केदारनाथ

Darshan and booking at Kedarnath

Kedarnath is an active temple, not a ticket window with a monument behind it. The free queue is the default and usually all you need. This page covers what the free queue gets you, what paid entry buys where the trust offers it, the aarti pattern, and the rules you meet at the gate.

Default: Free queue
Paid option: Shorter line
Aarti: Morning to night
Phones: Not in the sanctum
Best season: May to Nov

Free queue and paid darshan

Free queue

Costs nothing, and on a normal weekday it moves well. You share the line with everyone else, and a festival can turn a short wait into hours. This is the option to plan around unless there is a reason not to.

Paid darshan, where the trust offers it

This buys a shorter line, not a closer look. You still reach the same linga, still at the same moment of the queue, just with fewer people between you and it. Where the trust caps the lounge for an aarti, paid entry is also the way into that slot.

Darshan itself is free and open to everyone in the season. What is bought ahead is a puja, a path, an aarti or a bhog, not entry.

All of it is booked on the committee site, badrinath-kedarnath.gov.in, and prior registration with an Indian mobile number is mandatory. Yatra registration is separate and runs on registrationandtouristcare.uk.gov.in. A helicopter shuttle ticket can only be booked on heliyatra.irctc.co.in.

Any paid darshan at Kedarnath is bought from the temple trust's own counter or its own official site, and nowhere else. No shop, agent, hotel desk or online reseller can sell you a shortcut into the temple.

What the trust charges at Kedarnath

The charges below are the ones the temple trust itself publishes. Anything quoted by a shop, an agent or a hotel desk for the same ritual is not the trust's price.

Mahabhishek pujaMorning	Rs 8,500
Rudrabhishek pujaMorning	Rs 6,500
Laghurudrabhishek pujaMorning	Rs 5,500
Shodashopachaar pujaMorning	Rs 5,000
Ashtopachaar pujaMorning	Rs 850
Panchopachaar pujaMorning	Rs 850
Entire puja of the dayMorning	Rs 26,000
Shiv Ashtotari pathEvening	Rs 900
Entire evening aartiEvening	Rs 2,500

Source: badrinath-kedarnath.gov.in.

What is worth booking ahead

Aarti at a capped hall

Where the temple lounge has a fixed number of places, the aarti is the one thing that sells out. Book it from the trust before the trip, not at the gate.

Festival-day darshan

On Mahashivratri and through Shravan the paid line is often suspended and the free queue runs for hours. Book transport and a bed first, then decide about darshan.

Special rites

Rites such as a rudrabhishek or a named puja are booked with the trust or the temple priest in advance, and they come with their own slot rather than the general queue.

Nothing else

Ordinary darshan on a normal weekday needs no booking at all. Turn up, join the free queue, and keep the day loose.

Dress code and what you cannot take in

Access and the walk

The last road point is Gaurikund and the temple is 16 km on foot from there, with pony, palanquin and helicopter as the alternatives.

Other notices

A green card and vehicle permit for the Char Dham route is issued at greencard.uk.gov.in.
The committee help line for Kedarnath is +91-8534001008, given as Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM.

The exact dress notice and the list of banned items are posted at each gate.

What a first-time visitor can skip

Skipping the paid line on a normal weekday. The free queue moves, and the money is better spent on the trip.
Skipping every shop outside the gate. Almost everything sold there can be bought in any town, and much of it is bought on the way out.
Skipping the rush hour at the tank or the wells. They are calm an hour after the main queue thins out.

What this page was checked against

Every figure on this page comes from a source this site read, listed here so you can open the same page.

Map positionbadrinath-kedarnath.gov.in/AboutUs/shri-kedarnath.aspxPin of the Google map place Kedarnath Temple linked from the committee page (View Location on Google Map). This is the map pin of the temple, not a surveyed gate position.
Station code RKSH for Rishikeshenquiry.indianrail.gov.in/mntes/javascripts/station_data.jsYog Nagari Rishikesh (YNRK) is a separate station in the same list.
Season window, rail and air distance, the 16 km trek, stay optionsbadrinath-kedarnath.gov.in/AboutUs/shri-kedarnath.aspxThe overview block gives Rishikesh at 228 km and Jolly Grant at 248 km. The how-to-reach text lower down the same page says 243 km and 235 km instead, so the two figures disagree on the committee's own site.
Puja and aarti chargesbadrinath-kedarnath.gov.in/AboutUs/shri-kedarnath.aspxThe rate table is on the same page. The page still carries a Covid note saying pilgrim visits are suspended, which no longer applies.
Booking route, yatra registration, vehicle permit and helicopter booking, help line numbersbadrinath-kedarnath.gov.in/Default.aspx

Common questions about darshan at Kedarnath

How do I book a paid darshan or an aarti at Kedarnath?

Only from Kedarnath's own temple trust: the counter at the temple, the trust's own office, or the trust's official website where it has one. Anyone outside the temple selling you a ticket, a shortcut or a "special pass" is not the trust. The rules on this page come back to that point.

Is the free darshan at Kedarnath enough?

Yes, for most visitors. The free queue gives the same darshan at the linga as the paid line. What paid entry buys is a shorter wait, not a different view, and on festival days it may not be available at all.

Plan the rest of Kedarnath

Temple guideTimings, what to see and what is around Where to stayDharamshalas at the temple, BKTC guest houses at Sonprayag and Guptkashi How to reachRishikesh and Jolly Grant, Dehradun