[autobahnjpr]

Hello Friends,
I had the good fortune to travel to Badrinath Ji in the first week of October and I did in through self drive from Noida. I was trying to search for information on trip to badrinath on t-bhp forum and other places as well but I could not find anything concrete on the internet. Also many of them were dated. So here is a small travelouge cum guide divided into three parts

• Preparation and Onwards Journey
• At and around Badrinath
• Return Journey and Conclusion

Hope it helps all the budding travel enthusiasts and helps answers all the questions they have in mind before taking a self drive trip to Badrinath.

PART I : PREPARATION AND ONWARD JOURNEY

Badrinath is appx 570 kms from Delhi and it is advisable to break the journey instead of attempting a non-stop run. Non-Stop is doable but then it kills all the fun. It takes about 16 hours to reach from Delhi in case you get a clear road. The best option is to start early from Delhi (4 am-ish) and reach Rudraprayag by early evening. From Delhi it takes about 9-10 hours to Rudraprayag. Remember these are timings of off-season. Be prepared to add hours to this time in case of on-season (MAY month onwards).

Day 1: Noida -> Rudraparayag via haridwar and rishikesh. night halt at rudraprayag
Day 2: Rudraprayag -> Badrinath

Other option is to break the journey at srinagar (no not kashmir srinagar) but rudraprayag is a bigger town and there are lot many hotels there to suit your budget and taste. Also because it is the forking point for kedarnath and badrinath, you can also run time change your plan if you have some more time or wish to visit another place.

I had got the car serviced recently a few days back, so no additional work was needed but still i did the following as part of preparation

• Got the suspension checked for any loose nuts or replaceable bearings
• Got tyres checked
• Got a anti puncture kit and inflation pump
• Checked breaks and all the lights
• Got the horn and battery checked
• Downloaded music on wynk app to listen offline
• Got tank full

For people not going to drive themselves they can take the train to Haridwar or fly to dehradun and from there take a taxi to Badrinath. If you want to go non-stop from haridwar or dehradun, start very early to reach Badri by evening. There is also a non-stop bus from rishikesh to badrinath at 5 am in the morning. And there are shared bolero and mini bus services through the different towns and cities which fall on the way but they are quite ordinary and it would not be very comfortable.

Make sure to carry the following

• adequate winter clothing. It is COLD out there.
• Good pair of shoes, umbrella, a good torch
• Medicines of daily use
• Dry Fruits and snacks in case you get stuck in traffic

Badrinath has good market but it is better to carry thing beforehand.

With all the preparation done and all the cheklist items ticked, I started from Noida at 4.30 am and reached Haridwar by 7.30 am. The roads were empty and there was slight mist in the fields. It was a pleasurable drive. Starting Early saved me about 1.5 to 2 hours. Be prepared for some rough roads in Roorkee.

Early Morning


Early Morning Fields


Early Morning Fields Mist


My Ride


After tanking up again in Haridwar and a brief tea stop, I started for Rudraprayag. By 8 am, Haridwar was awake and traffic was heavy. The road to rishikesh is narrow and takes about 40 minutes to reach rishikesh. When you go towards rishikesh, if you are early, take the road which goes through the town else take the byepass else you will be cursing yourself after getting stuck in rishikesh traffic. On the way to rishikesh, the railway crossing was closed and while we were waiting, I saw one party playing with their dog on the road.

Who let the Dog Out


After rishikesh, it is 350 km of hilly roads all the way to Badrinath. From Rishikesh onwards till Joshi Math (the last major town before Badri) the hills are being chiseled for the Char Dham Highway. So you will find lot of work going on through out the road from rishikesh onwards. There is lot of heavy machinery breaking the hills, removing the rubble, cementing it again etc. At many places, there is no road, only stones and loose gravel and L-O-T of dust. Have a look yourself

Barren Hills


Broken Roads



Heavy Machinery @ Work



Mangled JCB due to landslide


Road Blocked due to Construction


I stopped for lunch at Riverside Resort for about half an hour before reaching rudraprayag at about 2 pm. I had booked hotel through make my trip so just checked in and after a quick wash slept for about two hours. After waking up at about 5 pm, went to the "prayag" (confluence). Rudraprayag is the confluence point of Mandakini river flowing from Kedarnath and Alaknanda from Badrinath. After merging they continue as Alaknanda. Interestingly my hotel was also named Mandakini.

