Beautiful view some where in Kargil - Leh Route

As of May 3, 2022, the Srinagar Leh Highway is open for tourists and the general public. Only one-way traffic on Zojila Pass is allowed as of now with odd dates of the month allowing traffic towards Ladakh from Srinagar and for the even dates, the traffic is allowed towards Srinagar from Leh.

This year, 2023, the snow clearance operations on Srinagar Leh Highway for the season 2023-24 started in January from Srinagar and Drass sides. Last year as well it began pretty early in February due to less amount of snow. And as expected the snow clearance got completed in March as the weather held up in these months.

Last year, on 19th February 2021, BRO made a groundbreaking 61-year record of clearing the snow from Srinagar Leh Highway. With snow cleared from Zojila Pass, everybody expected Srinagar Leh Highway to open by end of February, which was supposed to be a record in the history of the opening of Srinagar Leh Highway that early in the season ever.

As of now, BRO expects to open Srinagar Leh Highway in 2023 at the same pace as it did last year. However, only time and weather in the coming weeks will have the final say in it.

It means that the butterflies in the stomach of all the adventure enthusiasts planning their upcoming trip to Leh – Ladakh in 2023 will be more frequent 🙂 :)…

The Srinagar Leh Highway Status 2023 OPENED on 16th March, as BRO worked hard to clear the heavy amount of snow from Sonamarg towards Zojila Pass on the Srinagar side and from Drass towards Zojila on the Kargil side.

Srinagar Leh Highway enroute to Leh

How to Plan a Trip to Ladakh in 2024:

Road opening is not the alone factor travel to Leh, other several factor also play important role to make a trip plan to Leh.

Some of these details will include knowledge about the route, your accommodation choices, places on the way, facilities availbale enroute (e.g. Food/Petrol/Diesel/Gas....) and challenges that you may face. Please read How make to Plan a Trip to Leh Ladakh 2023 – A Complete Leh Ladakh Travel Guide.

When does Srinagar Leh Highway open usually?:

Srinagar-Leh Highway which is around 434 KM long generally closed in January first week every year and usually opens up by the first week of April or March end looking at only the last few years. I do feel that this year it may open early owing to less amount of snowfall in the Himalayas. It has been a norm that we set up the targets to open the highway early only to realize that the weather has the last laugh.

Can I travel on Srinagar Leh Highway just after opening the road?

When making a road trip to Leh Ladakh over Srinagar Leh Highway, you must keep in mind that even when the road from Srinagar to Leh opens, it takes some time to get them stabilized. Due to snow sliding and loose gravel, roadblocks are very common in the initial days, especially around Zojila Pass.

Even there is one-way traffic with time restrictions of traffic flow in the initial days because the road is not wide enough due to snow walls and one-way traffic is only allowed at Zojila Pass.

Please keep in mind that even when the Srinagar to Leh road to Ladakh opens early in 2023, it needs at least a couple of weeks to settle or get stabilized from the initial snow sliding that happens due to the quick melting of snow.

22 March 2023: As of today, the road from Srinagar to Leh is open and snow has been cleared. Tourists and civilians are not yet allowed to travel and once it is considered safe, authorities will allow traffic on this route.

03 May 2022: As of this date, the road from Srinagar to Leh is open for tourists. Traffic is allowed one way only on Zojila Pass where odd dates of the month allow movement of traffic from Srinagar to Leh while even dates the traffic is allowed from Kargil / Leh to Srinagar.

20 March 2022: On March 19, 2022, the status of Srinagar Leh Highway is open but tourists are not yet allowed and only army vehicles or essential vehicles will be using it in the coming days. Taking advantage of the late closure of Srinagar Leh Highway last year, BRO has created history yet again by opening the Srinagar Leh Highway in a record 73 days. The earlier average of the opening of Srinagar Leh Highway used to be 135 days.

Tourists will be allowed to travel on Srinagar Leh Highway as soon as the road is deemed safe for passage. Initially, it may be possible that one-way traffic is only allowed. Then later in the season, BRO will allow two-way traffic as the road at Zojila Pass gets widened.

01 March 2022: Snow clearance operation on Srinagar Leh Highway is at the last stage where only 2-3 km of stretch is left at Zojila Pass from the Srinagar side where snow clearance is remaining. If the weather holds up in the coming weeks, we should surely see the opening of Srinagar Leh Highway as soon as possible.

20 February 2022: The snow clearance operation from both sides of Srinagar Leh Highway is in full swing and BRO expects this road to open in 2022 by early March much as it opened the last year in February end.

In fact, the Srinagar Leh Highway was open as late as 4 January 2022 and was declared officially closed on 5 January 2022. This is the record time for which Srinagar Leh Highway remains open in a year, almost 10 months. So, you can imagine how climate change is affecting the snow levels in the Himalayas.

20 April 2021: After opening for a day or two, Srinagar Leh Highway closed again due to fresh snowfall again at Zojila Pass. Authorities suggest that if the weather remains clear, Srinagar to Leh road will be thrown open again soon.

20 March 2021: It has been almost three weeks since the Srinagar Leh Highway has been declared open. However, tourists have not been allowed to travel beyond Sonamarg to cross Zojila Pass. There is the constant spell of snowfall, avalanches, and snow slides that remains the road closed or not suitable to travel for the general public including tourists and locals. More snow is predicted in the coming days in Jammu & Kashmir as per weather forecasts.

28 February, 2021: The road from Srinagar to Kargil to Leh has been cleared of snow in record time this year by BRO. In the past 61 years, it has never happened that BRO cleared the snow such early in the season that too in February. It means that now the Srinagar to Leh road shall be thrown open by the end of February.