Kedarnath - Badrinath

The last leg of our Char Dham yatra was BADRINATH, our next holiday destination with our parents. Its an old belief that to go to places like Badrinath, its best to go in a group….when we shared the news of going to badrinath with few other, the group started to form…my chacha & chachi (Dr. Vimal Rai) showed interest in joining us and soon we had Mr. & Mrs Parhlad Kishore and mr. & Mrs Kirpa Raj joining in as well ringing the total to 10.The date was finalized and the excitement high.

Planning a trip to Badrinath and Kedarnath requires a lot of research and planning and it was  hard to do this all by ourself, so we used the help of a travel agent… Their experience and detailing of all our requirements was truly commendable. They ensured that the best hotels, cars were booked and also kept track of our movement through out the trip to address any concerns that we had. Multiple changes in the itinerary from the planning stage to the execution stage were all dealt with very patiently.

With everything set, our journey began. From Hyderabad we took a flight to Delhi and boarded ourselves at Ginger Delhi (considering we had an early morning train to catch and the station was very near to this place we felt it was ideal for our trip). We decided to relax the whole day as we knew that there was a lot in the coming week. In the evening we stepped out to visit a few markets and sight seeing, took mom and dad in the metro, it was my 1st experience in it as well and it was an awesome experience and left an amazing impression in our mind. We ended the day with early dinner as we had a train to Haridwar the next day morning.

Day 2, we took a train from Delhi to Haridwar.  I remember how difficult it was for me to get this ticket, on the day we thought of booking the tickets, I remember seeing nearly 700 seats available and just 2 days later it was down to 20 seats available. I was quick in booking it…After reaching Haridwar staion we had the travel agent waiting for us with a white a/c indigo and all our hotel vouchers, receipts and documents along with our itinerary ready. With Badrinathji ki jai in our mind, we started to our 1 stop over at Rishikesh which was 2hrs from the station. A beautiful resort…. We were joined by rest of the group members in Rishikesh. We had our first dinner together and relaxed in beautiful green resort before retiring to bed.

Rishikesh Resort

Day 3, 8am, Next on the itenary was a 5hrs drive from Rishikesh to Rudraprayag….after a good nights sleep, we were fresh for our journey and set out to Rudraprayag. Apprehensions on the tough ghat road were overtaken by the scenic beauty around us…the greenery had bowled us over. As we traveled, we were accompanied by the river and had a chance to see several river side camps being set up..we stopped to see the sangam of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi at Devprayag..The different color of river was clearly visible from distance and a quick background story by few street children gave us more information about the sangam. We reached Rudraprayag resort by afternoon.The resort was very beautiful and peaceful. We were happy that we were able to get accommodation at the best places. We had lunch and relaxed through the evening ,the dinner was served in the lawn with dim lights and hills on background. After dinner it was time to catch up with biradri gup shup until late in the night.

Devprayag

Bad patches of road to Rudraprayag

Road to Rudraprayag

Day 4, probably the most important days of our life…the day when we were to fulfill our parents wish….the day when we were to complete our 4th dham!!! We started early for uphill drive towards Badrinath.The more we were moving upwards, the more beautiful it was becoming. and my camera worked overtime capturing the most beautiful views Passing through mountains through narrow roads with bad patches of road didn’t stop us. The snow capped mountains excited us as we knew we where reaching Badrinath., by the time we reached Badrinath, we understood why it was said reaching Badrinath is a challenge. If with today’s advancement and improved roads, the journey is tough, what would have happened in those olden days when traveling by walk was the only way to reach the temple!!! Upon reaching Badrinath, we straight headed for lunch, then a quick freshen up and it was time for darshan. The temple was crowded, yet we gained entry at the right time. With Abhishekam happening, we had the opportunity to sit before the deity for a good 30 mins. Satisfied with the darshan and with a sense of joy we stepped out of the temple and sense of pride adorned our parents face…we loved that moment!!! We captured the moment in a group picture with the temple on the background to end the day.

Badrinath Temple

Day 5, Early next morning we headed back to Rudurprayag, On reaching Rudraprayag, we relaxed to get ready for another important visit the next day,.a visit to Kedarnath temple. This visit had a another sentiment to it, while it was the 5th dham, it was the 1st time that our parents were going on a helicopter ride. There are 2 ways of reaching Kedarnath, the easier route is the helicopter ride and the tougher is a 14 km treck (1 way). While we had booked tickets for to and from for mom and dad, Ruchi and me had decided to go by the helicopter and trek down to see the lush greenery, but our driver had warned us against it, we would need to trek down from gauri kund and there was a huge traffic jam at gauri kund and it would have taken hours for us to reach back.. Disappointed we went to get our 1 way ticket cancelled as we were aware that there was no return ticket available. We reached a nearby net center, but the guy said there was some problem and that we had to wait for sometime, thinking while waiting, we decided to check the availability and like they say miracles happen, immediately the net was up and running, exactly 2 tickets for the return were available at  exactly the same time as the others…we were quick enough to block it and as soon as we took the print out, the net was down again and the other customers were waiting for it to work again…everyone were happy with our decision, we took rest the whole day to be fresh for the next day. .