There is a temple complex at the confluence point and after paying obeisance, I sat there for some time admiring nature and contemplating. After coming back, i again tanked up the car. At prayag there was a camera crew filming around the prayag with the help of drones. It was an interesting experience.

Here are some pics of the prayag.

The Prayag


Devi Temple at the prayag


The drone camera


Next day, I woke up leisurely and had a nice breakfast of prantha and curd with pickle. After checking out I started at about 9.30 am and reached Badrinath which is 150 kms away at about 3.30 pm. On route there are few major towns, karnaprayag, pipalkoti and joshimath. The road from rudraprayag to karnaprayag is ok but from karnaprayag to pipalkoti is really narrow. From pipalkoti to joshimath is also narrow but the road condition is better. I could reach joshimath at about 1 pm and took a lunch break and again tanked up the car. From Joshimath, the road is quite good and broad though there are few broken stretches with single way. On the way I also got my car cleaned but it was useless as within fifteen minutes it was again dirty and muddy due to the ongoing construction work. There were real narrow turns and steep curves in the route from Joshimath to Badrinath. I was apprehensive about the sharp bends but I found that they are not different from the one you find when find on the way to ooty from mysore if you take the older and narrower road. I had no trouble negotiating those and as the traffic was non existent there was no issue at all.

Enjoy some pics taken on the way.

Riverside Resort on the banks of Alaknanda River


Alaknanda flowing majestically


Hanging Pots


The Dirty car on reaching Rudraprayag


The car getting a good wash


Local Women taking grass for farm Animals


Hill Farm Land


A narrow turn


A solitary House


Spot the Spider


Rest in the remaining posts.

[autobahnjpr]

Part II : In Badrinath

After reaching Badrinath, I checked into the dharamshala and after setting down the luggage etc, took a walk around to see the scenery and click some pics. It was cold. I made sure that I parked my car safely as it was to be there for next 3 days. In the evening, i went to the temple to have darshan. There are different types of pooja and aartis at the temple and based on your liking, you can choose one. I chose the swarna aarti which was for about 15 minutes for a group of people and costs about 376 rupees. The group is seated in front of lord and aarti is performed. Also the pandit narrates all the gods which are sitting in front of the devotee. They say Badrinath is the only place where lord Vishnu is seated in padmasana and the land is considered sacred for meditation and spirituality. Due to easy access, it has become a kind of tourist place as well but still there are many who come from far flung areas to pay their respect to lord and earn some punya.

The temple is not very old but the deity is supposed to be placed by shankaracharya. The river alaknanda flows in front of the temple and just before the entry, there is a hot spring called "tapta kund" where devotees take bath before entering the temple premises. I did not take bath there. There are two hills called Nar and Narayan adjacent to each other and Nar is supposed to be reborn as Arjuna when narayana was incarnated as Krishna. There are many stories of this place and you can buy a small book there to read all of them. It is said that this place used to be part of Kedarkhand and a land of lord Shiva before Lord Vishnu did "kabja" on the land and forced him to move to Kedarnath. No wonder grabbing land is old tradition in India.

The temple complex consists of the main temple with garbh griha which houses the deity, a darshan area ahead of it and a courtyard surrounding the same. There are other temples in the courtyard and there is one immediately as you enter the gates to the temple complex. In construction it is very similar to kedarnath. Lord Vishnu resides in Badrinath with Lord Kuber, accountant of lord vishnu, Narad dev, the greatest devotee of lord vishnu, nar and narayana and lord garuda. One can purchase literature from the nearby shops for more information. There are many rocks or shilas near the temple complex and some are considered sacred and named after saints. There are many saints and sadhus who reside in and around the temple complex.

As usual, like any other religious place in India, there are people grabbing your attention for keeping your slippers, for taking prasad, for taking a photograph or buying a stone. I had gone there once more during my stay and coincidentally Haryana CM Mr. Khattar was visiting temple that time. Due to VIP movement, entry was restricted but somehow we sneaked and had beautiful darshan in the deserted temple. If you are religious or spiritual, you can spend hours in the temple complex.

