Location: Joshimath
Top Things to do in Joshimath
What to do and see in Joshimath, India: The Best Places and Tips
Jyotirmath, also known as Joshimath is a city and a municipal board in Chamoli District in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Located at a height of 6150 feet (1875 m), it is gateway to several Himalayan mountain climbing expeditions, trekking trails and pilgrim centres like Badrinath. It is home to one of the four cardinal pīthas established by Adi Shankara.
Restaurants in Joshimath
1. Ropeway from Joshimath to Auli
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 71 reviews
Reviewed By LooksWest - Glasgow, United Kingdom
My friend and I wished we had done some research before being left on the barren ski slopes at Auli. We imagined we would travel from Joshimath to another town. Wrong. The ride itself is very scenic and the view from the ski slopes stunning but with no snow and no real facilities on the hillside we came back early.
2. Auli
Overall Ratings
5 based on 93 reviews
Reviewed By Bharat A - Kuwait
I visited Auli as part of leisure trek arranged by Foliage Outdoors group. We stayed at Auli for 1 night and visited Gorson Bugyal for camping.
Auli is famous for skiing during the winters. However, it is really beautiful in the summers too. Narrow roads going leading to the top of the beautiful Mountains is amazing.
3. Nanda Devi National Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 15 reviews
Reviewed By SoloIndianTravellers - New Delhi, India
Nanda Devi National Park (NDNP)
is one of the few high altitude forest reserves in the country
(NDNP) is located in chamoli district and has spectacular destinations like Valley of flowers, Govindghat, Hemkund Sahib, Badrinath Dham etc
picturesque locations and very remote from any civilization
(NDNP) has rich flaura and Fauna and hunding for animals and cutting trees is banned here.
you may camp here but with prior permissions from authorities.
(NDNP) is a Beautiful place and "Heaven On Earth"
4. Valley of flowers - Hemkunt Sahib
Overall Ratings
5 based on 10 reviews
Valley of Flowers National Park, an exceptionally beautiful high-altitude Himalayan valley, is nestled in the higher reaches of Pushpawati valley in Joshimath, Garhwal Himalayas, Uttarakhand, India. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is internationally renowned for its richly diverse alpine flora (including many species of medicinal plants), outstanding biodiversity and exquisite natural beauty. Know
Reviewed By suvranjan84 - Bengaluru, India
The planning phase: It was January 2015 when Shoumitra and I were thinking for our next trip to Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib in July-August of 2015. According to that, I was planning for the trip itinerary and fixed a date and then discussed with Shoumitra about the plan. In the meantime his cousin, Sujoy was also attracted about the trek and willing to join us. We were about to book our tickets, suddenly my office colleague Subhranka was also interested and joined us. We finalized our trip date and booked the tickets accordingly.
1st August, 2015: The journey started…
It was a rainy day. I left my home around 3PM and met with Shoumitra and Sujoy at Belgharia station. Then we reached Sealdah station and waiting for Subhranka. Subhranka joined us within 10-15 minutes. We booked Rajdhani Expess and our train was waiting at platform number 9B.
2nd August, 2015: Towards Rishikesh…
We reached New Delhi station in the morning and waiting for our next train to Haridwar in the afternoon. It was Jan-Shatabdi express and we reached Haridwar at 7.55PM. Then we took a local bus for Rishikesh and reached at Rishikesh Bus stand at around 9:30PM. We checked into a hotel, Hotel Digvijay…just opposite to the bus stand for the night.
