Chota Char Dham

The journey in one line

4 stops in India. Complete means all 4 visited.

The Chota Char Dham is a Himalayan circuit in Uttarakhand, separate from the all-India Char Dham despite the shared name. It runs Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath, west to east, and that order is the traditional one. Two of the four are river sources, or near enough. Yamunotri is the seat of the Yamuna and Gangotri of the Ganga. Kedarnath is a Jyotirlinga and Badrinath is a Vishnu temple. The circuit as a package is relatively modern. Road building in the twentieth century turned four hard separate journeys into one season's travel.

These shrines close. Snow shuts them for about half the year and the images are moved down the valley to winter seats, where worship continues without a break. That rhythm is the character of the route. It only exists between spring and autumn, and the opening dates are announced each year rather than fixed.

The season runs from about Akshaya Tritiya in April or May to a few days after Diwali. Exact dates are set by the temple committees. Registration for the Uttarakhand yatra is required and is done online or at counters in Haridwar and Rishikesh. Yamunotri and Kedarnath end in walks of six and sixteen kilometres. Ponies, palanquins and helicopters serve both, and helicopter slots sell out. The monsoon from late June to August brings landslides and road closures, and the 2013 floods here killed thousands. Weather warnings on this route are not decoration.

Where it goes

The stops, in order

What a visit means here. A visit means being at the shrine precinct of each of the four. The journey is complete when all four are visited in any year or across years.

1. 1

   Yamunotri

   यमुनोत्री

   Uttarkashi district, India

   

   Yamunotri is the first stop of the Chota Char Dham and the seat of the goddess Yamuna. The temple sits at about 3,200 metres and is reached by a six kilometre walk from Janki Chatti. Rice is cooked in the Surya Kund hot spring beside it and carried away as prasad.

   What counts as a visit

   The temple terrace and the Surya Kund and Divya Shila beside it.

   Access

   Open from Akshaya Tritiya in spring to Yama Dwitiya after Diwali. The last stretch is on foot, pony or palanquin. Checked 2026-09-17.

   SeasonalHigh altitude

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

2. 2

   Gangotri

   गंगोत्री

   Uttarkashi district, India

   

   Gangotri is the seat of the goddess Ganga and the second stop of the Chota Char Dham. The white granite temple by the Bhagirathi was built in the eighteenth century by a Gurkha commander. The glacier snout the river actually rises from is a further eighteen kilometres upstream at Gaumukh.

   What counts as a visit

   The temple precinct at Gangotri village and the Bhagirathi ghats beside it.

   Access

   Open roughly late April to Diwali. The village is at about 3,100 metres and the road can close in weather. Checked 2026-09-17.

   SeasonalHigh altitude

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

3. 3

   Kedarnath Temple

   केदारनाथ मंदिर

   Rudraprayag district, India

   

   Kedarnath is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas and the third stop of the Chota Char Dham, at 3,583 metres below the Kedarnath peak. The stone temple is credited to the Pandavas and was rebuilt by Adi Shankara. In the 2013 floods a boulder split the water above the temple and the building survived while the town did not.

   What counts as a visit

   The temple courtyard, reached by the sixteen kilometre walk from Gaurikund or by helicopter.

   Access

   Open roughly late April to early November. Registration is required and the walk is long and high. Checked 2026-09-17.

   SeasonalHigh altitude

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

4. 4

   Badrinath Temple

   बद्रीनाथ मंदिर

   Badrinath, India

   

   Badrinath is the northern seat of the Char Dham, a Vishnu temple at 3,133 metres beside the Alaknanda river. The black stone image of Badrinarayan is said to have been recovered from the river and installed by Adi Shankara. The temple closes for winter and the worship moves down the valley to Joshimath.

   What counts as a visit

   The temple courtyard and darshan queue, and the Tapt Kund hot spring below it.

   Access

   Open roughly late April to early November, with dates set each year by the temple committee. Registration is required for the Uttarakhand yatra. Altitude above 3,000 metres. Checked 2026-09-17.

   SeasonalHigh altitude

   Check access · last checked September 17, 2026

Respect and access

All four are working shrines with queues that can run for hours. Photography inside the sanctums is generally not allowed. Everything above three thousand metres asks for acclimatisation. Kedarnath and Hemkund kill people most years, usually from cardiac events on the climb. The mountain communities along this route were hit hard in 2013 and are still rebuilding. Treat the villages as places people live rather than as stops.

Seasonal

Access follows a season, a calendar or an event rather than being open year round.

High altitude

The place sits high enough that altitude affects who can reach it and how long it takes.

Opening times, prices, permits and eligibility change. Nothing on this page is a statement about today. Follow the Check access link on a place before you plan around it.

Sources

• uttarakhandtourism.gov.inhttps://uttarakhandtourism.gov.in/destination/yamunotri · checked September 17, 2026
• incredibleindia.gov.inhttps://www.incredibleindia.gov.in/en/uttarakhand/gangotri/gangotri-temple · checked September 17, 2026
• badrinath-kedarnath.gov.inhttps://badrinath-kedarnath.gov.in/ · checked September 17, 2026
• uttarakhandtourism.gov.inhttps://uttarakhandtourism.gov.in/destination/kedarnath

TravelDay selected and grouped these places. Naming a custodian, a government agency or UNESCO as a source is not a claim that any of them endorsed this journey.