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-   -   Delhi to Badrinath and Kedarnath (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/24248-delhi-badrinath-kedarnath-2.html)

Hai Rishi,

I did the exact route in 2006 on my Fusion. We went in October, managed to reach on the last day of darshan @ Kedar, were caught on the snow fall and also reached Badari on the last day of the Kapad closing. Was very cold, quiet a trip; reports say that the roads have improved a lot since 2006.

I should mention my younger son, was 10 years, had slight signs of altititude sickness, nausea + vomiting. The guides told us its because of the cold and food, it was self limiting and turned out to be OK.

Have friends up there in Shivpuri / Biasi, so if you need any, just shout...

Hope you will find the trip logs useful.

http://www.arkzsol.com/LOGS%20UTTRANCHAL%2006.htm

Happy Driving,

--Ramky
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thanxx hvkumar and ramkya1, i have taken a printout of ur logs and will study it properly to get the route and itinary:)

will trouble u again if i find any further queries, thanxx a ton for ur helpful replies.

Hi Rishi,

Well, I suugest you travel till Srinagar on the First day,then travelling on the second day would be alot easier....but the Road in the Mountains are not very good...so it takes alot of time.Do visit Auli near Joshi Math,it is a wonderful place(Known for Ice-Sking),it's about 14 kms from Joshi math but on a different route compared to Badrinath.
You can also stay in Auli-there are two hotels one of GMVN & the second is a private one.Get the Booking done in advance.I can send you a travel checklist for your reference,if you are inclined PM me you mail id.

Thanks

Has anyone travelled on this route in the recent past?
Delhi - Haridwar route being so congested these days so it is better to have an alternate route for travelling towards Badrinath.

We along with some family friends have planned a 5 day trip towards Badrinath in last week of June or early July, advice on recent road conditions, stay options etc is most welcome.

The plan would be some thing like this:

Day 1: Delhi - Merrut - Kotdwar - Pauri - Srinagar - Stay at Srinagar or Khirsu ( as posted by zenx)

Day 2: Srinagar - Badrinath - (Night Stay at Badrinath)

Day 3: Badrinath - Mana village - VOF - Joshimath (Pl. Advice night stay)

Day 4: Joshimath - Rishikesh

Day 5: Rishikesh - Delhi

We are not able to finalise exactly on what to do after visiting Badrinath. Can a visit to Hemkunt Sahib be squeezed, if the trip be extended to 6 days at the maximum. Also, we'll have women folk & children with us so don't want to make it hectic & tiring. The idea is to enjoy the trip & not visit too many places.

Please be cautioned that once the monsoons start, this entire road is prone to landslides and ensuing delays in Jun-Jul.

Hemkund Saheb requires 3 days - first day to trek from Gobindghat (midway between Joshimath and Badrinath) to Gangariya, which is only 14 kms, but will take you at least 5-7 hours, slightly less if you take a pony. Walk is recommended for only those who are fit (definitely not for most women and children), has some steep sections. This means you must take teh first or second morning convoy from Badri so as to reach Ghangariya by 3 pm at least. You have to stay overnight at Ghangariya - has GMVN, gurudwara and a couple of small lodges.

The trek from Ghangariya is only 6 kms but it is a 1000 metre climb, and to and fro should take you most of the day. Most except the very devout take ponies up this steep path. This means you will come back to Gangariya and stay back that day. It may also be possible, with an early morning start to Hemkund Saheb, that you may be able to quickly dash back to the road at Gobindghat, but please bear in mind that the last convoy time towards Joshimath is 530 pm.

Joshimath has GMVN and other hotels. You can even consider going on to Auli for the night's stay.

Thanks hvk for the advice, so we'll skip Hemkunt Sahib this time & instead visit around Mana village. We'll try to come back via Guptkashi & visit Chopta. Yes, I am well aware of landslides in the region, we were struck overnight at a place in year 2007 while on a visit to Chamoli. And last year while travelling to Kund, we had a narrow escape when the driver of Indica car which we had hired lost control near Devprayag. After that incident, I have stopped using drivers in hilly terrains.
I found this pic while googling, gives an idea of places around Badrinath:

Well i and a few friends have done the dehradun-joshimath-Hemkund Sahib-Badrinath-Auli-Dehradun trip in 5 days flat.And it wasn't even hectic.we just enjoyed the trip throughout.

the only downside in your trip is the extra days to and fro from noida.so i guess you should be able to plan it if possible in 7 days.and don't worry it won't be hectic.

Also regarding accomodation don't look any further than GMVN.we booked our rooms in advance with full payment.the food is clean and homely.just what you need on a trip.keeps the tummy under control.and the attendants are very helpful bringing hot water buckets for bath and every other thing you can imagine.

other than that my one advice would be that do stay in auli instead of joshimath when you're returning.and go in up the ski slope in the open chair ropeway.its heavenly up there and will re-energise you and your family.simply the most beautiful place.we spent about 7-8 hours just sitting there gazing at the mountains.and taking pics.


Another small tip.keep an extra day or 2 in hand coz you never know when it might rain and cause a big landslide which can take upto a day to get cleaned up.

