Nubra

You come over Khardung La out of bare rock and grey scree, drop for an hour, and Nubra is suddenly green - poplars, running water, birds in the trees, and a dragonfly sitting on a wire while you stand there adjusting. Then you look up and there is a stony desert valley a couple of kilometres wide with snow on the Karakoram closing off the end of it. Both things at once is what makes it. The drive is the attraction as much as anything at the far end, so do not treat it as transit - stop, and give it two nights rather than one so you are not turning round the moment you arrive. Take a day to acclimatise in Leh first.