The Omkareshwar temple at Ukhimath, where Kedarnath is worshipped through the winter, in April 2009. Photo © Varun Shiv Kapur, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
When the four high shrines close for the winter, worship moves down the valleys. Where each deity spends the cold months, when this season’s doors close, how far each winter seat is by road, and what snow does to the trip.
The short answer: The four Char Dham temples close for the winter in November, and the pilgrimage carries on lower down, where each deity is worshipped until the doors open again in spring. Kedarnath’s winter seat is the Omkareshwar temple at Ukhimath. Badrinath’s are the Yogadhyan Badri temple at Pandukeshwar and the Narsingh temple at Jyotirmath, the town most people still call Joshimath. Gangotri’s is the Ganga temple at Mukhba, near Harsil, and Yamunotri’s is the Yamuna temple at Kharsali, across the river from Janki Chatti. This season Gangotri closes on 10 November, Kedarnath and Yamunotri on 11 November and Badrinath on 16 November. The state has run this winter Char Dham yatra officially since December 2024, and it is still quiet: about 28,000 people visited the four winter seats between late October 2025 and mid-January 2026, most of them at Ukhimath. Ukhimath and Jyotirmath are the easiest to reach in winter, while the roads to Mukhba and Kharsali were shut by snow for a time last January.
By Meghna Bora, Contributor, Nainital. About the author ↓
The rest of this page holds good every winter. The dates below change each year, so they sit here with the day we checked them.
Winter 2026-27: when the doors close and when the deities reach their winter seats
| Shrine | Doors close | Winter seat | Deity arrives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gangotri | Tuesday 10 November, 12:05 pm (Annakoot) | Ganga temple, Mukhba | 11 November |
| Kedarnath | Wednesday 11 November, 8:30 am (Bhai Dooj) | Omkareshwar temple, Ukhimath | On the third day in past years; the 2026 halts had not been announced |
| Yamunotri | Wednesday 11 November, 10:28 am (Bhai Dooj) | Yamuna temple, Kharsali | The same day |
| Badrinath | Monday 16 November, 9:37 pm | Yogadhyan Badri, Pandukeshwar, and the Narsingh temple, Jyotirmath | Leaves on 17 November; Adi Shankaracharya’s gaddi reaches Jyotirmath on 18 November |
Sources: Amar Ujala (Uttarkashi, 19 October 2026, for Gangotri; Chamoli and Dehradun, 20 October 2026, for Badrinath, Kedarnath and Yamunotri), ETV Bharat (20 October 2026), Panchjanya (21 October 2026) and Shikhar Himalaya (20 October 2026, for the Badrinath doli dates).
Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri stand high in the Garhwal Himalaya, where snow covers the temples and the paths to them from November to April. So every autumn the temple committees close the doors on a day fixed by the Hindu calendar. Gangotri closes on Annakoot, the day of Govardhan puja after Diwali, and Kedarnath and Yamunotri on Bhai Dooj. Badrinath’s date is worked out by the temple’s priests and announced on Vijayadashami, and it usually falls in the second half of November. After a last puja the festival image of each deity is carried down in a decorated palanquin, the doli, with a procession of priests and villagers, to a temple lower in the same valley. Worship carries on there all winter. Badrinath is the exception in one respect: the main idol stays inside the closed temple, and it is the images of Uddhav and Kuber and the gaddi (seat) of Adi Shankaracharya that come down.
Pilgrims have always visited these winter seats, but the idea of going round all four as a winter Char Dham yatra is recent. ETV Bharat credits Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand of Jyotirmath with starting a winter pilgrimage in 2023. The state government took it up the next year: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurated the first official winter yatra at the Omkareshwar temple in Ukhimath on 8 December 2024, and two days later announced 25 per cent off the tariff at Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) hotels for winter pilgrims. Prime Minister Narendra Modi prayed at the Ganga temple in Mukhba on 6 March 2025 and spoke about winter tourism at Harsil the same day.
The numbers are still small next to the summer yatra, which passed 60 lakh pilgrims in 2026. ETV Bharat put the winter of 2024-25 at 77,093 visitors, while the tourism minister spoke of “more than 70,000”. For last winter ETV Bharat had 27,672 visitors to the four seats between 24 October 2025 and 15 January 2026: 16,950 at Ukhimath, 6,407 at Pandukeshwar and Jyotirmath together, 3,298 at Mukhba and 1,017 at Kharsali. By 16 March 2026 the Badri-Kedar Temple Committee had counted 31,736 at Ukhimath and 20,054 at Pandukeshwar and the Narsingh temple. For a pilgrim that means short queues, an unhurried darshan and rooms that are easy to find, with weather and roads being the only real difficulty.
