Tour package
₹142,000
Quoted for our family of four, 10 days / 9 nights, including GST.
Included
- Private vehicle and driver
- Accommodation
- Breakfast and dinner
- Help with pilgrimage registration
- Sightseeing as set out in the package itinerary
Our April 2026 costs
Our April 2026 experience — not a current quotation.
Known subtotal before other extras
- Tour package
- ₹142,000
- Kedarnath helicopter-related spend
- ₹42,977
Helicopter breakdown: official IRCTC ticket ₹26,977 + tour-company booking assistance ₹16,000.
₹184,977
This is the known subtotal before other extras, not the total trip cost. It excludes:
- International flights
- Delhi–Dehradun transfer
- Pitthu/pony/doli
- Puja/ritual expenses
- Tips
- Shopping
- Laundry
- Other personal expenses
Our Kedarnath helicopter cost: April 2026
Paid separately from the package. Our family’s actual spend, not a current price.
Official IRCTC ticket
₹26,977
for 4 passengers (our family of four)
- Helicopter fare
- ₹25,561.20
- IRCTC convenience fee
- ₹1,416
Our official Kedarnath helicopter ticket cost in April 2026 was ₹26,977 for our family of four.
Booked through IRCTC HeliYatra as a General booking: Sirsi → Shri Kedarnath, returning the next day. The operator on our ticket was Himalayan Heli Services Limited.
Tour-company booking assistance
₹16,000 total
₹4,000 per person × 4 passengers, actually paid
This ₹16,000 was not an IRCTC or government charge. It was the tour company’s own booking-assistance fee, and other travel companies may charge differently.
The tour-company quotation stated that its booking-assistance fee became non-refundable once the ticket had been successfully booked, even if the flight was subsequently cancelled under the circumstances described in their terms.
Total helicopter-related spend
₹42,977
Official IRCTC ticket ₹26,977 + tour-company booking assistance ₹16,000. Our family’s actual helicopter-related spend in April 2026.
From our ticket and our quotation
Refunds worked differently for each part
- Official helicopter fare
- Our ticket’s terms said that if a flight is cancelled by the operator, because of weather or by government order, the applicable fare is refunded under the booking policy.
- IRCTC convenience and transaction charges
- The same terms said some payment, convenience or transaction charges may be excluded from that refund.
- Tour-company booking-assistance fee
- Our quotation said this fee was non-refundable once the ticket had been booked.
A summary of what our documents said in April 2026, not legal advice.
Package snapshot
- Trip
- 10 days / 9 nights
- Family
- 2 adults + 2 children
- Children’s ages during the trip
- 4 and 7
- Quoted vehicle
- Toyota Innova Crystalisted as “Crysta Luxury”
- Vehicle we actually got
- Toyota Innova Hycrossan upgrade
- Meals
- Breakfast and dinner
- Lunch
- Not included
- Rooms
- 1 room + 1 extra bedper the quotation
- Hotel category in the quotation
- Deluxe hotel or similarKedarnath was described as very basic accommodation
- Start and end point in the quotation
- Haridwar
- Our actual pickup
- Dehradunwe were staying with relatives there
What the package included
Summarised from our quotation.
- Hotel accommodation
- Vehicle and transfers
- Breakfast and dinner
- Sightseeing as set out in the itinerary
- Fuel
- Driver allowance
- Parking and tolls
- State tax
- Transport and hotel taxes, as the quotation described them
What wasn’t included
Our quotation listed these as extras. Budget for them separately.
- Personal expenses
- Tips
- Porters
- Laundry
- Guide fees
- Insurance
- Helicopter tickets
- Pony, doli or pitthu hire
- Local auto-rickshaw or taxi rides
- Extra costs caused by weather, landslides or route disruption
We did thisFirst-hand experience, April 2026
On our trip, we paid separately for the Kedarnath helicopter, pitthus for the children at Yamunotri, the pujas we took part in, and the early-morning Abhishek ticket at Badrinath.
Booked vs actual
Where our journey differed from the original package plan.
Barkot hotel
Original package plan
Yamunotri Paradise, “or similar”.
Our actual journey
Monkey Trail, in a Swiss tent.
We did this
A very comfortable family tent with an attached concrete bathroom, and an excellent dinner. We had worried about staying in a tent with two small children; it turned out to be a good experience.
Kedarnath
Original package plan
The quotation’s hotel table included one night at Kedarnath, described as very basic accommodation.
