Just Returned from Garhwal: A Photo-Story of Deoria Tal to Chopta-Tungnath-Chandrasil

Food is no problem at all in the bazar. It's a problem at GMVN if the cook's on leave (happened to me one March).

Seems you didn't pay him his tips.Why else would he be on leave when you were around.

Hmmm,dont repeat the mistake. Else stay put in Srinagar for "The Meal" as referred by me hereinbefore.

Beautiful shots. Must be a nice trip.

Dear IM Friends

Can we cover Kedar, Badri, Tunganath and deoriatal in a single trip? How long will it take to complete (Kolkata to kolkata)? Can any body suggest the itinerary?

Thanks in advance

Rupa

@ ban_man

so finally you broke the silence .........one can only notice you in the picture section here

here is a rough draft:

1 Rishikesh/Haridwar

2 Chandrapuri/Syalsaur/Guptkashi/Gaurikund (decide according to your preference)

3 Kedar

4 Deoria

5 Chopta/Tungnath

6 Badri

7 Haridwar/Rishikesh/Rudraprayag

NB: this itinerary need hired car

Oops, hard-hit that for a female query Kantibabu. Why do Kolkatans like to squeeze a vacation holiday into a time-squeezed programme that makes it hectic uff, just for the sake of saving a few bucks here and there ufff. Ah kiptey, kichu poisha khorcha korte hobey toh baba, aabaar kokhono bachash lol.(TRANSLATION UPDATED AS PER REQUEST OF A FORUM-LEADER VIA INBOX-MAIL: Oh the miserly, you ought to waste some money somewhere in travel so as to make it wholesome lol. Save some other time buddy, not here lol). If you are from Delhi, the above programme would do with minor modifications coz there's always a "next-year-again" option. I'd rather advise Rupa to work on the following lines.

1. Halt at Rishikesh to start with, preferably at GMVN TRH "Bharatbhoomi(the government guest house) which is located near Natraj Chowk. Early-morning 6 am check-out from Bharat Bhoomi by service jeep with next halt at Garhwal Srinagar or Rudraprayag.
Second night-stay at Srinagar/Rudraprayag.

2. Early-morning 6 am check-out from Srinagar/Rudraprayag by service jeep again with next destination as Kedarnath. You would be at Gaurikund (at the base of the Kedarnath trek-route) by 9 am latest. Start your trek to Kedarnath as early as possible. 2-3 nights halt at Kedarnath.

3. Early-morning 6 am check-out from Kedarnath and trek-back towards Gaurikund. Book a cab from here with destination Ukhimath. Night halt at Ukhimath.

4. Commence your 8-km trek to Deorital from Ukhimath as early as possible so that you are able to return to your base-camp Ukhimath by evening where you halt for another night.[ NB: I haven't visited Deorital so far, so this portion of the itinerary needs to be vetted by someone who has done this stretch.]

5. Early-morning 6 am start from Ukhimath by bus/service jeep with next destination as Chopta/Dugalbitta (less than 40 kms travel-distance, say 1 1/2 hours travel-time). As soon as you reach Chopta/Dugggalbitta, commence your Tungnath trek and be back at Chopta/Duggalbitta by evening where you halt for the night.[ This portion too needs to be vetted by someone more conversant with this place.]

6. Early-morning 6 am start from Chopta/Dugalbitta with next destination as Badrinath. You should get some shared transport in this stretch, else book a cab jointly with a few others if you are a two-people company. Night-halt at Badrinath.

7. Early-morning start from Badrinath and visit Mana village, the last village on the Indian side of the border. Back in Badrinath where you halt for another night.

8. Early-morning 5 am check-out from Badrinath by bus/shared jeeps with next halt at Rudraprayag/Srinagar/Pauri. Change transport from Srinagar if you want to halt at Pauri Garhwal (plenty of options available for transport, and no advance booking needed for hotel in Pauri.)

9. Early-morning 7 am check-out from Rudraprayag/Srinagar/Pauri by bus/shared service jeeps with next destination as Haridwar. Ordinarily, buses/jeeps will drop you ar Rishikesh, from where take any damn available transport to Haridwar (just 25 kms away).
Night-halt at Haridwar.You may opt to stay at Rishikesh also if you are too tired, and a normal 12 am check-out from Rishikesh would take you to Haridwar by 2 pm latest after some strolling here and there.

10.Next night halt again at Haridwar. Visit the Har-ki-Pauri ghat by 5 pm and view the Ganga Arati there which is just celestial.

11. Check-out and catch your late-night train from Haridwar, else stay put for another night in Haridwar and get into the day-train from Haridwar next day.

Hope others agree with my itinerary, else they refine it further for you.

@ Shamik'da

if "me_rupachak" a femail, but dont think she'll go alone or hectic too........I just mention the places to stay night........but didnt mentioned for how many days.......it'll depends on them


you cant understand how difficult to get ticket for transportation on that time, after all you are from Delhi.......just 5/6hrs journey to Garhwal ........lucky enough

.......and I must admit, traveling on low budget is not a sin, but I think appreciable that even on tight financial situation Bengali (& others) dont dare to pack their bags atleast once a year

Kantibabu, just pulling your legs somewhat (dunno if I'v been successful though lol). The passion for travel that you have, especially the Himalayas, is quite apparent from the tour reviews that you have written for others to appreciate and gain-from-your-experience, the photographs that you have clicked and reproduced here for others to ravel at your mastery and build a buring desire to be there.