3rd August, 2015: Leaving the planes behind…
We woke up in the morning or say midnight at 2.45AM. Subhranka and I went to the bus stand to book the tickets for Joshimath. We got 4 tickets for Joshimath at Rs.360/- each. The bus will leave Rishikesh at 5AM. All of us reached the bus stand by 4.30AM and the bus left Rishikesh at 5.15AM. We reserved the left sides of the seats and we enjoy the beauty of Mother Nature. It was a long bus journey. The bus took NH-58 and the roads are very narrow and dangerous in some part. More over the bus driver was trying to overtake another bus of the same route and it was horrifying. We covered Debprayag, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Karnaprayag, Nandaprayag and Pipalkoti. We came to know that this bus will go to Govindghat as well and conductor charged Rs.30/- extra for each person for Govindghat. It took around 11hours to reach Govindghat. Govindghat is the confluence of river Alakananda and Laxman Ganga. After reaching Govindghat, we hired a pony for carrying our luggage to Ghangharia for the next morning. The pony-owner took us to Govindghat Gurudwara and we got a room for one night stay. We went to the room first and after changing our dirty cloths we went to the langar khana. Then we were trying to contact our parents but mobile network is very weak and unable to contact from there. We went to bus stand to check for the connectivity and just able to get the network for 2-3 minutes. We have done our phone calls within the 2-3 minutes. On returning to Gurudwara, we purchased bamboo sticks for trekking and went to our room at 7PM and fall asleep.
4th August, 2015: The 17KM long trek to Ghangharia with the newly constructed route…
We woke up around 6AM and get ready to start our trek. We ate breakfast at langar khana and put our luggage to the pony at 7AM. Then we register our names at Govindghat checkpoint and start our trek at 7.30AM. The first 3KM from Govindghat checkpoint is motor-able road, even Alto 800 is plying on that part. After that covering 3KM, the actual trek was started for many people. The route is not like other trek route. Maximum part of the route is stairs, stairs and stairs…The government used boulders and rocks to construct the route, so it was actually painful for our legs and slow our speed. Moreover, the roads are very dirty due to ponies but the scenic beauty of the route is worthy. At one point Subhranka was far ahead of me and Shoumitra and Sujoy was far behind than me. Walk, walk and walk...Wow! A helicopter was flying over my head. I was able to take one snap of that helicopter. I took some photos of Mother Nature and river Alakananda on my way and took rest for few minutes at the bank of Alakananda. Then I started again and just after 15-20 minutes of walking, I saw Subhranka was taking rest. After taking rest for 30minutes, we started again and crossed Alakanada by a foot bridge and waiting for Shoumitra and Sujoy. It was around 12Noon then. We almost wait for 20-30 minutes when Shoumitra and Sujoy joined us. Then we start again at around 12.30PM. It was maximum 3-4KMs left to reach Ghangharia but it took 2hrs for us to reach. The roads are very steep for this part. It was 2PM and just 600 metres to reach Ghangharia, we noticed not one, 3 helipads. We reached Ghangharia by 2.30PM and one person was waiting with our luggage at the very first hotel, Hotel Nanda-Parvati. Shoumitra and I went to Gurudwara for accommodation but they offered dormitory, so we decided to stay at hotel Nanda-Parvati. We got a room for Rs.400/- per night for 4 persons. This hotel does not provide food except tea. The arrangements were good. They provide hot water with a charge of Rs.50/- per bucket. We went for lunch in hotel Himalaya. Subhranka was not feeling well and went to the room for taking rest. We three then went to watch a documentary on Valley of flowers. It was a 25minutes small but good documentary. It was 5.15PM in the watch. We called our parents from a STD booth which cost Rs.10/- per minutes and went to the room. We hired our hotel owner as our guide for the next day to visit the Valley of Flowers. We slept for next 3 hours and had dinner at 9.30PM and slept again.