The entire area is so full of natural beauty that at times, you just want to keep your camera aside and soak in the beauty of the nature. This is what happened with me. I just did some mandatory clicks and focused more on enjoying the nature. I did not click any pictures of the temple as there are so many of it already and anyway I do not like taking pictures of temples and gods.

Magical Mountains









There are many hills, falls, glaciers and interesting places around badrinath. They say many saints and gurus still roam these places and if you are lucky you can get darshan of one. Some of the well known places are

1. Charan Paduka - On the way to Neelkanth Parvat, about 1.5 kms of steep climb, there is a place called charan paduka. On a rock, there are two foot prints, one small and one large and they say there were imprints of lord. It is also said Krishna used to roam here and herd his cows on these meadows and play his flute on the mountains. There is a small kuti near the same and a sadhu stays there. An akhand jyoti or perpetual flame is lit there inside a very small cave and you have to crawl to get inside to get a darshan.
2. Neelkanth Base Camp - Neelkanth Mountain is the crown and on a bright sunny day, the magic and majesty of it is mesmerizing. One day while i was there, the weather was nice and I was just rooted to the place and lost in its beauty for about 20 minutes. As you continue the climb, you can reach the base camp for the trek to the mountain. I did not venture that far and just went a little ahead of charan paduka.
   
   The Majestic Neelkanth
   
   
   
   
3. Mana Village - This is the last village of India and 30 kms from here the china border starts. It is inhabited by people from tibetan origin and they make woollen garments and other items for their living. There is a large military presence in and around mana and there are daily sorties of helicopter from badrinath to forward areas. Within mana, there are two caves, ganesh gufa and vyasa gufa. It is said that sage Lord Ganesha wrote the Mahabharata but it was sage vyasa who recited it. Both were sitting in their respective caves when the project was under execution. Just ahead of Mana, is the bheem pul (bridge) which is supposed to be created by Bhim when the pandavas went to swarga through swargarohini. Also there is river saraswati flowing nearby but soon it disappears inside in the ground. I had been there last time so I did not visit this time.
   
4. Vasudhara Falls - 5 kilometers of trekking from mana village will lead you to this beautiful spot where a nice waterfall called vasudhara can be seen in its full beauty. It is a nice place to visit for contemplation and being with nature.
   
5. Satopanth Glacier - Still farther ahead is the trek to satopanth. It needs a proper planning and guide and a large group to trek there. DO not venture out yourself in the streak of adventure as many people have been reported missing doing that.

There is a grand and beautiful statue of shankara in seated position on the way to temple as well as the guest house of Ambanis as they are frequent visitors here.

Shankara


Ambani Guest House


There is lot of private and public construction going on in the area and I witnessed a STP plant being constructed under namami gange project for waste water treatment before being discharged into alaknanda. So for carrying load, people generally do it in the traditional way as below.

The Load Runner


The minimum temperature was in minus during the night and when I woke up in the morning, there was a thin layer of ice on the car roof and the windshield. Next day, even after I had covered the car by a full body cover, there still was ice on the windshield. In my ignorance, I put on the wiper and the whole thing just created a dense mixture on the windshield. Luckily in time, i remembered to switch on the defogger and in 5 minutes, the screen was as clear as daylight. The car did not give any trouble at all. It started in single turn of key and there were malfunctioning at all. I made sure to warm the tyres slowly after it was parked outside in the night for 3 days.

Snow on Car


Never wipe a windshield which has Ice


A road sign


Continued in the last and concluding part

[autobahnjpr]

Part III : Return Journey and Conclusion

When you have stayed in Badri for 3-4 days and acclimatized yourself it is harder for you to leave it and go back to the pollution filled city. But everything in life comes to an end and so did my stay at Badri. While return I followed the same plan of two day trip with break at Rudraprayag. In general and particularly in hills, it is a very good idea to start your journey early. So I started back from Badri at 6 am when the daylight was still half and hour away. I made sure car tyres are warmed properly and that windshield is clear with all the lights working. I was little lucky as later in the day the CM of Uttarakhand paid a visit to Badri and people who left after 8.30 were stuck in a hold up to allow the cavalcade to pass. I stopped at pipalkoti which is midpoint between badrinath and rudraprayag for nice breakfast of paranthas and curd. I could see many taxis going up as this is the right season to go to Auli, which is a ski destination and the way to auli forks from joshimath. I wanted to go to auli but I had to get back to home due to some work. May be next time. As i had lot of time and the roads were deserted I stopped mid way at multiple places to click some pics.

