Trip to Kedarnath Temple

Kedarnath Mandir (Kedarnath Temple) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Located on the Garhwal Himalayan range near the Mandakini river, Kedarnath is located in the state of Uttarakhand, India at a height of 3,583 m (11,755 ft), 223 km from Rishikesh, on the shores of Mandakini river, a tributary of Ganga.

You can avail helicopter service from Phata for 2399 Rs per person and if you want to get return as well, complete booking can be done for 4798 Rs per person. Please follow the link to avail the helicopter service https://booking.pawanhans.co.in/

Ways to reach Kedarnath Temple :-

Noida -> Delhi (Kashmiri Gate) -> Haridwar - > Rishikesh -> Sonprayag ( Buses available from Rishikesh at 5:15 AM and 07:00 AM)

Noida -> Delhi (Kashmiri Gate) -> Rishikesh -> Sonprayag ( Buses available from Rishikesh at 5:15 AM and 07:00 AM)

Noida -> New Delhi( Railway Station) -> Rishikesh -> Sonprayag ( Buses available from Rishikesh at 5:15 AM and 07:00 AM)

Noida -> Delhi (Kashmiri Gate) -> Haridwar - > Rishikesh -> Devprayag -> Srinagar -> Rudraprayag -> Sonprayag

Rishikesh – Devprayag (70km) – Srinagar (35km) – Rudraprayag (34km) – Tilwara (9km) – Agastmuni (10km) – Kund (15km) -Guptkashi (5km) – Phata (11km) – Rampur (9km) – SonPrayag (3km) – Gaurikund (5km).

Sonprayag is the last place for buses and private vehicle. Beyond this point no vehicles are allowed to travel.There is enough space for park your vehicle here.

The temple is not directly accessible by road and has to be reached by a 17 kilometres uphill trek from Gaurikund. Horse and Helicopter service is also available to reach there, by horse it will cost around 2500/- per person from Gaurikund. As you reach on some height above this cost can be reduced up to 1500/- per person.

To reach Gaurikund from Sonprayag there are taxi services available which will cost 20 Rs per person in normal timing and 40 Rs per person in early morning. Before starting your trek to Kedarnath you have to register yourself for the Yatra which can be done online also through the application or by window booking.

I've started my journey from noida by private taxi to avoid any delays in journey As if you miss those only two buses from Rishikesh, than your journey could have been very hectic.

I've left Noida at 4:30 AM and reached to haridwar at 7:45 AM and than Rishikesh at 08:50 AM as traffic starts in Haridwar and Rishikesh road.

After reaching Rishikesh, We took a stop for breakfast and there we ordered tea and paranthas with sabji and dahi. Rishikesh weather was quite warm and sun is coming to its full slowly.

After resting for half an hour we started our journey from there and reached Devprayag at 12:30 PM. Mountain journey and scenic beauty of nature will start from here and in further way you will very amazing waterfalls, mountains greenness and also from here road conditions also not in good shape so you will get up to 30 KM in an hour. Traffic jams also increase your reaching time to destination. But on the way you will get marvelous views of nature where you can photograph yourself.

Continuing our journey we reached Srinagar at 13:50 PM, Rudraprayag at 15:20 PM, Augustmuni at 15:59 PM, Guptkashi at 17:30 PM and finally 08:15 PM at Sonprayag. It was really dark at that time on the way and its getting difficult to drive there at night because of less light, more slippery and narrow roads on the mountains.

After reaching Sonprayag, We've searched for hotels to stay for a night as we've to start our trek to Kedarnath early in the morning next day. There are not many hotels and hotels are like hostels in delhi, not in very good shape but they are very cheap in price like 200 Rs per person 800 Rs for full room for a day. We didn't like those rooms much so we move to Sitapur which is around 2 KM down to Sonprayag, where We've found good hotel for a reasonable price 1000 Rs.

Booked room and after having rest there for an hour, We had dinner available in the hotel itself, there were not many options for food because Its really really difficult to reach groceries there. Hotel provided Thali at 150 Rs, food tastes like home Thali. Weather was quiet chilly and shivering cold wind there, you must need to wear jacket and caps to avoid any health issues.

Next day early morning we woke up at 4 AM and get ready for trek by 4:30 AM, reached Sonprayag by our car and than took taxi to Gaurikund for 40 Rs per person, Gaurikund is 5 KM far from Sonprayag.

After reaching at Gaurikund, there is a place "Taptkund" which always have hot water even in chilly cold weather. There is saying that God Shiva built this Kund for Gauri (Parvati).

We started our trek from this place at 05:00 AM. There were not many options available to eat on the trek, you can have tea, Maggie and Paranthas at some places.

Its better not to hurry for the trek otherwise you'll end up losing energy at few last KMs which would definitely gonna be hardest part of the trek.

Gaurikund – Jungle Chatti via Rambara bridge (4 km)
Jungle Chatti – Bheembali (3 km)
Bheembali – Linchauli (4 km)
Linchauli – Kedarnath base camp (4 km)
Kedarnath base camp – Kedarnath temple (1 km)

We've reached at base camp around 3:00 PM and there we had lunch and after that we've started to finish our trek to kedarnath and finally around 4:00 PM completed the trek.

Facilities at trek:-

More Purify water coming from mountains
Hospital
First Aid kits
Food shops
Resting chairs almost every corner
Rest Rooms

After reaching at Kedarnath, it's time to get room for stay so we've searched for the options there and found a hotel for 1000 Rs per night near the temple.

There are not too many options to stay, tents available for stay which will cost around 250 Rs per person, government tents also available costs around 750 Rs per person( preferred option)

Temple Arti time is 6:30 PM in evening, so we've joined Arti of temple, It was amazing experience and weather was quite shivering at the moments.

Next day early in the morning at 06:00 AM, we've also gone for Darshan in Kedarnath temple. At that time there was too much rush so we queued for around 3 Hrs and after that long waiting hours in queue, we were finally inside the temple.

Around 10 AM in that morning, we started our journey back to Delhi. It takes hardly 4-5 Hrs to coming back at Gaurikund from where there is taxi service available for Sonprayag.

After completing one of the Chota Char Dhaam its time for coming back to our daily usual lives.

Suggestions for Trek :-

1- Do not walk very fast at start of trek, walk slowly and comfortably and take rest as needed
2- Have water as much as possible
3- Enjoy natural views on the trek
4- Check your shoes first, use sandals of good quality if possible
5- Be ready for rain

Happy Travelling !!!

Drop me suggestions and feedback.

Thank you and keep exploring the world !!!

Glimpse of Trek Kedarnath and Nature :-