Padum Valley

Padum valley, Zanskar’s capital and a helpful center point with a great mountain setting. However it still needs a lot of compositional character. Inside you’ll discover the taxi stand, shops, a cafe with unreliable internet, most of Padum’s hotels and a helipad. The town is essentially helpful as a base to visit nearby religious communities or to unwind after a long exhaustive Chadar trek.

History of Padum Valley

Padum Valley or Padmasambhava Valley is the subdivision of Kargil district and the largest town in Zanskar region. Situated at the height of 12,000 feet, Padum is known for Buddhist ethnicity with a sizable population of other ethnic minorities. The town is very remote in nature; main connecting road is open for only 4 months during the year. In winters people use the famous Chadar Trek for commuting towards Leh.

How to reach Padum Valley

It is connected to Kargil via Pensi La; other route connecting to Darcha is still halfway under construction. Zanskar River originating from Drang-Drung glacier flows through Padum. This glacier can be viewed from Padum-Kargil road at Pensi La. It is connected to another major town Zang La of Zanskar region known for Zangla Monastery; thousand year old monastery and house of very ancient Buddhist paintings.

Population

Estimated population of Padum town is around 29000 and has many notable monasteries including Bardan Monastery, Karsha Monastery and Photang-Dalai Lama Monastery.

Places of attractions near Padum Valley

Mud Palace

In Padum, you can visit the Mud Palace of the neighborhood “King” There are some exceptionally old stone carvings that you can observe close to the bank of river in Padum. You can likewise head to the old settlement of Pibiting, you can witness the peak of this religious community from practically any edge of Padum. It is at Pibiting where the Zanskar stream converges into the Lungnak and runs towards south-east of Zanskar commonly known as Lungnak valley .

Phuktal Monastery

Phuktal Gompa is one of the most well known devout foundations in the entire of Zanskar Valley. Broadly famous by the name of “Cave Gompa”. It is located in the remote Lungnak Valley and is the most captivating region in the area.

Zongkhul Monastery

The monastery of Zongkhul is located in Stod valley, 37 Km from Padum. It is structured on a stone wall and looks like a fantastic cave depicting Drukpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. It is otherwise called Dzongkhul Monastery situated on the Padum and Kishtwar course, not long before the climb to Omasila Pass starts.

Sani Monastery & Sani Lake

 7 km before reaching Padum, Sani religious community and the lake of Sani are considered as a heavenly sites. These can be visited while in transit to Zongkhul from Padum. Developed by ruler KanishkaIt, it is among the 8th holiest Buddhist places in the globe and houses one of the 108 shrines.

Karsha Gompa

Established during the fourteenth century, Karsha Gompa is 9 km from Padum this is the biggest ascetic foundation in Zanskar. The complex white architecture and can be viewed from Padum. This site is home for more than 160 monks, and further consists of numerous temples with cultural significance.