[Perfection]

Char dham Yatra, Hemkund, Valley of Flowers, Amarnath Cave & Roopkund - Homkund Yatra, India

Char dham Yatra, Uttarakhand

July to Sept is the season for the above pilgrimages.

Char dham Yatra in the Himalayas include Yamnotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. All these places has temples and is accessible only during these months. Of the four dhams, Gangotri and Badrinath has direct road access. The other two pilgrim centre can be reached by 14 km one way trek or on pony.

Devotees believe that these temples have to be visited in the above order to get the right effect, srarting from Yamnotri.

Various travel agencies and GMVN are organising Char dham yatra. Badrinath is the popular one, which gets more than 30 000 pilgrims a day. In 2006, more than 7 lakh pilgrims visited Badrinath.

Kedarnath, beautiful amongst the four dhams, gets 15000 pilgrims a day.

Hemkund & Valley of Flowers, Uttarakhand

Hemkund is a Sikh pilgrim centre near Govindghat on the Badrinath route.
The gurudwara is at around 4200 m near a lake surrounded by Snow clad peaks.

Valley of Flowers is on the Hemkund route and is the only flower national park in India discovered by Frank Smithe. The area will bloom with vareity of flowers from July - Aug.

Amarnath Cave, Jammu Kashmir

Major Hindu pilgrim centre - huge cave is at 3900 m with an ice Shiv lingam. Season for the Yatra : July to Aug.

Roopkund - Homkund Yatra, Uttarakhand

Nanda Devi Jat yatra is organised once in 12 years to Homkund lake via the Mystery (skelton) lake - Roopkund (5030 m). The lake is located near Trishul peak (7120 m) and is an ardous 8 day trek at high altitude. Season : Sept.