Kedarnath’s winter seat is the Omkareshwar temple at Ukhimath, in Rudraprayag district, 41 km by road from Rudraprayag and 1,311 m above sea level by the district’s figure. It is the lowest and the busiest of the winter seats, a small town with a market and hotels rather than a village, and the one least likely to have snow. The temple is also the winter home of Madmaheshwar, one of the Panch Kedar, and it is where the date for Kedarnath’s reopening is announced every year on Mahashivratri.
The doli leaves Kedarnath on the morning the doors close and takes three days to come down. Last year it closed on 23 October, spent that night at Rampur, the next at the Vishwanath temple in Guptkashi, and reached Ukhimath on 25 October. If the same pattern holds this year, Kedarnath will be in Ukhimath from about 13 November, but check the halts when the temple committee publishes them. Tungnath, the highest of the Panch Kedar, spends the winter at Makkumath, also in Rudraprayag district; our winter treks guide covers the walk to Tungnath and Chandrashila and the rules on it in winter.
From Rishikesh, Ukhimath is 174 km by Google Maps, about 5 hours 15 minutes without stops, up the Alaknanda valley on NH 7 to Rudraprayag and then up the Mandakini valley past Kund.
Badrinath splits its winter between two places. After the doors close, the images of Uddhav and Kuber are carried to the Yogadhyan Badri temple at Pandukeshwar, one of the Panch Badri, on the Badrinath road about 20 km beyond Jyotirmath (Google Maps gives 20.7 km and about 40 minutes; the Chamoli district gives 24 km). The gaddi of Adi Shankaracharya goes to the Narsingh temple in Jyotirmath, the town whose name the Centre approved changing from Joshimath in June 2024. This year the processions leave Badrinath on 17 November, and the gaddi reaches Jyotirmath on 18 November. Last year, when Badrinath closed on 25 November, Uddhav and Kuber stayed at Pandukeshwar from the 26th and the gaddi reached the Narsingh temple on the 27th.
A winter pilgrim usually visits both, Jyotirmath first because it is the bigger town with the rooms, then the short drive up to Pandukeshwar. Jyotirmath is at about 1,875 m. Land subsidence cracked hundreds of its houses in early 2023 and has kept the Auli ropeway shut since, so check local advisories before you go. The Badrinath highway above Pandukeshwar can close after heavy snow: on 28 February 2025 it was shut beyond Lambagad, which is further up the valley, and Pandukeshwar itself stayed open. From Rishikesh it is 245 km to Jyotirmath and 261 km to Pandukeshwar on Google Maps, about seven and a half to eight hours without stops. Auli is 12.3 km above Jyotirmath by road, and our guide to Auli in winter covers its snow and the road up.
Goddess Ganga spends the winter at the Ganga temple in Mukhba, also spelt Mukhwa, a village a few kilometres up the Bhagirathi from Harsil in Uttarkashi district. At about 2,620 m it is, with Kharsali, one of the two high winter seats, and snow reaches it most winters. The doli leaves Gangotri after the doors close and stops for a night on the way; last year the halt was at the Markandeya temple, and the goddess was installed at Mukhba the next day. This year the doors close on 10 November and the doli reaches Mukhba on Bhai Dooj, 11 November, with an Army band leading it, Amar Ujala reported.
Mukhba is the place where the Prime Minister prayed in March 2025, but it is still the second quietest of the four, with 3,298 visitors between late October 2025 and mid-January 2026. Harsil, at 2,660 m and 75 km above Uttarkashi by the district’s figures, is the base for it and has most of the rooms. From Rishikesh it is 240 km to Mukhba on Google Maps, about seven and a half hours without stops, up the Bhagirathi valley through Chamba and Uttarkashi on NH 34.
Goddess Yamuna winters at the Yamuna temple in Kharsali, also called Khushimath, a village across the river from Janki Chatti, the last road point below Yamunotri. Her doli comes down on the day the doors close, escorted by the doli of Shani Dev from Kharsali’s own temple, and she is installed at Kharsali the same evening. This year that is 11 November, after the doors close at 10:28 am.
