Valley of Flowers National Park

Valley of Flowers National Park is an outstandingly beautiful high-altitude Himalayan valley that has been acknowledged as such by renowned mountaineers and botanists in literature for over a century and in Hindu Mythology for much longer.

Valley was declared a national park in 1982, and now it is a World Heritage Site. While trekking towards the valley, one can experience the beauty of shining peaks fully covered with snow. One can also see the beautiful view of surrounding greenery and various running streams with crystal clear water. The valley is home to many celebrated flowers like the BrahmaKamal, The Blue Poppy and the Cobra Lilly. It is a much sought after haunt for flower-lovers, botanists and of course trekkers.

Apart from the flowering plants, wild animals like Himalayan birds, butterflies, Tendula, tail less rat, Musk deer, phigents, Himalayan bear etc. are enchanting the beauty too. The Valley of Flowers is an irresistible treat for zoologists, environmentalists, pilgrims.

The Base Camp

Village Ghangaria is the base camp for trek to the Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib. Since camping and overnight stay Is not allowed in the valley, Ghangaria is the logical base camp for the trek. Travel beyond Ghangaria is on foot at Nature’s place since the entry of ponies is prohibited. The trek is subject to strict ecological discipline and the trekker is expected to be concerned about the ecosystem of the region. After staying overnight at Ghangaria the next day trek  is started early in the morning. After crossing a log or iron bridge (This bridge breaks every season due to glacier) over the Laxman Ganga, 300 mts. from Ghangaria. the route of the valley separates from that going to Hemkund Sahib.

How to reach Valley of Flowers

Generally people from all over the world coming to Valley of Flowers need to first reach Haridwar. Haridwar is situated 200 kilometers from New Delhi in the state of Uttrakhand (India). On day one from Haridwar you need to travel by road for almost 10-12 hours and reach Govindghat. The mode of transport available is only by road.

Things to be taken care of: Do not take your own vehicle for the trip as you may get stuck on the way and you cannot leave your vehicle and move on.

The next day (day 2) you need to reach Ghangaria, the base camp to visit the valley. You are having four options from Govindgaht to Ghangaria viz. Trek, Pony, Porter (They can carry you on their back in a basket if you weigh up to 50-60 kilograms) and Helicopter. You can use any of them. If you are not a professional trekker, We recommend you to conserve your energy for the next day. As next day you will be going to the valley. For full detailed tour program for trip, kindly visit our Valley of flowers trek page. Here detailed itinerary is given.

The next day (day 3) you will be going to the valley. Here you need to trek on your own and no pony or helicopter service is available. Although, if you are not physically fit for trek you may hire porter/porters. Generally four porters can carry one person. Overnight stay is not allowed in the valley, you need to be back by five in the evening and the Valley of Flowers opens at seven in the morning. Do not waste time in clicking photographs too much as should reach at least up to Pushpawati River bed. And that point is seven kilometers from the entry gate. Means you need to trek for 14 kilometers in total. We recommend you to have one extra day for the valley as many times it rains and you require an extra day to have a good views.

Valley of flowers after floods in Uttrakhand

To know more about packages of this year, please check our valley of flowers trekking packages page.