Capital of Ladakh, Leh is in the Himalayas proper, both culturally and geographically. These aren’t the lush and forested mountains of the south. High above the tree line, these slopes are brown and barren, ascending to craggy peaks capped with snow under a (usually) clear blue sky. In the valleys, flat-roofed, beige-and-white buildings huddle around Buddhist gompas, while poplars shimmer over irrigated terraces of barley. It’s stark, certainly, but it’s undeniably magnificent.

Leh sits on an ancient caravan route which has linked India with Tibet, Kashmir and China for centuries; its culture a mish-mash of Central Asian influences and its markets built on trade in indigo, silk, salt and cashmere. Today, in the clean and tidy town centre, you’re more likely to pick up a pair of hiking poles or a North Face backpack, and foot traffic is more Gore-Texed hikers than maroon-robed monks, but the local flavour is still strikingly different from the lowlands.

Though there is a smattering of mosques and a couple of Hindu temples, Leh is a majority Buddhist town, evident in its rows of prayer wheels at temples, and the prayer flags strung across its streets. Most of its landmarks are markedly Tibetan (including Leh Palace, built around the same time and in the same style as Potala Palace in Lhasa) and the majority of locals are of Tibetan rather than Indian ethnicity.

Visitors fall in love with Leh. After you’ve taken your time to acclimatise to the altitude (a must if you want to partake in its adventures), there’s no end of walks past gurgling streams and Ladakhi garden homes, out to monasteries, palaces, forts and temples. The town itself, while obviously tourist-centric, is laid-back and charming — with museums in old Tibetan mansions next to cafés serving tandoori pizzas. The scenery, it bears saying again, is out-of-this-world — and entirely unlike anything else you’ll see in India.