Turtuk

Turtuk lies at about 2,900 metres in the Shyok valley near the western end of Nubra, and its people are Balti, speaking a Tibetan language and following Islam, with a culture closer to Baltistan than to Buddhist Ladakh. The village was opened to visitors only in 2010, which is why it feels different from the rest of the valley: stone and mud lanes running between houses, irrigation channels through apricot and walnut orchards, terraced barley, and natural cold stores dug into the rock where families keep food. A small royal house museum records the Yabgo line, and the Karakoram peaks stand at the head of the valley.

What you actually see

• The Balti village - stone lanes, channels and terraces on the hillside.
• The apricot orchards - fruit drying on roofs in late summer.
• The rock cold stores - natural cellars cut into the stone.
• The royal house - a small museum of the Yabgo family.

When to go

June to September, when the road is open and the apricots ripen; winter closes access. The valley is warm by Ladakhi standards in summer, being lower than Leh.

Honest expectations

An Inner Line Permit is required. The drive from Leh takes most of a day over a high pass. Accommodation is homestays and small guesthouses. Photography of residents should be asked first.

Nearby

Diskit and the Hunder dunes lie east; Leh is southeast.