5th August, 2015: The Valley of Flowers…14KM to and fro…
It was raining heavily from mid-night. There was no sign to stop the rain. Yesterday, we have decided to start at 7.30AM in the morning but it was already 7.45AM in the clock. We had our breakfast in hotel Himalaya at 8AM and packed our lunch. We started at 8.30AM from Ghangharia. Within 10-15 minutes, we have reached the check-point of valley of flowers and registered our names. The entry fee is Rs.150/- per adult for Indians. This ticket is valid for 3 days. We have to trek 3 KMs from the check-point to enter the main valley. The trek route was awesome. We crossed a waterfall and the Himalayan flower "Forget me not" welcomes us. Due to heavy rain in the mid-night, the roads were slippery and dangerous in some part. I clicked few pictures of the nature and proceed with others. We crossed two narrow Bridges, one was very dangerous, I could say. It was made by bamboo sticks and tin. At 12.30PM we reached the main valley. Our guide, Sourav Singh Chauhan showed the Queen of Himalayan flowers, “Blue Poopy”. We will definitely never figure out the “Blue poppy” without the help of Sourav. We had our lunch and explored the valley. If heaven ever exists, this should be the place. We saw glacier on our way. We spent some times in front of a waterfall and start returning back at 2.30PM. At around 4.30PM we came back to Ghangharia.
6th August, 2015: Hemkund Sahib…14KM to and from…
Again it was raining heavily from the last evening. We were too tired to wake up early. We woke up 6AM in the morning and got ready for Hemkund Sahib. After having light breakfast, we left Ghangharia at 7.30AM. The roads are too steep that a person cannot imagine. We saw a glacier on the way. After completing about 1 KM, I thought I was not able to complete and took rest on the roadside. Suddenly, I saw few Sikh pilgrims who are definitely elder than me, some are even more than 50yrs, are walking. It was the booster for me. I stood up and walking again and joined with Shoumitra and Sujoy. Then Subhranka joined us after a few minutes. Walk, walk and walk…we crossed a narrow bridge near the glacier and ordered lime water in a shop. From this point, the Hemkund Sahib is 1KM and roads are divided…the left side has 930 steps to reach the Gurudwara and the right side roads are in the slops. We took the right side road as suggested by few Bengali people on their return journey. Ah! The Brahmakamal…the flower of heaven…I took the picture of the Brahmakamal. We noticed few more Brahmakamal on the way. At last we reached Hemkund Sahib. It was 12.55PM. We spent almost 40-45 minutes to enjoy the weather and scenic beauty. At 1.40PM, we started for Ghangharia. Shoumitra and Sujoy reached the hotel almost an hour ago by me. Subhranka was 30 minutes ahead than me. My energy level was into zero, specifically in negative; I took rest and reached at hotel at 5PM. That's actually the end of the tour. I purchased a book on valley of flowers for the names of the different flowers.
7th August, 2015: 17KM downhill trek to Govindghat and a NFS ride…
We woke up late in the morning and left Ghangharia around 9AM. We hired a porter to carrying our luggage. At 1PM we reached the motor-able point and the porter won’t go beyond that point. So after exchanging some words with him, we understood that he will not go beyond that point. So, we took a cab from there for Govindghat check-point. It costs Rs.35/- per seat and luggage was extra which was paid by the porter. Around 1.20PM we were at Govindghat Gurudwara. Sujoy and I went to the bus stand to check if any shared jeeps were available for Rishikesh or not that time. We have to book one full sumo which costs Rs.4500/- for Rishikesh. We again went to Gurudwara where Shoumitra and Subhranka were waiting with the luggage. We decided to book the entire sumo and go to Rishikesh by today itself. We started from Govindghat at 2.30PM and reached Rishikesh by 10.30PM, within 8 hours with taking maximum of 20-25 minutes break. It was a dangerous road trip at night. But the best part it, we enjoyed the ride and the driver saved almost 2 hours of our time. Moreover, we observed a Himalayan deer on the road. At 10.30PM we again checked in hotel Digvijay and ordered for dinner. They served non-veg as well which delighted us. We enjoyed the night and fall asleep around 2’o clock.
