We hope that you have heard the name of the Yamuna River. We expect at least Indians to know the name of this river. However, have you ever wondered about the origin of the Yamuna River? Are you seeking a divine journey that is filled with both spiritual awakening and natural beauty? If yes, then you have arrived at the right place.
Yes, you heard it right; we will be taking you all to the origin of the Yamuna River, i.e., Yamunotri. Now, we guess you are excited. In case you don’t know who we are………..
We call ourselves Travel Freaks………….
We have already started our Char Dham Blog series. In case you haven’t read it, checkout and plan your own itinerary. Nevertheless, you can contact us anytime, we are here to help you out.
Let’s start this blog with a common notion…….
Table of Contents
1. What is so special about visiting Yamunotri?
Yamunotri is quite popular among the Indians as it is one of the famous Char Dhams. It is located in the Uttarkashi district. It holds an immense spiritual significance as it is the origin of the Yamuna River.
Few legends even believe that Yamunotri cleanses one’s sins and ultimately paves the way for salvation. Interesting right?
Many first-timers visiting the Garhwal region (Char Dham Region mainly) would like to know……..
2. What is the best way to reach Yamunotri?
In case you are coming by flight, the nearest airport is the Dehradun Airport (Jolly Grant Airport). It is just over 200 km from Yamunotri.
Coming back to our story, let’s resume where we left off in the last blog. After a fantastic and thrilling day at Rishikesh, we were ready to depart for Yamunotri. After a light breakfast, as we had to travel for over 200 km in a bus, we departed at close to 9 o’ clock.
The most important thing to know is that you need a proper permit to visit all the Char Dham. Register yourself before planning your Char Dham Trip. Travellers can also opt for offline permission in Rishikesh.
Honestly speaking, the conveyance in the Garhwal Region can sometimes be uncomfortable. There is a reason, this Char Dham route is generally active from May to October. Hence, you can understand that bus or car service providers care least about the comfort of the Travellers as they are more interested in making money from the active months.
In our case, it was okayish, we would say. Just as we departed, we got stuck in a huge traffic queue. Somehow, after an hour, we were able to get out of traffic and move towards our destination.
On the way, we halted somewhere near the Tehri Region at a small restaurant to have our lunch. It was stunning to have lunch with a mountain view.
Yeah, you might wonder……
3. Where are we gonna stay for the night?
We were heading to Hanuman Chatti to halt for the night.
The weather in the Garhwal region is pretty unpredictable, it can rain anytime, irrespective of the season. In our case, there was a heavy downpour as we crossed Barkot late in the evening. The driver had to stop to cover our luggage that was on top of the bus.
Finally, we arrived at Hanuman Chatti close to 7 o’ clock in the evening. As it was cold, we needed to put on warm clothes even in the month of June.
Now, readers might be interested to know…….
4. How was the stay at Hanuman Chatti?
When we reached it, it was already dark, and we could barely see what was outside. In fact, there was no hotel by the side. There were little or no options for travellers deciding to stay at Hanuman Chatti. However, the stay was nice. Yes, we observed that there were maintenance issues from the hotel side, irrespective of the rent that they were charging per night.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed our stay for the night. The rooms were in the form of cottages. As we were tired after a whole day’s journey, we had our dinner and tried to sleep early as we were to depart for Yamunotri the next day early morning.
Our readers can opt for a stay at Hanuman Chatti, visit Yamunotri the next day and depart soon after returning, as there are not many stay options available to choose from.
Unfortunately, we could not have a sound sleep due to the various sounds we could hear from outside the cottage.
Yes, we understand your important question…..
5. How did we reach Yamunotri from Hanuman Chatti?
We were to depart from Yamunotri sharp at seven o’ clock in the morning. As usual, we were ready by 6.30 AM and packed our breakfast to have after reaching Yamunotri.
Our bus departed from Hanuman Chatti sharp at seven o’ clock and reached Janki Chatti within 15 minutes. It was hardly 8 km from our stay.
The 6 km trek to Yamunotri starts from Janki Chatti. As the bus parked in the parking lot, there were around a hundred persons standing and trying to influence us to hire a mule or pony. It was really difficult to convince that we could reach the top without a mule.
We even noticed stay options at Janki Chatti too. Our readers can also opt for a night stay at Janki Chatti.
We would even suggest the elderly person opt for either Dandi (four people carry a chair on their shoulder) or Kandi (a basket kind on which a child or an elderly person sit and a porter carries on the back).
Coming back to our story, we started to trek slowly but steadily. Initially, we thought it would be an easy job. However, as the distance was reduced to 3 km from 6 km, the steepness increased a lot.
In the meantime, we clicked pictures to capture the beauty that the place offered. We really enjoyed the view. However, the road was slippery with faeces or excreta of ponies and mules. We would suggest our readers be very careful, in case they are hiking like us.
On the way to the top, we stopped twice to have tea and within 3 hours, we reached the top.
Yes, many of you might now wonder……..
6. How was the experience of Yamunotri Temple?
To be honest, it was too much crowd near the entrance to the top. We put off our shoes at a designated place, and slowly, we entered the temple. The surrounding was breathtaking.
On the way to the main temple, we crossed the Surya Kund, a hot water spring. We spotted many were bathing. There were separate designated places for men and women. In fact, we saw pilgrims cooking rice and potato in boiling kund water. It was such an amazing thing to see.
We even saw a place where the Yamuna River originated, we had to wait for 10 minutes in the queue to see it. It was a new experience for us, though.
After spending close to an hour at the temple complex and seeking divine blessings, we decided to have our packed breakfast. After having breakfast, it was time for us to reach Janki Chatti slowly.
As we went downhill, we saw a long queue of pilgrimages either on a mule or by foot moving uphill. We felt it was a good decision to reach the top as early as possible to avoid such a queue.
Our readers can take a clue while planning a trip to Yamunotri.
It was close to noon when we reached Janki Chatti. Our bus was waiting for us at the parking lot.
We waited for our other passenger to arrive at the parking. After an hour, we departed for our stay at Hanuman Chatti. Lunch was already ready by then. Quickly, we had a light lunch as we were to depart for our next destination in Char Dham.
Hope we gave you a glimpse of Yamunotri and we can also help you plan yours.
If anyone wishes to visit Char Dham or anywhere in India or Nepal, they can click here and explore the various itineraries available on their site. They provide affordable budget packages.
One last thing before we sign out……
7. What kind of help are we gonna provide?
Let us inform you that we prepare itineraries not only for anywhere in India but also for Asia. We have been travelling since we were toddlers. So here in our blogs and stories, we will be giving you a glimpse of our journey and also helping you to plan your trip.
Read about our Uzbekistan blogs.
Read about our Kazakhstan blogs.
Read about our Singapore blogs.
Read about our Vietnam blogs.
Read about our Cambodia blogs.
Read about our Bali blogs.
Read about our Kuala Lumpur blog series.
Read about our Sri Lanka blogs.
Read about our Nepal blogs.
Read about our Char Dham blogs.
Read about our Ladakh blogs.
Read about our day trip to Hyderabad.
Read about our Madhya Pradesh blogs.
Read about our Andaman and Nicobar blogs.
Do follow our Instagram handle @mindfulllofvacations and keep an eye out for the next destination story of Char Dham series. For any query related to any trip, drop a mail at @mitkau007@gmail.com.
by mitkau