Valley Of Flowers – Uttarakhand, India

Reaching to Valley of flowers, the vibrant display of colours is an experience in itself.
The best way is to start early morning from Rishikesh and reach Govindghat (20km before badrinath), starting point of the trek to Valley of flowers and Hemkund Sahib, the beautiful lake, considered holy by the sikhs.
One can either hire a private taxi or in a shared taxis(which are normally crowded, but still can give a try if you are accomodative) to reach Govindghat which takes 9-10 hours of drive.
We stayed at Hotel Bhagat and the hotel was reasonably good. I must say that we enjoyed Indian and Chinese cuisine there(I personally feel we do not get much options in this belt for good food).
Next day, start your trek leave as early as possible to Ganghria or Govind Dham(much used name of Sikh pilgrims). This is a lil lengthy trek (14km uphill) and avoid taking luggage if you plan to walk on your own.
You can either hire pittu or a mule to reach on top, the charges vary from INR 500 to 1000 for a horse. If the weather is clear then helicopter services are also available which is INR 3500 per person for one way which will take to ganghria in 4 mins!!!.
The necessary items like walking stick , rain coats and other things are available near gurudwara. You will hardly find any mobile signals starting from Govindghat (I heard Idea and BSNL signals are available).We planned to trek up to ganghria on own and we took around 8hrs to reach till top.
Advice: Please take mule/horse if you are above (30 Yrs) with less hiking experience.

The track is crowded by sikh pilgrims – they move along frequently chanting “Sat-naam, waahe guru!”, mainly to help themselves go on. Indian food/maggi/tea/water are available almost at every 1-3kms distance. The rates for the items get costlier as you reach near top.
After reaching Ganghria stay at any hotel or gurudwara , lot of hotels are available with almost same service. We chose Hotel Kuber. The service and Food are good for such High altitude and after walking such a tedious trek we just wanted a place to lie down. You can take a nice foot/Leg massage which is available at any hotel for approx Rs. 50-75 per leg.
Distance to Valley of Flowers(VOF) from ganghria is 4kms the only way to reach there is WALK. Hemkund Sahib is 6 kms and Mules are available till Hemkund sahib.
Just 300 mtrs from Ganghria gurudwara one route goes to hemkund sahib and the other goes to VOF where you can buy tickets to VOF. The entry fee to VOF is INR 150 for Indians which is valid for 3 days and INR 750 for foreigners. Night stay is not allowed in VOF. You find lot of flowers on the way,well tread path then a small bridge and few glacier, (some land slides here and there). One you are reaching the VOF you will feel slice of paradise is descending and is worth the hours of trekking.The stunning landscape, beautiful flowers stretched till the vision goes. Keep walking on well tread path passing 3-4 small water streams.
The 360 degree panorama view with low cloud hung everywhere is a treat to eyes, mind and soul. We see a signboard indicating the way to the grave of Mary Legge – we decide to go there and pay our respects to an enthusiastic botanist and explorer who lost her life in the Valley.

Best Season: Mid July till Mid Sep, August is the best as flowers at full bloom

Need to Consider : The whole stretch to Govindghat is prone to landslides and cloud bursts .. so take a note of rain before travelling.