Badrinath Kedarnath Yatra: The Best Spiritual Journey of My Entire Life

We planned a family tour to the one of the most pious pilgrimage destinations of Hindu devout “Do Dham” Kedarnath Badrinath Yatra. Being one of the most crowded and chaotic pilgrimage, we had to plan accordingly. We booked the tickets as well as the hotel in advance to keep ourselves well organized during the journey.

Our journey to Kedarnath Badrinath of 2Nights/3 Days started on 30th of May, 2018. We boarded the train from Delhi and reached at Rishikesh Railway Station which is the nearest railway station to Kedarnath. After arriving at the railway station we had some snacks and then we hired a taxi to Gaurikund which cost us around 3000. It took almost 6 and half hour to reach Gaurikund from where one needs to trek towards Kedarnath. We were a group of 4 people and all are around 30s age group so we decided to trek rather than opting for any of the rides. 

Accommodation

We had done the booking at Kaveri River Retreat which is one of the best hotels of Kedarnath. Everything was good at the hotel including its setting (houses a casino and a beautiful garden), food quality and the hospitality. The rooms were very hygienic and well equipped with TV with cable channels and all the basic amenities needed by a tourist. The shrine of Kedarnath is located at an elevation of around 3583 meters above the sea level amidst the Himalayan mountain range. Kedarnath is a sacred place so it is very rare to find non vegetarian dishes there. We ordered some famous cuisines of Kedarnath.

As per the new rule passed by the Uttarakhand Government that the trek after 1:30 pm is restricted and coming back after 5 pm is also not allowed so the next day early morning we started our trek to Kedarnath from Gaurikund. We had the VIP Darshan Pass with us so we didn’t have to wait in a queue and it saved our lot of time.  After Darshan we bought some souvenirs like the pictured frames of the temple, Rudraksha mala, Tulsi beads as there is not much option for the shopping there.  We came back to the hotel, had our dinner and then slept. On the second day of our trip we started the journey towards Badrinath. We took a taxi and reached at Rudraprayag from and from there we moved towards Badrinath which is located in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand and on the way we offer our prayer at Joshimath then we reached at Badrinath. We had the VIP Darshan pass with us which saved us from standing in a long queue waiting for our turn. 

Shopping at Badrinath

After doing Darshan of Lord Vishnu we thought to get some souvenirs so we went to the nearest market where we found the sacred stone of Lord Vishnu and there were some small shops selling woolen which is quite common at every hilly place. We were tired by then so we moved to the hotel and spend the night.    

3rd Day of Our Trip

It was the last day of our trip so we decided to visit the nearby places and gather some beautiful memories of our journey. Kedarnath Badrinath trip is not only a spiritual trip you can even experience the magnificent natural beauty of the northern state of India. We moved towards the Mana Village which is only 3 km from Badrinath and holds multitude of tourist attracting destinations including Saraswati River, Vasudhara Falls, Vyas Cave, Ganesha Cave and many more.

Before visiting this place I was thinking that Saraswati River is hidden and not visible anywhere but after this tour I changed my thought as Saraswati River is only visible at this tiny hamlet before it merges underground. As per our planning our next destination was Bhim Pul which is considered as a natural bridge built by Bhim for his wife Draupadi. We moved further towards Ganesh cave and Vyas Cave where the holy epic of Hindus was written by Ved Vyas and so got the name. Our final trek of the trip for 4 km to Vasudhara Falls gave us an enthralling experience accompanied with the gushing sound of water falling on the rocks.  Our group is completely photogenic so we took some of the beautiful memories of the place. As we were running out of the time due to lack of proper planning and it was almost the time of our returning train so we had to end up our journey here. We collected many beautiful spiritual and splendid experiences of the place and decided to visit the place again so that none of the beauty of the northern state should be untouched.  

What I believe if we would have gone with the proper planning then it would have been a more enjoyable journey so if you are planning for the same trip then do manage your trip accordingly and follow the below mentioned tips to make it one of the most memorable journeys.

Travel Tips as Per my Experience:

• Do not be in hurry and plan a journey of at least 4 days so that each and every beauty of the place should be visited by you.
• Take the guidance of an experienced guide as a proper guidance always saves the time and money.
• Bring enough cash with you as you will not get ATMs everywhere on the hill to avoid uncertain challenges on the trip.
• One of our friends had the breathing problem and he forgot to carry the medicine so if you have certain health issues then do not forget to carry your prescribed medicines with you which will help you in avoiding falling sick on the journey.
• We faced a lot of difficulty to stay connected with our family due to bad network of our phone so it is advised to bring a properly working networked phone with you as there are some limited networks which work on such heights for example BSNL connection works nicely at every location.