Magnetic Hill
Ladakh, India
Nearby attractions
Basgo Fort & Maitreya Temples
Basgo, Ladakh
Eroded citadel towers of the old Namgyal capital, sheltering three gold-faced Maitreya temples of world-monument fame.
Likir Monastery
Likir, Ladakh
The Gelugpa gompa of the golden 23-m outdoor Maitreya, gazing over barley terraces at the head of the Sham trek.
Saspol Caves & Wanla Gompa
Saspol, Ladakh
Painted meditation caves in the cliffs opposite Alchi and the three-storey Avalokiteshvara tower of Wanla up the Yapola gorge.
Magnetic Hill & Sangam (Indus-Zanskar Confluence)
Nimmu, Ladakh
The gravity-teasing slope of the Srinagar highway and, just beyond, the two-tone meeting of the green Indus and grey Zanskar at Nimmu.
Ulley Valley (Winter Wildlife Lodge Country)
Ulley, Ladakh
A five-house hamlet above the Indus famed for ibex slopes, wolf sightings and snow-leopard luck without the Hemis crowds.
Sham Valley 'Baby Trek' (Likir–Temisgam)
Likir, Ladakh
The gentlest multi-day walk in Ladakh — low passes, barley villages and homestay dinners between Likir and Temisgam.
Alchi Choskor (11th-century Murals)
Alchi, Ladakh
The low riverside temple complex holding the Himalaya's finest early murals — Kashmiri-style mandalas untouched for 900 years.
Gurudwara Pathar Sahib
Nimmu, Ladakh
The army-tended shrine of the boulder bearing Guru Nanak's imprint — langar tea for every traveller on the Kargil road.
Rizong Monastery
Rizong, Ladakh
The austere 'paradise of meditation' walled into a hidden amphitheatre gorge, with the Julichen nunnery below its apricot ravine.
Phyang Monastery & Ice Stupa Site
Phyang, Ladakh
The Drikung gompa above the village where Sonam Wangchuk's ice-stupa 'glacier towers' rise each winter to water spring fields.
Chilling & Zanskar River Rafting
Chilling, Ladakh
The copper-smiths' hamlet at the Zanskar gorge mouth — put-in for India's most spectacular rafting run down to the Nimmu sangam.