Best time to visit Kedarnath

India · South Asia

All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.

The year in Kedarnath

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Sweet spot
Good
OK
Avoid
Busy

Go in Oct — 9C max, 13 rainy days. May is the next best.

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Month by month

No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.

Month	Max °C	Rain days	Humidity	Sun h/day	Verdict	Why
Jan	-1°	18d	51%	8.3h	avoid	closed: the temple is shut for the winter
Feb	0°	20d	53%	9.1h	avoid	closed: the temple is shut for the winter
Mar	3°	19d	54%	10.3h	avoid	closed: the temple is shut for the winter
Apr	6°	14d	55%	11.4h	avoid	closed: the temple is shut for the winter
May	9°	21d	59%	11.9h	okbusy	busier than usual
Jun	13°	21d	66%	11.7h	avoid	monsoon: 21 rainy days, 247mm
Jul	14°	26d	81%	8.1h	avoid	monsoon: 26 rainy days, 456mm
Aug	14°	24d	79%	8.1h	avoid	monsoon: 24 rainy days, 352mm
Sep	12°	17d	69%	9.6h	avoid	monsoon: 17 rainy days, 213mm
Oct	9°	13d	52%	10.6h	sweet spot	9C max, 13 rainy days
Nov	4°	12d	49%	9.7h	avoid	closed: the temple is shut for the winter
Dec	2°	11d	44%	9.2h	avoid	closed: the temple is shut for the winter

Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.

Weather read at the temple: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.

A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.

How busy it gets

Busiest from May to July; quietest from October to March.

Then and now

Kedarnath's February days now average 0.3°C, 1.8°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 2 of 12 months are clearly warmer, 2 clearly cooler.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1981–90	-1.8°	-1.5°	1.7°	5.5°	9.4°	13.1°	14.3°	14.3°	11.9°	7.7°	4.3°	0.8°
2017–26	-0.8°	0.3°	3.1°	6.3°	9.3°	12.9°	13.7°	13.5°	12.4°	8.6°	4.4°	1.6°
Change	+1.0°	+1.8°	+1.4°	+0.8°	-0.1°	-0.2°	-0.7°	-0.8°	+0.5°	+0.9°	+0.1°	+0.7°

The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.

Getting there

Fly into Dehradun (Jauligrant) (DED), then drive. The flights under Where to book are to Dehradun (Jauligrant).

The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.

How far Kedarnath is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.

Before you go

Type C and D plugs at 230 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Indian rupee. UK Foreign Office: avoid all travel to parts. Everything for India: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.

Being there

On arrival

Paying — Cards are taken at larger hotels, chain stores and many restaurants; small shops and family-run businesses rarely take them, so carry some cash.
Tipping — Not traditional; up to 10% is usual only in smarter restaurants. Taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers do not expect a tip.

Getting around Kedarnath

Apps — Rides: Ola, Rapido, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WhatsApp. The apps also book auto-rickshaws, and bike taxis where these are allowed.

Walking is the only option. Kedarnath is a small hamlet, and largely a labyrinth of hotels and guest houses. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Kedarnath, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Help

Emergency — 112 (any emergency).
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.

Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 3 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.

Sources (29)

Kedarnath in pictures

Snowcapped Mountains on the Way to Kedarnath, Uttarakhand, India — i

Rohit Sharma, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kedarnath temple in uttarakhand — i

Nehasnaps0306, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kedarnath walkover — i

Medhi jyoti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Kedarnath is like

Kedarnath is a town and pilgrimage destination in Uttarakhand region. More on Wikivoyage

Worth seeing: The temple itself is quite an exquisite example of stone work. It houses the lingam, a symbol of the Hindu God Shiva. More on Wikivoyage
Worth doing: Puja and aarti at the temple if you are a Hindu. Treks to the adjacent valleys will take you through untouched forests and desolate paths. More on Wikivoyage
Getting in: Helicopter (Helicopter). In peak season. Run by Pawan Hans Helicopter Service (from Phata to kedarnath ji) which is around ₹7,000 return. More on Wikivoyage
Staying healthy: The air gets thinner after Rambara and many people experience breathing trouble between Rambara and Kedarnath. This is particularly acute for people walking up. More on Wikivoyage

From the Wikivoyage article on Kedarnath, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.

Around Kedarnath

Also in India

Nearby

Kind of place

Kedarnath is in India, South Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.

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