Travel style · Garhwal
Road trips in Garhwal
The high roads, driven at the right speed
The Himalaya has some of the highest motorable roads in the world: Manali to Leh, the Spiti circuit, Sela Pass, the Old Silk Route. We plan them with acclimatisation days, a driver who knows the bends and honest drive times.
Photo: Arpita Tripathy · CC BY-SA 4.0 · CommonsA mountain road is slow. Two hundred kilometres can take eight hours when the road climbs over a pass, crosses snow-melt streams and waits for a landslide to be cleared. We plan drives in daylight, keep long days to one in three, and build a spare day into any route that crosses a pass above 4,000 m.
Garhwal is the western half of Uttarakhand, where the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rise and join to become the Ganga. Come for the Char Dham shrines, Valley of Flowers, Tungnath and Rishikesh. Go May–June or mid-September–October; avoid July road travel. A saver week by UTC bus and GMVN dorms costs about ₹2,000–3,000 a day.
Trips
Road trips trips in Garhwal
Photo: McKay Savage from London, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Comfort
Kedarnath, Tungnath and Badrinath by car
Private car with driver
Photo: Paul Hamilton · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons
Comfort
Landour, Harsil apples and Gangotri
Private car with driver
Photo: McKay Savage from London, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Signature
Kedarnath by helicopter, Badrinath and Ananda
Private car with driver and helicopter shuttle
3 places
Where to go
Photo: Arpita Tripathy · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Badrinath & Mana
Vishnu's shrine on the Alaknanda, and the village before Tibet
Photo: gbSk at Flickr · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Gangotri
The Ganga's temple town, and the trail to its glacier source
Photo: Harshit SR · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Harsil
Apples, deodar and the Raja of Harsil on the Gangotri road
Experiences
Days that fit the style
Photo: Anubha khare · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Tapt Kund dip and Badrinath darshan
Bathe in the hot springs of Tapt Kund, then join the queue for darshan of the black stone Badrinarayan image in its gil…
Photo: Deepak 13 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Mana village walk to Vyas Gufa and Bhim Pul
Wander the stone lanes of Mana, a Bhotiya village 3 km beyond Badrinath at about 3,200 m, then climb to the cave shrine…
Photo: Gouravmsh · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Walk to Vasudhara Falls from Mana
A stony trail of about 5 km from Mana past the Saraswati temple and up the Alaknanda valley to Vasudhara, a slender wat…
Photo: Asish Das75 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Evening aarti on the Bhagirathi at Gangotri
Watch the evening aarti of the goddess Ganga at her temple and on the riverbank as the gorge falls into shadow, then wa…
Photo: gbSk at Flickr · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Trek to Gaumukh, the Gangotri Glacier snout
An 18 km trail inside Gangotri National Park from Gangotri via Chirbasa and Bhojbasa to Gaumukh, the ice cliff where th…
Photo: Atarax42 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Riverside walk to Pandav Gufa
A gentle 1.5 km walk downstream from Gangotri through deodar and boulders to Pandav Gufa, a rock cave linked with the P…
Photo: E.F. Campbell (artist) · Public domain · Commons
Orchard walk and the story of Pahari Wilson
Walk through the apple orchards of Harsil and Dharali with a local host, hear the story of Frederick Wilson, the desert…
Photo: Harshit SR · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Walk to Mukhba, Ganga's winter home
Cross the Bhagirathi from Harsil and climb to Mukhba, the village where the goddess Ganga spends winter after Gangotri …
Where to sleep
