Nubra means “western” in Ladakhi, thus referring to the “western valley”, perhaps distinguishing it from the eastern Shyok river valley, which is thinly populated. The traditional name of the region is Dumra, meaning the “valley of flowers.

Nubra is a subdivision and a tehsil in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. Its inhabited areas form a tri-armed valley cut by the Nubra and Shyok rivers. Its Tibetan name Ldumra means “the valley of flowers”. Diskit, the headquarters of Nubra, is about 150 km north from Leh, the capital of Ladakh.

The Shyok River meets the Nubra River (or Siachan River) to form a large valley that separates the Ladakh and Karakoram Ranges. The Shyok river is a tributary of the Indus river. The average altitude of the valley is more than 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above the sea level. The common way to access this valley is to travel over the Khardung La pass from Leh.