Hanle observatory and the dark-sky reserve
• ✦Tso Moriri and Tso Kar high lakes
• ✦Changthang plateau — kiangs and pashmina herders