Visit the Wonderful Valley of Flowers in Kashmir, India

There is a beautiful valley, full of flowers in the Garhwal region in the Chamoli district at Mudar in the northern part of the Himalayan mountains range in India. This valley of flowers is famous for its natural beauty. Tourists visit this beautiful valley of flowers from all over the world to enjoy the scenic beauty of this valley. The British Mountaineer Frank Sidney invented this valley of flowers and published a book on it in the year 1931. This book made this valley of Kashmir, the most famous among tourists around the world.

This valley of flowers is situated at the height of around 11000 feet from the mean sea level. The tourists can reach up to Govind Ghat by bus or car, which is situated around 290 miles away from Haridwar and 270 miles away from Rishikesh. The tourists have to travel the distance of around 12 miles by walking or on horse to finally reach the valley of flowers. The small and narrow wooden bridge on the River Alaknanda needs to be crossed to reach up to this valley. Once this bridge is crossed, the thick forest starts and the tourists reach village of Dhandharia. There is a small rest house and a small Gurudwara here. The tourists take some rest here and start their final journey of around three miles to valley of flowers. The way to valley of flowers is not that difficult and the tourists can reach here by walking in around one hour from the town of Dhandharia. The valley of flowers is full of all types of flowers. The tourists feel as if the entire land in front of them is covered with the most beautiful flowers. As soon as the winter ends and the fall begin in June, the flowers start appearing in this valley. The entire valley of flowers gets full of flowers having lovely fragrances by July/August. These flowers are in fully developed condition during September/October every year. This is the best time to visit this unique valley of flowers. There are many unique types of flowers here at this valley. The flowers start falling down by end of October at the beginning of winter.

Once the winter starts and the heavy snow fall occurs, the valley is closed for the tourists. There is no arrangement for staying at this valley of flowers. The tourists can at the most hire the suitable tents for their stay, which are provided at the rate of Rs.1000 ($25) per night per person. However, the tourists can stay at the rest house at the village of Dhandharia, which is around 3 miles away from this valley. However, you need to book your room in this rest house, well in advance as there is a very heavy rush here during the peak season of September/October. The tourists visiting this valley of flowers must take some precautions to remain fit and healthy in severe cold weather. All the tourists are required to take the injection preventing Cholera prior to their visit. The tourists must consume boiled water only for drinking purpose or the good quality mineral water bottles must be carried with them. The tourists must also make sure to carry hot woolen clothes, woolen blanket, water proof bed sheet, umbrella or the rain jacket, woolen socks, some common medicines, good quality sun goggles, the woolen cap, and the torch with them during their visit to this valley. The aged and the sick people should not attempt to visit this valley. Some of the tourists hire the guide for the entire journey from Dhandharia to this valley of flowers. The charges of such guide are around Rs.2000 ($50) for the full visit.

I was able to visit this valley of flowers during August, 2006 with the group of friends and relatives. We all enjoyed this visit immensely and hence, would strongly recommend all my AC readers to make sure to visit this unique valley of flowers in Kashmir during their next visit to India.