Kharsali is the quietest of the four seats by a wide margin: ETV Bharat counted 1,017 visitors between late October 2025 and mid-January 2026. The roads to it are also the ones most likely to close. On 28 January 2026 snow shut the Phoolchatti to Kharsali road entirely and blocked the Yamunotri highway in places between Rana Chatti and Janki Chatti. Barkot, down the valley, is the usual base. From Rishikesh it is 234 km to Kharsali on Google Maps, about seven and a quarter hours without stops, through Barkot.
The traditional order runs from west to east, Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and then Badrinath, and the winter seats follow it. We measured each leg on Google Maps on 21 October 2026, starting and ending at the Rishikesh bus station. The times are without stops and assume clear roads.
| Leg | Distance | Drive without stops | Way |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rishikesh to Kharsali | 234 km | 7 h 14 min | Up the Bhagirathi to Dharasu, then over to Barkot and up the Yamuna |
| Kharsali to Mukhba | 202 km | 7 h 28 min | Back through Barkot to Dharasu, then up the Bhagirathi through Uttarkashi and Harsil |
| Mukhba to Ukhimath | 272 km | 9 h 39 min | Back down the Bhagirathi through Uttarkashi, then east to the Mandakini valley |
| Ukhimath to Jyotirmath | 151 km | 4 h 17 min | Down to Rudraprayag and up the Alaknanda through Karnaprayag and Chamoli on NH 7 |
| Jyotirmath to Pandukeshwar | 20.7 km | 39 min | On up the Badrinath road |
| Pandukeshwar back to Rishikesh | 261 km | 7 h 55 min | Down the Alaknanda on NH 7 |
That is about 1,140 km and close to 38 hours at the wheel, which in winter, with daylight from about seven in the morning to half past five in the evening, means seven or eight days rather than five. The long legs, Kharsali to Mukhba and Mukhba to Ukhimath, are best broken overnight at Uttarkashi. Doing all four in one go is hard in winter. The easier plan is Ukhimath and Jyotirmath with Pandukeshwar together, since they lie on the same road from Rishikesh and stay open in most weather, and Mukhba and Kharsali as a separate trip when the forecast is clear.
The four seats are very different in winter. Ukhimath, at 1,311 m, is the lowest and the easiest to reach, and we found no reports of snow closing its road in recent winters. Jyotirmath and Pandukeshwar, at around 1,900 m, lie below the stretch of the Badrinath highway that snow closes. Mukhba and Kharsali, high up at the head of their valleys, are where the trouble comes. On 28 January 2026 the Harsil to Mukhba road was closed as a precaution after snow, and on the Gangotri highway only four-wheel-drive vehicles with chains were let past Sukki Top; on 20 March 2026 fresh snow shut Sukki Top again and left Mukhba without power. The same January day closed the road to Kharsali.
On the map, the quickest way from Ukhimath to Jyotirmath looks like the road over Chopta to Gopeshwar, but it climbs to about 2,900 m and is shut by snow in most winters, so Google Maps sends you round by Rudraprayag instead, and so should you. Our guide to where to see snow in Uttarakhand has the snow record for Chopta, Harsil and Auli above Jyotirmath.
Three habits make the trip safer. Drive only in daylight and plan to be at the night’s stop by about 4 PM, because shaded bends freeze once the sun goes. Ask locally, at the police check post or your hotel, about the road ahead each morning after snow. And hire a local driver if you have never driven on a frozen hill road. We found no winter bus timetable beyond the district towns, so for the last stretch to Mukhba or Kharsali plan on a hired car or a taxi from Uttarkashi or Barkot.
Rooms. GMVN, the state’s Garhwal tourism corporation, runs a tourist complex at Ukhimath, from which last winter’s official yatra set out on 4 December 2025, and has rest houses in Jyotirmath and along the other valleys; its own booking site lists them. The 25 per cent winter discount announced in December 2024 had no end date in the reports we found, and nothing had been announced for this winter when we checked, so ask when you book. Ukhimath and Jyotirmath are towns with hotels and homestays open all winter. Mukhba and Kharsali are villages, so most visitors stay at Harsil for Mukhba and at Barkot or Janki Chatti for Kharsali.
Darshan. We could not find official darshan or aarti timings for any of the five temples, and the hours quoted on travel sites for Ukhimath disagree with one another. Plan to arrive in the morning or for the evening aarti and ask at the temple about the day’s timings. Timings change with the season at most hill temples, as they do at Kainchi Dham, where our darshan timings page sets out the summer and winter hours.
