Places to Visit in Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in November 2000 after decades of hill-state agitation, and the separation was justified: the Garhwal and Kumaon Himalaya are a world apart from the Gangetic plain both geographically and culturally. The state begins in the terai — that narrow band of dense sal forest and elephant grass at the Himalayan foothills — and climbs to Nanda Devi (7,816m), India's second-highest peak, in the space of 250 kilometres. That compression explains why Uttarakhand holds everything from Project Tiger reserves at Corbett and Rajaji to glaciated alpine meadows at Bedni Bugyal, all within the same political boundary.

The spiritual geography is as dense as the physical. The Char Dham — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath — traces the sources of four sacred rivers and has drawn pilgrims since at least the 8th century, when Adi Shankaracharya systematised their theological importance. Rishikesh and Haridwar serve as the gateway cities to this pilgrimage circuit, and both have long attracted a second, parallel stream of visitors: Western spiritual seekers who arrived in force in the 1960s and never entirely left. The Beatles' 1968 stay at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh remains the most famous episode in this story, but it was neither the first nor the last.

Logistics are manageable but require planning around two distinct seasons. The yatra season runs May through June and September through October, when roads to the high shrines are open and pilgrims travel in enormous numbers — hotel prices in Rishikesh and Haridwar surge accordingly. The monsoon (July–August) closes many high-altitude routes and brings landslide risk, though the valleys remain accessible and surprisingly uncrowded. Winter (November–April) shuts the Char Dham circuit entirely, but Rishikesh functions year-round as a base. Jolly Grant Airport (Dehradun) receives daily flights from Delhi on IndiGo and Air India; the Shatabdi Express from Delhi to Haridwar takes approximately 4.5 hours. From Haridwar, Rishikesh is 24km by road, covered by frequent shared jeeps (₹30–50) or auto-rickshaws (₹200–300).