Last year in October (first week) I did Delhi - Badrinath - Hemkund - Delhi trip in 4 days only! It was a bit hectic but actually thoroughly enjoyed it.

Day 1:
Took a train to Dehradun and got a taxi (Indica) there to drive us (me and my cousin brother) to wherever we wanted to! It was sort of a very unplanned trip, it was in Dehradun only we decided to go to Badrinath. We left Doon at about 4pm and managed to reach Rudraprayag that night (first halt) at around 8 pm. The drive was quite smooth as there is not much traffic in October! We stayed in some hotel (they all were empty and easily available at very cheap rates).

Day 2:
Left early in the morning (around 6am I guess) and we were able to reach Badrinath by 3 pm! Again helped by not much traffic (but road conditions were atrocious at some points). We straightaway drove to Mana village (which is about 3 KM from badrinath). Thought of trekking to some waterfall (about 6KM from Mana) but gave up on the way and came back to badrinath by 5pm. Got us a nice room (for like 300 rupees - off season rate). Went for evening Darshan at the temple etc. next morning again wanted to start early but it was tooooo cold and my cousin wanted a second morning darshan so we could leave by 9am only. We reached Govindghat by 12 noon and immediately started on the task of ascending to Ghangariya, the base camp for Hemkund sahib/Vally of flowers. It was about 6 pm by the time we (esp me) could make up to there (and believe me by that time by legs had given up!). Got a very shabby room there (for 100 rupees!) for the night, got some warm clothes (on rent) as that place is menacingly cold in the night in october.

Day 3:
Next day we started very early (around 4:30 am). My brother (and our car driver) did the ascent on foot, but I took a pony. We reached at the top in about 2 hours (6KMs). Believe me the view at the top is nothing short of spectacular! We started our descent to Govindghat at around 10 am and were able to reach there by 4 pm. (I did part of that on Pony as my legs had definitely given up by that point but my cousin and our driver did that on foot!) We wanted to do the valley of flowers trek as well but if only we had one more day! Drove out as fast as we could and reached somewhere around Srinagar where we stayed for the night (it is prohibited to drive in that region after 8pm or so!) It was quite remarkable that our driver did 6+14=20KM trek that day and still had the stamina to drive almost 100+ KMs!!! Really I was totally washed out by the time I reached Govindghat and I had done part of this 20 KMs (almost 10KMs) on a pony! Hemkund trek is really really demanding!

Day 4:
Again next day we started pretty early and were able to reach Haridwar by 1 pm. I then took a bus to Delhi and was home by 10 pm!

All in all a very enjoyable 4 day trip. We could do it in 4 days as the roads were practically empty at that time! In between we also had a flat tire, short breaks many times for tea/coffee/food etc, 2 small traffic jams as a part of road between rishikesh and devprayag was under construction (but the wait was not more than 30-40 mins) etc. The drive is fantabulous, esp after Srinagar. There are lots of waterfalls all around, all mountains are totally green (as they are not so tall there) and air very very nice. A must do trip in the lifetime in my view! I thiink early october is really the best time to do that region as theres not much traffic, easy availability of hotels and weather is very nice.

Hi

I would advise you not to skip Hemkund Sahib if you are visiting that region. mana village is just 3 km from badri and so dont keep a day for that. I went for Badrinath & Hemkund both last oct and was able to do everything in 4 days (it was a bit hectic but not tiring!) The 20KM trek to Hemkund is the most amazing thing I have done so far in my life. Too good to be missed!

Best time to go there would be very early oct. There will be very little traffic so u can save lot time...

Thanks for the advice! Will try to incorporate your views in my plans.

Guys,
I am also planning a similar trip to Hemkund in July. My main concern is the roads. Is it safe to take Esteem or should I hire an Innova or something (I will not be able to drive myself :( )
Joslicx: Did you face any GC problems in doing the trip in an indica?

Well roads in this region (Rishikesh - Hemkund) are not really that good. when I did my trip (last oct) they (BRO) were in the process of laying roads at lot of places (so traffic builds up at those points) also because of incessant land slides and water roads keep breaking. My advice would be dont take your own car (if it happens to be new). Better take a taxi (hire one in Dehradun/Rishikesh!)

We did not face any GC issues at all in an Indica. Indica is actually a great car for travel for max 3 people (excluding the driver).

Biradar I am going to Sri Hemkunt Sahib Ji , it is our holy shrine for the last 30 years and a lot has changed years back we used to keep 4 to 5 days spare for landslides before making return ticket bookings to Mumbai.Nowadys it is like flying not driving.

Folks - I am planning the trip to Badrinath from Hyd. I have done the same trip this year in may and it was very good. Now I am planning to do another trip to Badrinath only from Hyd. Please the road conditions from Delhi to badrinath. Tentative dates are sept last week or Oct 1st week

Currently its raining, but even with heavy rains road is not closing for more than 2-3 days at a stretch.
However, in October, it will be all clear since the monsoons are gone.

Road is excellent in the hills, right from rishikesh.
Only broken patches are around 10kms from Rudraprayag, and then 40kms before Joshimath.
But nothing not doable in any small car.

You won't get much tourist rush either, and the hill views will be crystal clear too!