How to reach Kedarnath
- Railhead
- Rishikesh
- Rail away
- about 228 km
- Airport
- Jolly Grant, Dehradun
- Air away
- about 248 km
- Season
- May to Nov
By train: Rishikesh
Rishikesh is the station this page treats as the railhead. It sits about 228 km from the temple town. Its Indian Railways code is RKSH.
The committee calls Haridwar the traditional starting point of the Char Dham yatra, and says it is easily accessible by road and train from other parts of India including Delhi.
By air: Jolly Grant, Dehradun
Jolly Grant, Dehradun is the airport this page treats as the nearest. It is about 248 km from the temple. On a long route the good combination is usually a flight to the closest well connected airport, then a train or a cab for the remaining distance, rather than a second flight or a day of driving.
Airport transfers are where prices are least predictable. Prepaid desks, app cabs and hotel pickups each cost something different, and at small airports the last departure of the day can be early. If you land late, plan the first night in the airport city rather than pushing on.
The committee says Dehradun has an airport and is reached by road from Haridwar, so a pilgrim can fly to Dehradun from Delhi and other cities and drive on. It links the IRCTC helicopter booking for the last stretch.
Where you can come from
The cities below are the ones the source names as connected, by rail, by air or by road. They are not a claim about every direct service, and no departure times or train numbers are printed: those change with each timetable, so the live enquiry is the only place to read them for your date.
By road. The committee describes the road from Haridwar to Rishikesh and on into the hills, with the temple season deciding the whole trip.
The last leg is the walk, pony or helicopter route from Gaurikund. No train reaches Kedarnath and the road stops short of the temple.
By road
Himalaya, seasonal. That is the shape of the approach: some temples are a straight drive into a town, others end in a climb or a crossing. Rather than print a highway number that may have changed with the last resurfacing, this page describes the approach and leaves the turn-by-turn to a live map on the day.
The last leg into Kedarnath
The road ends at Gaurikund and the last stretch is on foot, by pony or palanquin, or by helicopter from the valley. Kedarnath is the one jyotirlinga where the last leg is the trip itself.
Getting your dates right
May to November, the window the temple committee gives is the season this site plans around, with the mildest weather and the smallest chance of a road problem on the approach.
The shrine closes on the first day of Kartik and reopens in Vaishakh. The committee announces the exact dates each year, so treat any date you see elsewhere as last season's.. If the town itself closes with the temple, book the last night before the shut and the first night after the reopen, because transport thins out around both.
Mahashivratri and Shravan pull the biggest crowds of the year. Trains and rooms fill weeks ahead, and the last leg into town is the bottleneck.
On the coast and in the hills the monsoon makes the approach harder rather than the visit impossible. Plan an extra buffer day at each end of the trip.
The facts in one table
| Getting there | Nearest | Away | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Train | Rishikesh | about 228 km | Last leg by bus, jeep, auto or cab |
| Flight | Jolly Grant, Dehradun | about 248 km | Cab or a train for the rest |
| Season | May to November, the window the temple committee gives | - | The shrine closes on the first day of Kartik and reopens in Vaishakh. The committee announces the exact dates each year, so treat any date you see elsewhere as last season's. |
An "about" figure here is one a temple trust or a state source stated for this temple, and each is listed with its source at the foot of this page.