Planning the Char Dham Yatra - Accomodation, Travel Route Map and Itinerary

All our planning to the Char Dham was last minute.

All the 4 temples usually open on the auspicious day of Akshay Tritiya (May) and remain so only for a specific period of time every year. This year the Gangotri temple and the Badrinath temple were to close on 6th November and 18th November respectively.

Keeping in mind the Temple closure dates, mother’s persistent knee problem and the fact that we wanted to be in Badrinath on the day of Diwali we decided to cover only 2 Dhams – Gangotri and Badrinath. Having heard a lot about Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd. (GMVN) run hotels, accommodation was entrusted to them. Next, a Qualis car was hired through an acquaintance.

My Dad along with the GMVN staff chalked out a travel itinerary that looked something like this (excluding our train journey from Mumbai to Delhi) –

Day I – 02/11/2010 – New Delhi-Haridwar-Uttarkashi

Day II – 03/11/2010 – Uttarkashi-Gangotri-Uttarkashi

Day III – 04/11/2010 – Uttarkashi-Birahi

Day IV – 05/11/2010 – Birahi-Badrinath

Day V – 06/11/2010 – Badrinath-Srinagar

Day VI – 07/11/2010 – Srinagar-Haridwar

Tickets to Delhi were booked just 2 days prior to the journey… in tatkal (instant reservation system offered by the Indian Railways).

Finally on 30th October 2010 I along with my family left for The Char Dham Yatra.

Everything had happened so fast that the feeling of being up there in the Himalayas hadn’t yet sunk in completely… But I was sure it would… Slowly but surely!

Our Travel Route Map For the Char Dham Journey

Char Dham Route Map

(Click on the image to Enlarge)

Color Key

     - Our Route for the trip

     - Halts en route

     - Overnight stays

     - The Char Dhams that we visited


Tips for Travellers

1. If you want a good location at a decent price, ideally choose these government run GMVN tourist rest houses. The accommodation in most of these hotels is comfortable and value for money and the food is good too, especially if you love simple homely fare away from home. Tariff rates differ according to the seasons.

2. If you are entrusting the accommodation to GMVN, chalk out the itinerary very carefully as you pay the tariff beforehand and if you wish to swap the place of stay mid-way your travel then you have to shell out 20% extra of the tariff charge.

3. Book your hotel rooms well in advance if you are travelling close to the temple opening dates, there is a heavy rush of pilgrims.

4. Preferably do not travel in the rainy season as there are a lot of landslides during that time.

Contact details

Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd. (GMVN)
Mumbai – (022)22024415, 22027762
Website – www.gmvnl.com
E-mail – gmvn@gmvnl.com

To read the introductory post on Char Dham - Click Here