Darshan and booking at Kedarnath
- Default
- Free queue
- Paid option
- Shorter line
- Aarti
- Morning to night
- Phones
- Not in the sanctum
- Best season
- May to November, the window the temple committee gives
Free queue and paid darshan
Costs nothing, and on a normal weekday it moves well. You share the line with everyone else, and a festival can turn a short wait into hours. This is the option to plan around unless there is a reason not to.
This buys a shorter line, not a closer look. You still reach the same linga, still at the same moment of the queue, just with fewer people between you and it. Where the trust caps the lounge for an aarti, paid entry is also the way into that slot.
Darshan itself is free and open to everyone in the season. What is bought ahead is a puja, a path, an aarti or a bhog, not entry.
All of it is booked on the committee site, badrinath-kedarnath.gov.in, and prior registration with an Indian mobile number is mandatory. Yatra registration is separate and runs on registrationandtouristcare.uk.gov.in. A helicopter shuttle ticket can only be booked on heliyatra.irctc.co.in.
Any paid darshan at Kedarnath is bought from the temple trust's own counter or its own official site, and nowhere else. No shop, agent, hotel desk or online reseller can sell you a shortcut into the temple.
The day at Kedarnath
Most of the twelve run a morning aarti, a midday aarti where the temple keeps one, and the main evening aarti. The evening one draws the biggest crowd and is the one worth planning the day around. Clock times shift with the season and with the temple's own calendar, so this page names the slots and leaves the exact hour to the trust.Data check pending
The first ritual of the day, usually before the main queue is let in. At temples that cap the hall, this is the one to book if the aarti is the reason for the trip.
Where the temple keeps one, it falls around noon and is the quietest of the day. It is the easiest slot for a family with children, because the queue is short.
The busiest and the most photographed. It is worth planning the whole day around it, and it is the slot most likely to be full if you turn up without a booking.
Slot names above are the general pattern across the twelve, not a schedule for one temple.Data check pending
What the trust charges at Kedarnath
The charges below are the ones the temple trust itself publishes. Anything quoted by a shop, an agent or a hotel desk for the same ritual is not the trust's price.
| Mahabhishek pujaMorning | Rs 8,500 |
| Rudrabhishek pujaMorning | Rs 6,500 |
| Laghurudrabhishek pujaMorning | Rs 5,500 |
| Shodashopachaar pujaMorning | Rs 5,000 |
| Ashtopachaar pujaMorning | Rs 850 |
| Panchopachaar pujaMorning | Rs 850 |
| Entire puja of the dayMorning | Rs 26,000 |
| Shiv Ashtotari pathEvening | Rs 900 |
| Entire evening aartiEvening | Rs 2,500 |
Source: badrinath-kedarnath.gov.in, read 19 Oct 2026.
What is worth booking ahead
Where the temple lounge has a fixed number of places, the aarti is the one thing that sells out. Book it from the trust before the trip, not at the gate.
On Mahashivratri and through Shravan the paid line is often suspended and the free queue runs for hours. Book transport and a bed first, then decide about darshan.
Rites such as a rudrabhishek or a named puja are booked with the trust or the temple priest in advance, and they come with their own slot rather than the general queue.
Ordinary darshan on a normal weekday needs no booking at all. Turn up, join the free queue, and keep the day loose.
Dress code and what you cannot take in
The last road point is Gaurikund and the temple is 16 km on foot from there, with pony, palanquin and helicopter as the alternatives.
- A green card and vehicle permit for the Char Dham route is issued at greencard.uk.gov.in.
- The committee help line for Kedarnath is +91-8534001008, given as Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM.
The exact dress notice and the list of banned items are posted at each gate.Data check pending
What a first-time visitor can skip
- Skipping the paid line on a normal weekday. The free queue moves, and the money is better spent on the trip.
- Skipping every shop outside the gate. Almost everything sold there can be bought in any town, and much of it is bought on the way out.
- Skipping the rush hour at the tank or the wells. They are calm an hour after the main queue thins out.
How the day usually runs
- Arrive a little early and leave your shoes and bags at the stand or locker near the gate. Keep the slip.
- Join the free queue, or the paid line if you booked one. Expect a security check at the entrance.
- Darshan at the linga. It is brief; keep moving so the queue behind you keeps moving.
- Offerings are bought outside the temple. Nothing costly is needed, and the priests at the counter take what the temple provides.
- Sit for the aarti if the timing lines up, otherwise walk the temple at your own pace.
- See the rest of the temple complex: the tank, the wells or the corridor, depending on the temple.
- Eat outside the gate and leave, or hold the evening for the last aarti.
Timings for each step depend on the season and the queue on the day.Data check pending
What this page was checked against
Every figure on this page comes from a source this site read, listed here with the date it was read, so you can open the same page.
- Season window, rail and air distance, the 16 km trek, stay optionsbadrinath-kedarnath.gov.in/AboutUs/shri-kedarnath.aspxRead 19 Oct 2026 · The overview block gives Rishikesh at 228 km and Jolly Grant at 248 km. The how-to-reach text lower down the same page says 243 km and 235 km instead, so the two figures disagree on the committee's own site.
- Puja and aarti chargesbadrinath-kedarnath.gov.in/AboutUs/shri-kedarnath.aspxRead 19 Oct 2026 · The rate table is on the same page. The page still carries a Covid note saying pilgrim visits are suspended, which no longer applies.
- Booking route, yatra registration, vehicle permit and helicopter booking, help line numbersbadrinath-kedarnath.gov.in/Default.aspxRead 19 Oct 2026