Ladakh View Home Stay

From the terrace, you get a great look over Leh, and the guesthouse sits in the old part of town, just a few minutes up the stairs from the main market. The rooms are clean and modern, with hot water. Willy arranged a week-long bike trip around Ladakh for us and gave us good recommendations. His wife is so sweet, making tea and fresh Ladakhi bread. Her cooking is amazing, so don’t miss it. We’d definitely recommend staying with them in Leh. Thanks, Luisa and Andrea :)

We left after barely ten minutes because the homestay was in terrible shape. There was dirt everywhere, dust on the furniture, cigarette butts and dirty clothes in the lobby. I tried to reach the owner before leaving, but she didn’t come out. She called about twenty minutes later to ask why we’d gone. I explained the dirt, litter, and condition of the property, and she rudely said we weren’t supposed to stay in the lobby, only use the bedroom. That was completely unacceptable. When I pay for a place, I expect to be able to spend time in the common areas too, not just the bedroom. Ladakh View guesthouse was the most pathetic property to stay in. The host was ridiculous and extremely rude, and what she said made no sense. I’d never recommend this dirty place to anyone.

The rooftop has a good view of Leh valley and Leh place, while the rooms themselves are surrounded by buildings and don’t have much of a view. The rooms are decent, with constant power and heated water. It’s just 200 meters from the main Leh market, though you have to climb stairs to get there. A decent place to start grazing, but not like what we had in Turtuk. My main reason for writing is to warn people about what I found to be the host Vilayat’s deceptive behavior. We booked through Airbnb. He was very sweet at first, then changed completely near the end and tried to get more money from us. His wife, though, was really sweet, looked after our needs, and made amazing honey, ginger, and lemon tea, along with Ladakhi bread. That bread was better than any of the others we tried. Breakfast was included in our room rate, but Vilayat denied it. He also rents out his XUV, an SUV, at an exorbitant price. Get taxi quotes from the market too and negotiate with him. We did, and paid only a third of his first quote. We needed to stay at the homestay for just four hours on the last night, after coming from Turtuk before an early flight. Before we left for Turtuk, we’d spoken with him and agreed we’d pay half the room rate for those four hours. Our car broke down, so we got back late that evening, and then he denied the conversation and demanded the full fare. He was also meant to arrange our airport drop the next morning. We reminded him twice, but he delayed and didn’t organize a taxi. We could have missed our early flight, especially with security being strict at Leh airport, and he didn’t seem concerned. He was nowhere to be seen that morning, and his wife kept calling him without getting an answer. She stayed sweet through the end of our stay and did her best to help us.

The location is very close to the main market, and the hosts helped us plan our itinerary. They were welcoming and made us feel comfortable. In November, the hot water and heater were just what we needed. I’d consider staying here without hesitation.