The Tourism Department of Jammu and Kashmir and the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council are together organising the annual Sindhu Darshan Festival from June 12-14,  2015. The festival is being held regularly from 1997 and is held in honour of the mighty Sindhu (Indus) River, which originates in Mansarovar in Tibet.

The Hemis festival, to be celebrated from June 26-27, is globally popular for its colourful mask dances. You have to arrive at the Hemis monastery premises really early to grab a vantage point as the monastery celebrates its annual festival. The monks attired in colourful robes and masks enact scenes from the scriptures and local lores to accompaniment of traditional musical instruments. People from the nearby villages, dressed in their traditional clothes, arrive with picnic hampers.

What Sindhu Darshan Festival
Where Leh, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir
When June 12-14, 2015

What Hemis Festival
Where Hemis monastery, Leh, Ladakh
When June 26-27, 2015