Alaknanda just before merging with Mandakini


One way on broken roads


Broken Roads


Ice on the windshield


Karnaprayag


A nice meadow


Waterfalls on the roads



Road Signs







Serpentine Roads


Devprayag - where alaknanda meets bhagirathi (from gangotri) and continues as Ganga River


Bye Bye Himalayas




I reached Rudraprayag at about 11 am and after some rest, bath I had a nice lunch. That day Sanju was premiered on TV, so spent the afternoon lying in bed watching it and in the evening went for a stroll again to the "prayag". This time I stopped for five minutes in the morning return journey to click pictures of karnaprayag, where alaknanda and pindari river merge to continue as alaknanda.

There is a nice cantonement area and a small bazaar in rudraprayag where you can spend couple of hour roaming. After coming back I had an early dinner and retired as next day I had a long drive ahead of me. I tanked up again at Rudraprayag before starting. I woke up at 4.30 and by 5 am I was on my way to Delhi. As i said, it is a very good idea to start early in the hills and my return journey was quite smooth till rishikesh which I reached at about 9 am. Stopped there for nice breakfast and a small break and then continued onward towards Noida. As the hustle and bustle of the day had begun, from rishikesh it was a slow progress till roorkee till we hit the NH toll road. I stopped miday in roorkee to tank up again.
While going to Badri, google gave the main NH road to follow but while coming back, after Meerut, it asked me to follow the "gangnahar" road which till last May was a single lane road running along the "gangnahar" and now has been broadned to two lane with freshly tarred surface. Due to sparse traffic and nice road, i made a short affair of the distance and then rejoined the NH near muradnagar. In this road, famous chotiwala restaurant of rishikesh has opened an outlet and i could see some vehicles stopped for food. But I did not stop and continued such that I reached noida at 3 pm. Both ways it took 10 hours from noida to rudraprayag. I was tired when i reached home and after lunch dozed off for a nice siesta. It was a nice and happy trip.
I have tried to prepare a FAQ as a reference guide for forum members. It does not contain things like the distance, weather etc. for which google is there for people to look up.

FAQs

Q. Can we do Badrinath in a low GC car like Honda City?
A. Yes. Absolutely. There is no place where your car will scrape its belly. Just be cautious when the roads are bad and there is stone and debri on the road.

Q. What is the road condition to Badrinath?
A. Delhi to roorkee is fabulous. In roorkee, road is potholed and there are some big craters. Roorkee to rishikesh it is fantastic again but from rishikesh to Badrinath, it is all hilly road and due to widening of it as part of Char Dham Project, many places road is not there or only consists of a bed of stones. I will recommend to hold on for a year or two till the road gets made.

Q. How much is the fuel expense from Delhi Badrinath round trip?
A. I measured the consumption using the tank to tank method and here are the results.


I spent about 7400 rupees on petrol expense and got an average of 13 km/pl. If you have a diesel car with better fuel economy, you can save some money and if you are going in a group of 3-4, the per person fuel cost would be between 1500 to 2500. A taxi will cost you 3500-5000 per day based on the type of taxi. So if you are coming for 5 days, the economics work out better with self-drive.

Q. Do you get good hotels in rudraprayag?
A. Yes. you get all ranges. Hotel is not a problem except when they are full.

Q. Do you get petrol pumps along the road to badrinath?
A. Yes. Till joshimath you will get fuel station. In fact joshimath has only one pump. There are no petrol pumps (civilian) in Badrinath.

Q. Do I have to pay cash at petrol pumps?
A. A big NO. Digital India has reached nooks and corners of India. I paid all fuel expense through debit/credit cards. All petrol pumps accept cards.

Q. Can i use cards in Badrinath?
A. A big NO. cash is king in badrinath. No cards or digital payments. In fact, internet itself does not work properly there. However, you get good voice signals.

Q. Can i take automatic car up the hills to Badri?
A. YES. you can but a manual any day is better. My car was automatic and due to upshift while uphill, it was always in a gear lower than needed and on the uphill, i switched to sports mode and used paddle shift for manual gear changes. Specially during the steep climb after joshi math, you have to have manual control of gears.

