Drass

Drass, often cited as the second-coldest inhabited place in the world after Siberia's Oymyakon, sits in a valley on the Leh-Srinagar highway close to the Kargil War Memorial, its extreme winter temperatures a defining feature of the town's identity. Beyond its climate record, Drass functions primarily as a waypoint for travellers on the overland route between Kashmir and Ladakh, with the nearby Zoji La pass marking the dramatic transition between Kashmir's greener valleys and Ladakh's high-altitude desert terrain.

The Kargil War Memorial, just outside Drass, commemorates the soldiers who fought and died reclaiming strategic peaks above the town during the 1999 conflict, giving the otherwise modest town considerable significance in India's recent military history.

Drass's extreme winter cold, with recorded temperatures dropping to around -45°C in the harshest years, has long been documented, while its more recent prominence stems from its proximity to the intense fighting of the 1999 Kargil War.

About 60km from Kargil, roughly 2 hours by road toward Srinagar.