The four Himalayan shrines of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath: how we travelled them in ten days with a 4- and a 7-year-old, and what we’d want you to know.
Before you go
Start with our ten-day route, then arrange registration, transport and any special pujas separately. The route and costs below describe our April 2026 family trip.
The official portal describes three steps: register or log in; create a tour with its dates, travellers and dham visits; then enter pilgrim details and download the Yatra Registration Letter. Carry the letter for verification. Registration is free. Check the vehicle-registration requirements too. Our package included registration assistance; we arranged pujas ourselves through family and driver contacts.
Treat these as separate arrangements. Use IRCTC HeliYatra for the Kedarnath shuttle and BKTC for its available Kedarnath and Badrinath pujas. Before paying, check the date, attending versus non-attending puja, number of participants and reporting instructions. Keep each confirmation. A registration letter by itself is not a helicopter ticket or puja receipt.
We arranged the pujas ourselves using contacts shared by an uncle who had visited before and by our driver. The operator also offered assistance, but we used those personal contacts. This was separate from the operator-arranged helicopter booking. For a new visitor without those contacts, begin with the official booking service where available and confirm exactly what the payment includes.
We completed this ten-day route with children aged 4 and 7, a driver and helicopter travel to Kedarnath. That is evidence of what worked for us, rather than a minimum for every family. A trek-based journey or a slower group needs a different schedule. Leave flexibility around mountain travel and avoid tying an uncertain flight return to a tight onward connection.
Our family-of-four package was ₹142,000 including GST. The official helicopter ticket was ₹26,977, plus ₹16,000 charged by our tour company for booking assistance. The known subtotal is ₹184,977. It excludes flights, the Delhi–Dehradun transfer, pitthus, pujas and other personal costs. Use the full breakdown to compare inclusions, rather than treating the subtotal as a complete budget.
Yamunotri was our major trek: about 6 km each way, with approximately three hours uphill for the two adults. We flew to Kedarnath and still walked around the temple area and to nearby sights. Gangotri and Badrinath were road-access visits on our trip. With an older relative, ask about the actual parking-to-temple walk and steps before choosing accommodation; our children’s experience does not establish accessibility for another visitor.
The shrines are high in the mountains and open only for part of the year, so the season and the mountain weather shape much of the planning.
Each page follows the same structure: why pilgrims come, what we did, how we got there, what surprised us, advice for children, and what you need to check.
Goddess Yamuna
The first dham in the customary order, and the only one we reached on foot. The trek was much steeper than we expected.
Goddess Ganga
A day trip from Uttarkashi: darshan of Maa Ganga, a riverside puja in very cold water, and a beautiful drive through Harsil.
Lord Shiva
By helicopter from Sirsi, with a night a few minutes’ walk from the temple, below-freezing cold and a late-night Laghu Rudrabhishek.
Lord Vishnu as Badrinarayan
The last of the four dhams: evening darshan on arrival, a pre-dawn Abhishek, rites for our ancestors, and a morning at Mana.
The high shrines close for the winter months. For two of them, the temple committee’s own pages describe where worship continues.
Omkareshwar Temple, Ukhimath
According to the temple committee (BKTC), after Kedarnath closes for winter the Utsav Doli of Lord Kedarnath is brought to the Omkareshwar Temple at Ukhimath, where winter puja of Lord Kedarnath is performed.
We visited Omkareshwar Temple on Day 8 of our journey.
Pandukeshwar, and Joshimath
BKTC states that Yogdhyan Badri at Pandukeshwar houses the winter Utsav images of Uddhav and Kuber. Badrinath’s winter worship is also associated in tradition with the Narsingh Temple at Joshimath. Because more than one place is involved, we haven’t reduced it to a single “winter seat”.
Official source
We haven’t yet confirmed where Yamunotri and Gangotri are worshipped in winter from an official source, so we don’t list them here.
We did thisFirst-hand experience, April 2026
We travelled for 10 days and 9 nights in a private vehicle with a driver, arranged as a package through a tour operator. We were promised an Innova Crysta and upgraded to an Innova Hycross.
Yamunotri meant a trek from Janki Chatti; the children went by pitthu. Gangotri and Badrinath we reached by road. For Kedarnath we flew by helicopter from Sirsi and stayed one night near the temple.
On one long mountain day, our experienced local driver took a route that avoided some of the main-road traffic.
These were our choices with a 4- and a 7-year-old in April 2026, not rules for every family.
Our package quotation, what we actually received, what changed on the road (the biggest change was Kedarnath by helicopter instead of the trek), and the extra costs we paid separately.
We did this
Our tour package: ₹142,000for our 10-day / 9-night package, family of four, including GST
Some of the moments we remember best were at stops between the dhams: a cave temple on the way to Uttarkashi, the first puja at Kalimath, the confluence at Devprayag.