Day 6, Time for Kedarnath…We started from Rudraprayag to Phata helipad early in the morning, the road was bad and it took us nearly 2hrs to reach.,the 1st sight of the helicopter taking people to and fro had got us all excited and we were eagerly waiting for our turn…We took our boarding cards and were ready for our turn. Our names were called out and I was lucky to get the opportunity to sit beside the pilot, seeing the copter control panel and getting a mind-blowing view of Kedarnath hills from the front seat was just unforgettable & a once in a lifetime experience. We reached Kedarnath in about 10mints and the carpet grass welcomed us and  the temple looked majestic with snow covered mountains around it.. We finished our darshan in 30mints and were back at the helipad waiting for the helicopter to take us back to Phata. The day ended with unforgettable ride on helicopter and memories of a beautiful place.

Rudraprayag Resort

Kedarnath Temple

Snow capped mt. at Kedarnath

Helicopter at Kedarnath

Day 7, It was time for us to to head back and we started from Rudraprayag to Haridwar and on the way had  probably one of the best aloo partha for lunch on a roadside hotel . We stopped at Rishikesh to visit the Laxman Jhula for few mints before reaching Haridwar. In the evening, we went to the Ganga ghat to witness the famous Ganga aarti. The site of huge artis and floating diyas made the Ganga river look spectacular. After that, we retired to our room..

Ganga Aarti at Haridwar

Ganga aarti at Haridwar

Day 8, We ended the spiritual trip in Haridwar on a happy note and headed back to Delhi in a train and I enjoyed all the station junk food yet again.

Day 9,everything was executed just as planned and the last day was a visit to our cousins place at faridabad, where we enjoyed the ghar ka khana and then went out shopping to the market which was in my moms must do list in delhi. Caught the evening flight back to Delhi, tired and satisfied that everything perfectly well.

Badrinath & Kedarnath Dham

Starting point : Hyderabad

Destination : Kedarnath & Badrinath

Most economical air ticket :

 Hyderabad-Delhi (spicejet)

 Delhi-Hyderabad

Our Itinerary

Hyderabad to Delhi((2hrsflight/22hrs train)

Delhi to Rishikesh (7hrs-road/train,overnight stay)

Rishikesh to Rudraprayag(5hrs –rd overnight stay)

Rudraprayag to Badrinath(5-6hrs-rd overnight stay)

Badrinath to Rudraprayag (5-6hrs-rd overnight stay)

Rudraprayag – Kedarnath – Rudraprayag (2hrs to & fro + Darshan) by helicopter

Rudrapryag (overnight stay) to Haridwar (6hrs-rd overnight stay)

Haridwar to Delhi(overnightstay)

Delhi to Hyderabad (2hrsflight/22hrs train)

Places to visit in Haridwar

Ganga ghat-Evening GangaArti

Places to visit in Rishikesh

Laxmanjhula

Places to visit in Rudraprayag

Devprayag(enroute to Rudrapryag),Rudraprayag

Places to visit in Badrinath

Badrinath Temple,Hotsprings,Mana village,Auli (2hrs ropeway sightseeing enroute Badrinath-Rudraprayg)

Places to visit in Kedarnath

 Kedarnath Temple,Gaurikund

Travel Options

From Haridwar travel is through road.

From Rishikesh, it is a ghat road

Nearest railway station is Haridwar/Dehradun

Nearest Airport Delhi/Jollygrant

There are 2 options available to reach Kedarnath – By walk from from Gourikund (5hrs, approx 14 kms) or  by helicopter from Phata which is a 2hrs drive from Rudrapryag  (and takes a total of 2-3 hrs, for travel by helicopter and to complete the darshan)

Rudraprayag is an ideal stop over while proceeding towards Kedarnath/Badrinath  as it is a central point and has better accommodation and facilities available.

Best time to visit

May & June

Tips

It is very important to have a confirmed hotel & a comfortable car booked well in advance. Carry warm clothes, medicines,

Only mobile coverage in Badrinath/ Kedarnath is Airtel & Bsnl Mobile

Packages offered by

Go To Holidays,

556/308, Arya Nagar Chowk, Near SHivalik School, Jwalapur, Haridwar (U.A)

Ph: 911334- 254373, 09837392608, 09837958114, email : gotoholidays@vsnl.net, gotoholiays@gmail.com

Important websites

www.cleartrip.com (flight & train)

 https://booking.pawanhans.co.in (Helicopter booking)