From Kolkata to Uttaranchal/Himachal and from Delhi to Uttaranchal/Himachal whats the difference buddy. Just the train fare right. Come on......dont yell. FYI, how do I go to Shillong? Have you posted something on the thread I created on this? Lol. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Travelling on a low budget is a sin......who said so? On the contrary, its always appreciated if you manage your monies wisely, and keep the females in the group happy. I try and manage my resources prudently, sometimes faltering in the process, but continuously learning from my mistakes for sure. Sure the IM forum is helping me now to rectify my mistakes beforehand, and a guy like Dilliwalla the great has been of immense help. I wasn't too confident about my accommodations earlier on, and invariably used to book from GMVN/KMVN who made enough money from me (and still does so, but grudgingly lol). But now that I have some exposure, I don't think I need to pre-book in advance at all the places and save some money that way. You too would have learnt from your mistakes and now know well enough where to put up and at what price. GMVN/KMVN is meant for novices and oldies, and only the GMVN/KMVN properties at select destinations are worth it for locational advantages, that's all, and I invariably book there when I'm at those places. In my recent tour, I booked an excellent room in Nainital at 60% the rate quoted by many others, and it was sub 1k in peak season too! Saved some money by experience.Who says experience doesn't pay?

Bengalis are known to travel a lot. Had it not been for them, the hotels in Uttaranchal wouldn't have got even half the bookings they get, and probably the rooms would have been cheaper then.So we ourselves are responsible for our plight.......pay more and get less.And Delhites are more used to weekend packages......err "the welcome-drink-on-arrival" sort. I'd try that one out only iff someone gifted me such a package......own resources are too precious to splatter around lol. To each his own though.

@ Shamik'da,

actually I didnt mention fare exactly.......its the pain to get confirm ticket even on the first 20min of opening days (4months)

Not great.

I just booked myself for a solo-tour of Dalhousie-Khajjiar next month, and you would be amazed that tickets on all trains to Pathankot/Chakki Bank/Jammu/Udhampur are waitlisted except for the 14037 Delhi-Pathankot Express having CC and SS facilities only where booking is allowed only one month in advance. Eventually, I managed to book myself in the 14035 Dhauladhar Express where some berths were still available on the selected dates.Such is our plight in the Railways.

My wife has another outing at that time with some family members, so I tossed between Chakrata and Dalhousie-Khajjiar and chose the latter. Two reasons to opt out of Chakrata now (sorry for that Dilliwala )
a) the Uttaranchal forest-fires and
b) the details of the trip are yet to be fully studied by me from the threads before going there. Yup Chakrata and Munsiyari are up there in my radar, lets see when and how can I manage these places.

Dude, does it occur to you that forest fires cannot happen if it's RAINING? Garhwal has received so much rain this week that there's no chance of fires.

(I'm not making a case for Chakrata, just one against forest fires)

@ Dilliwalla

Boss, I am sooooo disappointed with my recent tour that until-unless there are heavy rains and the visibility of the distant horizon improves, there isn't much sense going to Uttaranchal right away again. Probably I'll be there solo in October, as I'm no longer too enthused about Durga Puja's in Delhi, but that too depends upon the various tour-reports that I go through between now and then. Well, the rains would have doused the flames for sure(if any still burning), but the "dhuan" will still take time to settle and restore visibility. So, where's the hurry! Money is safe in the pocket, and safer still if spent well lol.As to costs, huh......chair-car specials to Uttaranchal take me there any time, and if I happen to take the Second Sitting option when I travel solo (if the weather permits), then I reach Uttaranchal next to free and outside of the AC cabins for a change lol. So boss, for me solo its anytime, anyday. Just the mood needed. In line are Chakrata, Munsiyari, Chopta and Tungnath and one or two more which you'd recommend. Before taking my family along, I'd now prefer to find the route options, transport options,good accommodation options etc. in these lesser-known destinations both in Uttaranchal,Himachal and elsewhere by doing these solo-trips, especially so after the Gwaldam fiasco. Once bitten twice shy for sure. Anyway, Gwaldam wasn't that bad either, but for the rains (which was an experience in itself....will try and post the "amateur" pictures here if and when I have the time to learn how to transfer them here lol). But the purpose of Gwaldam was the peaks, nothing more and nothing less, and in this was the disappointment. Besides, hotels all but one was lousy.And the GMVN where we stayed by accident than by choice was the very worst. And no reasonable eateries around, not even standard quality dal-roti. We had to check-out early in search of the much-famed lamb-dishes of Nainital lol, and good roadside "pakoras" and "bhuttas" kept us warm after the overnight rains, apart from keeping the humour going lol. Any takers........hahaha.

Aaha! watching forest fires (obviously naturally) in Uttarakhand is a brand new idea to me ........ "What an Idea Sir'ji" ( @ Shamik Nag)

Please put some more light (info) on it