Registration. Registration is compulsory for the summer Char Dham yatra. For the winter seats we found no official word either way: when the Chief Minister launched the winter yatra in December 2024 he asked officials to strengthen the registration portal for winter pilgrims, but no rule for this winter had been published when we checked. Look at the state’s registration and tourist care site before you set out.
For anyone starting in Kumaon, the two Garhwal seats on the Alaknanda side are closer than they look. The road from Haldwani to Ukhimath climbs through Bhimtal and Bhowali, passes Kainchi Dham on the way to Khairna and Ranikhet, then runs on through Dwarahat and over the hills to Karnaprayag, where it joins the Badrinath road. We measured it on Google Maps on 21 October 2026, from the main gate of the Haldwani bus stand.
| To | Distance | Drive without stops | Way |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ukhimath | 285 km | 8 h 45 min to 9 h 25 min | Bhowali, Ranikhet, Dwarahat, Karnaprayag, Rudraprayag |
| Jyotirmath (Narsingh temple) | 293 km | 9 h 38 min | Bhowali, Ranikhet, Karnaprayag, Chamoli |
| Pandukeshwar | 310 km | 10 h 12 min | As for Jyotirmath, then 21 km on |
| Kharsali | 462 km | 12 h | Down to the plains and round by Dehradun and Barkot |
| Mukhba | 491 km | 12 h 24 min | Down to the plains and up through Rishikesh and Uttarkashi |
So Ukhimath and Jyotirmath with Pandukeshwar make a practical four-day trip from Haldwani, while Mukhba and Kharsali are better reached from Dehradun or Rishikesh. In winter nine hours of hill driving does not fit comfortably into one day of light, so break the first day at Karnaprayag or Rudraprayag, then reach Ukhimath the next morning, go on to Jyotirmath and Pandukeshwar on the third day, and come back over the same road. A taxi from Haldwani is easier than driving yourself; our Haldwani cab guide has the operators, and our guide to the road to Kainchi Dham covers the first two hours of the road. If you are coming from Delhi by train, Kathgodam is the station for this route and Rishikesh or Haridwar for the Garhwal one.
The opening dates are announced in stages through late winter. Kedarnath’s is announced at the Omkareshwar temple in Ukhimath on Mahashivratri, which falls on 6 March 2027. Badrinath’s is announced on Basant Panchami at the old royal court in Narendranagar. Gangotri and Yamunotri open on Akshaya Tritiya, which Drik Panchang gives as 9 May 2027 for India, a few weeks later than this year, when they opened on 19 April and Kedarnath and Badrinath followed on 22 and 23 April. Until those days, the winter seats are where the four deities are worshipped. Our Uttarakhand in winter guide covers the rest of the season, from the hill towns that stay open to the festivals worth timing a trip around.
No. This season Kedarnath’s doors close on 11 November 2026 at 8:30 am and stay shut until spring. Through the winter Kedarnath is worshipped at the Omkareshwar temple in Ukhimath, 41 km by road from Rudraprayag, which is open all winter and is the easiest of the winter seats to reach.
The main idol stays inside the closed temple. After the doors close on 16 November 2026, the images of Uddhav and Kuber are taken to the Yogadhyan Badri temple at Pandukeshwar, and the gaddi of Adi Shankaracharya to the Narsingh temple in Jyotirmath, the town also called Joshimath. Pilgrims worship Badrinath at these two temples until it reopens in spring.
A pilgrimage to the four winter seats, where the Char Dham deities are worshipped while the high temples are shut: Kharsali for Yamunotri, Mukhba for Gangotri, Ukhimath for Kedarnath, and Pandukeshwar and Jyotirmath for Badrinath. The Uttarakhand government has promoted it officially since 8 December 2024. Between 24 October 2025 and 15 January 2026, 27,672 people visited the four seats, ETV Bharat reported.
Gangotri closes on 10 November 2026 at 12:05 pm, Kedarnath on 11 November at 8:30 am, Yamunotri on 11 November at 10:28 am and Badrinath on 16 November at 9:37 pm. The temple committees announced these dates on 19 and 20 October 2026.
No. Badrinath closes in November, on 16 November this year, and reopens in late April or May. In December you can worship Badrinath at the Yogadhyan Badri temple in Pandukeshwar and the Narsingh temple in Jyotirmath, which stay open all winter. The highway above Pandukeshwar can close after heavy snow; on 28 February 2025 it was shut beyond Lambagad.