8th August, 2015: Rishikesh to Haridwar…rainy day…5KM walking…road blockage…
We woke up little late in the morning. It was 9AM when we were planning to leave Rishikesh, we observed heavy rainfalls outside. We were waiting with the hope that the sky became clear. Around 11AM, we left the hotel and caught a bus for Rishikesh. The bus started at 11.30AM and drop us Haridwar chawlk which is about 5KM from Haridwar station. We got a battery car and it dropped us at a place which was hardly 500metres from the chawlk. The entire road was blocked due to festival of Shiva. After searching all options, we started walking with our luggage. The entire road was full with the Hindu pilgrims. We somehow managed to reach Haridwar station by 2hrs of walking. We checked in the hotel Govardhan. After freshened up, we went for lunch at 3.30PM at the famous Bengali restaurant, “Dada-Boudi r hotel”. They served Bengali veg meals which was awesome. We even had dinner from there.
9th August, 2015: Return journey…
We boarded JanShatabdi Express from Haridwar at 6.20AM and reached New-Delhi at 11.30AM. It was raining in New Delhi now. We boarded Sealdah-Rajdhani from there in the afternoon and reached Sealdah in the next morning.
10th August, 2015: Tour ends…
We reached Sealdah on time and within an hour in our home.
Travel information and Hotels & Restaurant details:
Route map: Kolkata àNew Delhi à Haridwar à Rishikesh à Devprayag àRudraprayag àKarnaprayag à Nandaprayag à Pipalkoti à Joshimath à Govindghat à Ghangharia à VOF & Hemkund Sahib
Haridwar – Hotel Goverdhan Palace. Railway road, Purusharthi market. Tariff: Rs.600/- per night (Non-AC rooms). Good and clean. Contact: 01334-320137, 08273677799, 08273688877. Debit and Credit card accepted.
Dada-Boudi r hotel: Just opposite to Hotel Goverdhan Palace. Contact: 09319024061, 09359380849, 09720450419, 09557278024
Haridwar to Rishikesh: Fare Rs.35-40/- per person by Bus. Takes around 1-1.5hrs based on the traffic.
Rishikesh – Hotel Digvijay, Just opposite to Tehri bus stand. Tariff: RS.400/- per night. Okay for one night. Serve Non-veg food as well.
Rishikesh to Govindghat Bus: Take the bus for Badrinath. Get down at Govindghat. Fare Rs.380-390/-. Takes 11hrs approximately. Book Left side window seats. Last bus leaves Rishikesh at 6AM.
GovindGhat: Gurudwara. Free of cost. Well-furnished room with attached bathroom.
Pony costs: Rs.790/- each
Helicopter ride: Govindghat to Ghangharia. Fare: Rs.3200/- each person for trip. Return will be Rs.6000/- per person.
Ghangharia:
1. Hotel Nanda-Parvati. Tariff: Rs.400/- per night. Decent rooms. No restaurant. Contact persons: Sushil Singh Chauhan (08938010665) and Sourav Singh Chauhan (08958670924).
2. Hotel Himalaya and restaurant: Tariff: Rs.300/- per night. Served good quality food. Contact: Shivraj Singh (09456611290)
Things to remember:
- Mobile network is very week from Govindghat. Only Idea and BSNL works in Ghangharia.
- Get raincoat (1 time useable) at Rs.20/-
- VOF entry fees: Rs.150/- per Indian for 3 days.
5. Auli Ski & Snowboard School
Overall Ratings
5 based on 12 reviews
Auli Ski & Snowboard School (Registered) offers ski and snowboarding lessons for all proficiency levels and age groups. Ski & Snowboarding lessons for beginners, intermediate and advance levels, as well as free-style skiing, cross country skiing, ski touring, ski racing and back country skiing lessons. Group or personalized private lessons from 10 am to 4 pm everyday during winters
Reviewed By DicostaAmar - Chennai (Madras), India
Hello Guys!
If u r Reading this review then i am sure you are an adventure and nature freak like me . Well we a group of 6 youngsters visited Auli in the month of Dec 2015. One word that comes to mind first is #Paradise# . Well Auli in itself is a place which can keep you occupied for months if you like skiing or enjoy people skii.... We were beginners and our organizer helped us to learn a few techniques of skiing and then we just a blast skiing and enjoying the slide over snow covered peaks.