Its day-by-day description, though, assumed the trek from Gaurikund and said to return to Sitapur on Day 6, so the quotation itself was inconsistent on this point.
Our actual journey
Helicopter from Sirsi, an overnight stay at Kedarnath, a visit to Bhairavnath Temple, evening darshan, a Laghu Rudrabhishek late at night, and the helicopter back the next morning.
We did this
The biggest difference for us was going by helicopter from Sirsi, rather than the trek from Gaurikund that the quotation’s daily description assumed.
Vehicle
Original package plan
Toyota Innova Crysta.
Our actual journey
Upgraded to a Toyota Innova Hycross.
We did this
An excellent family vehicle for two adults, two children and our luggage. The children had enough space to rest on the long mountain drives.
Extra sacred stops
Original package plan
The standard package didn’t describe many of the stops we added along the way. It did list the Prakateshwar Mahadev cave temple on Day 3.
Our actual journey
Several of the stops we added came from this list: Lakhamandal, Pandav Gufa, the lesser-known Jagannath Temple near Uttarkashi, the Guptkashi temples, Triyuginarayan, Kalimath, Ukhimath / Omkareshwar, Chopta and Gopinath Temple at Gopeshwar.
We did this
Our experienced local driver, together with recommendations from family and local people, made these additions possible.
Our actual stays
Short first-hand notes, not formal reviews.
Barkot · Nights 1–2
Monkey Trail
Swiss tent with a large bed, a small sit-out and an attached concrete bathroom. Dinner was particularly good.
Uttarkashi · Nights 3–4
Gangotri Paradise
Fairly simple, but a lovely riverside setting beside the Bhagirathi, with local vegetarian Garhwali food.
Sitapur · Nights 5 and 7
Nanda Resort
Our base for Kedarnath. After the night at Kedarnath we came back here to rest, shower and do laundry.
Kedarnath · Night 6
Frontier Stay
A few minutes’ walk from the temple. It was below freezing; the hotel provided heavy quilts.
Badrinath · Night 8
New Urvashi
We arrived in the evening and went for general darshan the same night, then attended the early-morning Abhishek.
Pipalkoti · Night 9
Harela Inn
Our overnight stop after Badrinath and Mana, before the drive down via Devprayag.
What the helicopter changed for our family
We did thisFirst-hand experience, April 2026
- Travelling with two small children was part of why we chose the helicopter.
- We flew from Sirsi helipad and stayed overnight at Kedarnath.
- Weather cancellation remained a real risk throughout.
- We were prepared to trek if the flights didn’t operate.
From our quotation
What the quotation stated
- A helicopter fare table labelled 2025. We haven’t reproduced it here; those fares are out of date.
- A tour-company booking-assistance fee of ₹4,000 per person, on top of the official helicopter ticket.
- That once the ticket had been booked, this fee was non-refundable, including if the ticket was later cancelled because of bad weather, another operational reason or customer cancellation, under the quoted terms.
- That the official ticket fare follows its own cancellation and refund policy, separately from the fee.
This is what the operator’s document said, not a legal reading of it.
We did thisFirst-hand experience, April 2026
What we actually paid
We paid ₹26,977 for our official IRCTC helicopter tickets for the four of us, separately from the package, plus ₹16,000 to the tour company for booking assistance (₹4,000 × 4). In total our helicopter-related spend was ₹42,977 in April 2026.
How our payment worked
We did thisFirst-hand experience, April 2026
Our experience
- An initial deposit.
- A further payment during the booking and voucher process.
- Most of the balance before or around the start of the journey.
This is how we remember it, roughly. We don’t have exact dates or percentages for each payment.
From our quotation
What the quotation stated
- A minimum advance of 25%.
- The remaining balance 15 days before travel.
- Special or peak-season situations could require a larger advance, or full payment in advance.
Payment terms vary by operator and season. Read your own quotation’s terms.
Our verdict
What worked particularly well for us
We did thisFirst-hand experience, April 2026
- A comfortable vehicle
- An experienced local driver
- Flexibility to add sacred stops along the way
- Hotels and route well coordinated
- Help with pilgrimage registration
- Help with the helicopter booking
- Family-friendly pacing on several days
What we would verify before booking again
Please read before using these figures
This is a description of our family’s April 2026 experience and our quotation. It is not a current price quote, and we are not affiliated with the tour operator.