Badrinath - Travel Details

The Route
Delhi – Haridwar – Rishikesh – Dev Prayag – Srinagar – Rudraprayag –Pipalkoti – Karnaprayag - Nanda prayag - Joshimath – Gobind Ghat – Vishnu Prayag – Badrinath - Mana village

Distance To Badrinath from:
Delhi - 518 km,
Haridwar - 321 km
Dehradun 343 kmRishikesh - 297 km
Deoprayag - 225 km
Rudraprayag - 155 km
Karnprayag - 123 km
Joshimath - 42 km (takes 2.30 – 3.00 hours)


STD Codes
Haridwar: 0133
Devprayag : 01378
Rudraprayag : 01364
Karanprayag : 01363
Nandaprayag : 01372
Joshimath: 01389
Badrinath: 01381 (Only BSNL and Reliance telephone works here)


Accommodation
Most of the above mentioned halts have GMVN. There are a string of many other hotels as well. I have heard that during season finding a room could be extremely difficult and better to book before.

Rates: During off season the rates can go down to 300-500 and during season it will go up to 1000rs. Bargaining works. You can also get dormitory. Generally, GMVNs give a dorm free for the taxi driver.


Climate at Joshimath/Badrinath
Winter: Too Cold. Badrinath is anyway NOT accessible. Joshimath/Auli is accessible for Skiing. Obvious that you have to have loads of warm clothes.
May End-June and Oct Beginning: Very Cold. Warm clothes - a must. The roads will be brought back to proper conditions by the Force.
July - September : Pleasant. Carry one or two pullovers. Night's are cold and the hotels provide a thick rajai for you to curl in them. This time being rainy season, the condition of roads are very bad and sometimes risky.


Travel Services
There are many buses that start from Rishikesh/Haridwar to Badrinath early morning by 5.30am and vice versa from Badrinath. It will be better to book them one night before at the least. You can also hire a car/jeep for the travel purpose.


Food
From Haridwar you will find many dhaba’s on the roadside which generally provide Rice, Roti and daal and generally they are good. You will also get modified version of South Indian and Chinese. Try to get food at a smaller dhabha and in a smaller village than a hotel in a major town. Most of the hotels aren’t very clean. All these hotels serve vegetarian food only.


Shopping
Rishikesh
Best place to shop, especially for precious stones, Saligrams, Rudraksh and stuff like that. Woolen clothes are cheap here as well.

Joshimath
You will get good shawls, CDs and cassettes. They said that we could find Saligram, Rudraksh and precious stones here but we could not find much.

Badrinath
I felt that it’s very expensive to buy any precious thing here. Otherwise general shopping can be done.