Q. Do we get good eating joints on the way?
A. Yes. You have good places on the way but it is a good idea to be stocked yourself as well with packaged food to be ready for any kind of emergency due to traffic jam or landslide etc. Each major town also has good eating joints which cater to tourists and travelers.

Q. How is the accomodation scene in Badrinath?
A. There are good hotels there but do not expect five star luxury. There is only one big hotel chain, sarovar portico, there and remaining are 1-4 start category. There are lot of dharamshalas which offer basic accomodation. Online booking is available and you can pre-book.

This was my first travelogue and I hope you enjoy reading it. Bon Voyage.

[theMAG]

Mod's note: Thread moved from Assembly Line to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing!

[earthian]

Originally Posted by autobahnjpr

I have tried to prepare a FAQ as a reference guide for forum members. It does not contain things like the distance, weather etc. for which google is there for people to look up.

That was very understanding of you. Thank you.

This was my first travelogue and I hope you enjoy reading it.

Congratulations on your first travelogue, though i suspect, not your first trip. The photographs were very good and the writing carried the reader along.

[mathur2012]

Very well narrated. Made me remember my trip to Badrinath in September/October 2016 which I did in my Swift. The caves and waterfall after Mana are awe inspiring. I did Delhi to Mana in one go but stopped at Chopta for tungnath trek during return journey.

[airguitar]

Awesome travelogue. Thank you for taking me on a trip ( of nostalgia ) - it's beautiful and dangerous at the same time- the roads. Especially the lambagad section. My favourite places in the entire stretch is the Vishnuprayag sangam and the rudraprayag sangam - both are so serene with an occasional sounds of tantrum from the mighty Alaknanda.

One note : is that shankara ? Looks more like ramanujacharya with the naama...

Jai Badri Vishal.

[airguitar]

Did you visit the Dhaari Devi mandir ?

[autobahnjpr]

Originally Posted by airguitar

Did you visit the Dhaari Devi mandir ?

No. I could not. I wanted to visit that and auli and tungnath but due to paucity of time could not do it.

[SJM1214]

An excellent write up with amazing photographs. Thanks for all the details covered in your log.

I was avoiding this part of Himalayas due to non-availability of Mana Pass permit. However, this route looks amazing. Adding this to my "to do list".

[2himanshu]

Wanted to do a cycling expedition to char dham but like you said there is no concrete material available on net or elsewhere.

Nice writeup with details and liked the FAQ section very much.

Keep writing and regards!

[ChiragM]

Nice pictures and write-up. Thanks for sharing!

I visited Kedarnath and Badrinath in 2000 when I was 7. I don't remember a lot now but your travelogue did bring back a few memories. I remember going up to the river's edge in Devprayag where the two rivers meet. Another trip is due for me.

This travelogue will definitely help others who are planning a trip to the region.

[virgopal]

Thanks for a detailed travelogue with beautiful pictures. The FAQ's you have listed are very helpful.
In this connection, I wish to point out a small error. The statue of Srivaishnavite saint Sri Ramanuja has been mentioned as Sri Shankara. Kindly edit the same as Sri Ramanuja.
Thank you autobahnjpr.

[bsdbsd]

A wonderful travelogue. Extraordinary photos. I have never been to Himalayas, so I am awestruck with those majestic mountains.

Your decision to drive under such torrid "road" conditions, that too in a Honda City, baffled me. JCBs themselves getting smashed, JCBs precariously positioned on inclines...I have seen it all now. Where there is a will, there is a way. Given your adventures, you have made my decision making process easier for my upcoming travel (within South). Thanks a lot.

[Ashdel]

What a beautiful trip to Badrinath. I have been there almost 10 times along with other holy places like Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri back in 1990's. It was actually a family tradition for us to visit Badrinath each year and i completely remember starting off around 4 AM from Delhi and reaching Badrinath around 8 PM same day.

The last pit stop before Badrinath is Joshimath and there used to be a manual registration of each vehicle crossing that point. Also there used to be proper time slots - within a gap of 2-3 hours, so that all cars can leave at the same time, as the narrow roads towards Badrinath can handle only one way traffic.

May God bless me to visit this majestic place soon.