Rishikesh to Haridwar

Kedarnath Tour Package

 Kedarnath is the seat of Lord Shiva. It is one of the twelve "Jyotirlingas" of Lord Shiva. Lying at an altitude of 3584 m at the head of river Mandakini, the shrine of Kedarnath is amongst the holiest pilgrimage for the Hindus. It is no wonder that Adi Guru Shankaracharya - a great scholar & saint, chose to enshrine Lord Shiva in this land, where the unholy becomes oly and the holy becomes holier. It is the place where Lord Shiva absolved Pandavas from the sin of killing their own cousins Kauravas in the battle of Kurukshetra. The origin of the revered temple can be found in the great epic Mahabharat.


At Kedarnath there are several Kunds (pools, tanks) that are known for their religious significans - shivkund, Retkund, hanskund, Udakkund, Rudhirkund are the most important. A little away from Kedarnath is a temple dedicated to Bhaironathji who is ceremoniously worshipped at the opening & closing of Kedarnath. The belief is that Bhairavnathji protects this land from evil during the time when temple of Kedarnath is closed. Besides its affiliation with Shiva, Kedarnath is also believed to be the site of Shankaracharya's samadhi (achievement of beatified afterlife). The actual temple is an impressive stone edifice of unknown date. No specific family of pujaris supervises rituals at Kedarnath, which focus around veneration of the stone lingam that rests in the inner sanctum of the temple.


Kedarnath Temple: An imposing sight, standing in the middle of a wide plateau surrounded by lofty snow covered peaks. The present temple, built in 8th century A.D. by Adi Shankaracharya, stands adjacent to the site of an earlier temple built by the Pandavas. The inner walls of the assembly hall are decorated with figures of various deities and scenes from mythology. Outside the temple door a large statue of the Nandi Bull stands as guard.


Dedicated to Lord Shiva, the exquisitely architecture Kedarnath temple is considered to be more than 1000 years old. Built of extremely large, heavy and evenly cut gray slabs of stones, it evokes wonder as to how these heavy slabs had been handled in the earlier days. The temple has a "Garbha Griha" for worship and a Mandap, apt for assemblies of pilgrims and visitors. A conical rock formation inside the temple is worshipped as Lord Shiva in his Sadashiva form. 
Start from Gaurikund, there is a cement road to walk on and there is a small shop for every 200 meters where you can get some tea, chocolates, biscuits etc., After 7kms , you reach a place called Rambara. There are couple of guest houses here to stay. Mostly pilgrims, take a break here and eat some food and then resume the journey towards kedarnath.
The View is fantastic while moving towards temple but the dung of mules make u feel uncomfortable because of so many mules. Even though there are some people, who constantly clean the path, it still spells little bad. But surely the spectacles around would deviate your mind.
 The ‘Garbh Grah’ (the basement) and the ‘Mandap’(gathering hall), the inner walls decorated with scenes from the mythology and a mighty Nandi at the entrance are some features of the temple. But what one marvels at the most is the extremely large, heavy and evenly cut grey slabs of stones used to build the temple. One can only wonder at how construction of such grand scale was carried out in that period and in such a tough geographical setting. The temple is accessible by road till GauriKund and a 14 km uphill walk from there completes the journey to Kedarnath temple. The temple opens the gate three days before Badrinath temple opens during the last week of April and remains accessible till snowfall commences in winter.

Day 01 : Delhi to Haridwar-Rishikesh (225 kms)

Leaves Delhi at 7.00 a.m. Halt enroute for breakfast, arrive Rishikesh by 2.00 p.m. Evening free for sight seeing, overnight stay in Rishikesh.

Day 02 : Rishikesh to Gaurikund ( 220 kms)

Leave Rishikesh at 7.00 a.m. Halt enroute for breakfast & lunch. Arrive Gaurikund by evening, overnight stay in Gaurikund.

Day 03 : Gaurikund to Kedarnath (14 kms. Trek)

Leave Gaurikund early morning, arrive Kedarnath by lunch. Evening free for darshan. Overnight stay at Kedarnath. Leave Gaurikund early morning, arrive Kedarnath by lunch. Evening free for darshan. Overnight stay at Kedarnath

Day 04 : Kedarnath to Gaurikund - Nandprayag (150 kms)

Leave Kedarnath after early breakfast, arrive Gaurikund by 12.00 Noon (14 kms. Trek). Leave Gaurikund after lunch, arrive in the evening and overnight stay at Nandprayag.

Day 05 : Nandprayag to Badrinath (80 kms.)

Leave at 7.00 a.m, halt enroute for breakfast Arrive Badrinath by lunch. Evening free for darshan, overnight stay at Badrinath.

Day 06 : Badrinath to Nandprayag (80 kms)

First half free. Leave Badrinath after lunch, arrive Nandprayag by 6.00 p.m., overnight stay at Nandprayag.

Day 07 : Nandprayag to Rishikesh (200 kms)

Leave after breakfast. Halt enroute for lunch, arrive Rishikesh by evening, overnight stay at Rishikesh.

Day 08 : Rishikesh to Haridwar - Delhi ( 225 kms)