The place was almost -20 degrees and temp continuously falling as we were trying to pack up and go to our camp site which was located at the entrance of the Auli skiing resort.
Well i would tell you one thing carry perect clothing and rent a snow vehicle which will cahrge you aroubnd Rs 1000 for the whole to an fro journey and rent your shoes and skiing gear and gloves etc from the same guy. Do not pay the guy at the top . Hold the payments until he leaves u back at the entrance .
We went till tower 10 or 11 may be if i recollect . Then came back to the superb maggy store located near the entrance after getting tired. Fun part of skiing is when u come downhill sliding , but the tough part is when u have to lift all ur gear and go to a height to do the process gain.The maggi store where we had egga nd maggy and tea, provided bon fire which really was needed for us to come back to normal feel for our body. If you look close on those maggy packets they r not original maggy but just some local brand. Any ways we went back to our camp-s using the lift which was real fun ; as they r open lifts and u pass over the snow Mountains and plains to a point. It was fun. Be careful with children on lifts.
It was indeed a very risky and bad idea to camp in peak winter in Auli . The temperature in night was about less than minus 30 degrees; it was teeth biting cold the max that i had taken till date and along with that the chill cool breeze just coming from the Mountains. One more thing is do tell ur guide to arrange for wood for bonfire before u go camping as its tough to go search and get there. Three of us and the guide went hunting for some sticks and tree logs after a short argument with the forest officer. Well finally he allowed it though. The night was a terrific experience for us all . It was so cold that in spite of being so tired we were unable to sleep. We had scotch whisky and spent most of the time near fire just waiting for the night to pass. But i tell u this was and may b will stay as one of the most amazing experiences in our lives. The water all around us in buckets and bottles had frozen , we were shivering even inside sleeping bags and with all our jackets on us. so be ready for some deadly chilling winter exp if u plan to camp.
well if i go on the review will turn into a story . Go and have fun. Contact one person for all of this . Mr Ajay Bhatt from Joshimath . google up he is famous so u wont have troubles finding him. Well we also did Joshimath, near by Joshimath, Rishikesh and chopta - chandrseela trek . so i wll try to find time and write those reviews soon.
Overall Ratings
3.5 based on 18 reviews
7. Joshimath
Overall Ratings
4 based on 62 reviews
Reviewed By ddevarshi - Jaipur, India
I am not sure whether Joshimath should be treated as an 'attraction' under Chamoli or a separate destination alike Chamoli. Anyway, it serves as base station for Badrinath, Ghangaria, Hemkund, Valley of Flowers, Auli and some treks. It is relatively a better station compared to others mentioned above as it has facility of ATM and banks.There are many hotels and Guest Houses but I found that town needs some better quality restaurants. One can get taxis/shared taxis from this place to Govind Ghat or Badrinath or Chamoli or Haridwar. There is little to do at Joshimath itself. The so called attractionsofJoshimath- Narsimha Temple, shankaracharya temple, Shankaracharya math etc are not not very attractive and can be finished in an hour. The nearby attractions such as Auli, Tapovan, Badrinath etc are the reasons for tourists to stay here.
8. Auli Ski & Snowboard School
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 2 reviews
Auli Ski & Snowboard School - Destination For all Seasons & For all Reasons..!! The Snow Ski School is a small non-profit organization in the Indian Himalaya. We provide ski equipment and ski instruction to the Local skiers and local people who are not able to pay for the skies and are good skiers and snowboarders. Snow Ski School Helps local and Local kids those who are interested to skie....
Reviewed By dreams4auli - Auli, India
I was there for day ski lesson booked by auliskiing dot in website. We were 9 person and it was great experience with them. My Ski instructor mayank and shaili was one of the best ski instructor in auli. i love to do ski course next year and i hope to return back in 2018 with more friends and incredible Auli. Coming soon Auli
Thanks Auli Skiing Team
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