Does Himachal get snow in November? Where it snows, and where it does not yet
Snow in Himachal in November: almost none in Shimla, the first falls at Narkanda and Dalhousie, the high valleys already white, and Rohtang closing.
ArticleVerified 2026-10-24
Food of Ladakh — thukpa, skyu, tsampa and gurgur cha, the butter tea
What to eat in Ladakh: thukpa and momos, skyu and chutagi, tsampa, Ladakhi pulao and tigmo, with gurgur cha, the salted butter tea, and sweet cha ngarmo.
Cooking in Ladakh borrows heavily from Tibet: barley, noodles, butter and tea, made for a high and cold place. Wikipedia names thukpa and tsampa as the best-known foods. This guide goes by what Wikipedia and Wikivoyage document, read on 24 October 2026. We name no restaurant, price or rating, because we have none we can check. Leh stands at about 3,524 m, so keep the first day easy and the food light.
Photos: Laura Blankenship (CC BY-SA 2.0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
Thukpa and momos
Thukpa is a noodle soup, served in Ladakh with pieces of mutton and boiled vegetables and a hot chutney, by Wikivoyage's account. Wikipedia says it began in the east of Tibet and that Ladakhis and Sikkimese people eat the hand-pulled variety, the thenthuk. It comes in vegetarian and non-vegetarian forms. Momos, dumplings, come with a chilli chutney, and chowmein is on menus everywhere. Wikivoyage says the Tibetan-style restaurants of the old town and near the bus station mostly serve thukpa and momos.
The Ladakhi dishes
- Skyu, a heavy, rich soup of pasta pieces, cooked with root vegetables and, in the version Wikipedia describes, meat.
- Chutagi, the other strictly Ladakhi pasta soup, which uses leafy greens and other vegetables.
- Tsampa, or ngampe, roasted barley flour, eaten without cooking. It is mixed with tea, and Wikipedia says it makes useful trekking food.
- Ladakhi pulao, rice cooked in mutton stock and layered with browned onions, carrots and nuts. Wikivoyage says to try it in a restaurant, because it is not street food.
- Tigmo, a flavoured vegetable stew served with bread, in vegetarian and meat versions.
Wikivoyage adds that rice and dal are standard now, even in villages without a road, as plains food becomes more common.
Cheese on the trail
Chhurpi is a cheese made from buttermilk, in a soft variety and a very hard one. The soft kind is cooked with greens, used as a momo filling or ground with tomatoes and chillies into a chutney. The hard kind is held in the mouth and chewed like gum; Wikipedia says one block can last from 30 minutes to five hours.
Tea: gurgur cha and cha ngarmo
Tea is a meal of its own. Gurgur cha is strong tea mixed with butter and salt in a tall churn, and it gets its name from the sound. Wikipedia says the traditional butter is yak butter, with cow's milk butter used more now, and that tsampa goes into the classic recipe too. Wikivoyage warns that it is more like soup than tea. Cha ngarmo, sweet tea made with milk and sugar in the Indian way, is common now. Wikipedia adds that most of the spare barley is fermented into chang, a beer drunk at festivals.
The tea has a link with Kashmir. Wikipedia says that Kashmiris learned to add soda to tea from Ladakh, where hot-spring soda went into the butter tea, and that they swapped yak butter for milk and cream to make noon chai.
Where to eat them
Eat in Leh, and read things to do in Leh and when to visit Leh. The monastery days at Hemis, Spituk and Thiksey fall in the cold months, when tea is welcome. Read how to reach Kashmir and Ladakh from Delhi before you plan the journey.
Places to visit
All destinations →More stories to read
All stories →
Winter treks in Uttarakhand — Chandrashila, Kedarkantha and Dayara Bugyal, and which treks wait for spring
Winter treks in Uttarakhand, December to February: Chandrashila above Chopta, Kedarkantha near Sankri, Dayara Bugyal, and why Har Ki Dun waits for spring.
Best time to visit Meghalaya and Nagaland — month by month, with India Meteorological Department weather for Shillong, Cherrapunji and Kohima
Meghalaya and Nagaland month by month: IMD highs, lows and rain for Shillong, Cherrapunji and Kohima, plus the monsoon, cherry blossom and Hornbill.
Festivals in Nagaland and Meghalaya by month — the Hornbill Festival, Sekrenyi, Wangala, Behdienkhlam and the 2026 Cherry Blossom Festival
Nagaland and Meghalaya festivals by month from the state tourism sites: Hornbill, Sekrenyi, Tuluni, Wangala, Behdienkhlam and the 2026 Cherry Blossom Festival.
Offbeat places near Kaza — 6 beyond Key Monastery
Six offbeat places near Kaza in Spiti, from a fort monastery on a canyon rim to the Pin valley, with measured drive times from Kaza for each.
Offbeat places near Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj — 9 beyond the main street
Nine offbeat places near Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj, from a hillside cricket ground to a quiet lake and an old fort, each with measured drive times.
Destinations to explore
All destinations →
Today on HimLocal
Been here?Help the next traveller — our team checks every contribution.
Questions people ask
What is skyu in Ladakh?
One of the two strictly Ladakhi dishes named by Wikipedia, with chutagi. Both are heavy, rich soup-pasta dishes. Skyu is cooked with root vegetables and meat, and chutagi uses leafy greens and other vegetables. Wikivoyage describes skyu as a heavy pasta dish with root vegetables. Ask for it at a home or a local kitchen.
What is gurgur cha?
Ladakh's butter tea, named after the gurgur sound it makes when churned. Wikipedia says it is made with strong tea, butter and salt, mixed in a large churn, and it is more like soup than tea. Sweet milk tea, called cha ngarmo, is common now. Many visitors take a few sips and find it hard to love.
What do people eat on the trail in Ladakh?
Tsampa, called ngampe in Ladakhi, is roasted barley flour that can be eaten without cooking, so Wikipedia calls it useful trekking food. It is often mixed with tea, and sometimes with hard cheese. Chhurpi, a hard dried cheese, is chewed like gum and one block can last from 30 minutes to five hours.