The Mountain Edge

We stayed several nights in this hotel in Leh ... or should I say outside Leh? The hotel is located near the Shanti Stupa in Leh, meaning that it's a 10-15 minute drive by car. Walking uphill in the dark is not really recommended. Unfortunately half the taxi drivers in Leh do not seem to know their way around so you need to closely watch and learn the way. You might have to give directions to your driver ...

The good thing about this remote location is that it's in a relatively quiet area and it's only 10 minutes walking to the Shanti Stupa. The downside is that it's a bit of a pain in the behind to quickly get to and fro Leh. In our case a shuttle service was provided but the more it was used the less willing they were to drive people up and down. You'll have to plan your day around this because you can't just quickly walk into Leh.

The hotel itself is nice, seemingly rather new and with a lot of wood panelling, giving it a warm feel. Rooms are relatively spacious and clean, but the shower has a rather enigmatic mechanism. Once you've worked it out chances are that you won't have any warm water or the trickle is so weak you have to run around in order to get wet.

I personally had a very good experience with the hotel manager, who was helpful and courteous. Others however had other experiences and it seems like this person has difficulties dealing with stress (read: too many people that want something at the reception desk at the same time).

A definite area of improvement is the fact that there weren't enough clean towels and they were not replaced daily. Also, the wastebin with used toiletpaper wasn't emptied either !

I'm afraid this is another case of 'not bad but there must be better places'.