Magnetic Hill

A marked box on the road west of Leh is where drivers stop, put the vehicle in neutral, and watch it apparently roll uphill. The effect is a gravity hill, one of many around the world: the surrounding slopes and the absence of a clear level reference distort the perception of the horizon, so ground that is actually descending reads as rising. The road here is in fact sloping gently downhill in the direction the car moves. Local signage attributes it to magnetism, which is not the case; no measurable magnetic anomaly accounts for it. The setting, bare mountains along the Indus, is worth the stop regardless.

What you actually see

• The marked box - the spot on the road where vehicles are stopped.
• The apparent roll - cars seeming to move uphill in neutral.
• The false horizon - the sloping landscape that creates the illusion.
• The Indus valley - bare mountains along the road west of Leh.

When to go

May to October, when the Kargil road is open; the stop takes minutes and is included in most Leh sightseeing circuits. Traffic at the spot is heavy in season.

Honest expectations

The magnetic explanation is wrong; it is a well-understood optical illusion. The stop is brief and often crowded with vehicles queueing for their turn in the box.

Nearby

The Indus and Zanskar confluence lies nearby; Leh is east.