The Panch Kedar

Why there are five, and not one

The story begins after the Kurukshetra war. The Pandavas, having killed their own kin, went looking for Shiva to be absolved. Shiva did not want to give it — the guilt of fratricide is not casually forgiven — and withdrew to Garhwal, taking the form of a bull to avoid them.

Bhima found him anyway, recognising the animal among a herd, and seized it by the hindquarters. The bull dived into the earth. What emerged, at five separate places across the mountains, were five parts of its body.

The hump surfaced at Kedarnath. The arms at Tungnath. The face at Rudranath. The navel and stomach at Madhyamaheshwar. The hair — the matted jata — at Kalpeshwar. A temple stands at each, and the pilgrimage that visits all five is the Panch Kedar.

The geography of the legend is not arbitrary. The five sites are spread across the upper Garhwal valleys in a rough arc, and getting between them means dropping down out of one valley and climbing into the next. There is no ridge route that links them.

1. Kedarnath (3,583 m) — the hump

The one everyone knows, and by a wide margin the busiest. A stone temple attributed to the Pandavas and rebuilt by Adi Shankaracharya, standing at the head of the Mandakini valley beneath the Kedarnath peak.

The approach is a 16 km trek from Gaurikund, climbing about 1,500 m. Ponies, palanquins and pithoo porters are available the whole way, and helicopters run from Phata, Sersi and Guptkashi in season — though those services are weather-dependent and book out early.

Kedarnath was severely damaged in the June 2013 floods; the temple itself survived, protected by a boulder that split the flow, and the town around it has been substantially rebuilt since. It is also one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, which is why it draws a volume of pilgrims that the other four do not.

Full Kedarnath guide — 2026 dates, the trek and the helicopter options →

2. Tungnath (3,680 m) — the arms

The highest Shiva temple in the world, and the highest of the Panch Kedar — higher than Kedarnath, though far easier to reach.

The trek is a 3.5 km paved path from Chopta, climbing roughly 400 m, and most reasonably fit walkers manage it in ninety minutes to two hours. That combination — the highest, and the most accessible — makes it the obvious second temple for anyone who is not attempting the full circuit.

A further 1.5 km above the temple is Chandrashila, a 4,000 m summit with a view that takes in Nanda Devi, Trishul, Kedar Peak and Chaukhamba on a clear morning. Go up for sunrise if you can; the cloud usually builds by mid-morning.

Chopta itself is sometimes called the Mini Switzerland of Uttarakhand, which undersells it. It sits inside the Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, and the meadows around it are one of the better places in Garhwal to see Himalayan monal.

3. Rudranath (2,286 m) — the face

The hardest of the five to reach, and the one most people leave out.

Rudranath is a natural rock shrine in an alpine meadow, reached by a trek of roughly 20 km from Sagar village near Gopeshwar. There are longer approaches from Mandal and from Helang. Whichever you choose, it is a long day up and a long day back, over ground that stays steep and does not offer much shelter.

What you get for the effort is the one Panch Kedar shrine where Shiva's face is worshipped, in a small stone temple set against a rock face, with the Nanda Devi and Trishul massifs across the valley. The meadows on the approach — Panar Bugyal and Lyuti Bugyal — are among the finest in Garhwal.

There is no road, no helicopter, no pony service for most of the route, and accommodation en route is basic. Come prepared to camp or to use very simple shelters.

4. Madhyamaheshwar (3,497 m) — the navel

Also written Madmaheshwar. A north-Indian style stone temple in a high valley, where the navel and stomach of the bull are said to have emerged.

The trek is about 16 km from Ransi village, usually broken overnight at Gaundhar or Bantoli. It is a beautiful walk — forest, then river crossings, then open meadow — and considerably quieter than Kedarnath, though not as punishing as Rudranath.

Above the temple, another 2 km climb reaches Budha Madhyamaheshwar, a small shrine on a ridge with a panorama of Chaukhamba that is, for many people who make the walk, the single best view of the whole circuit.

5. Kalpeshwar (2,200 m) — the hair

The lowest, the smallest, and the only one of the five that is open all year round.

Kalpeshwar sits in the Urgam valley, reached via Helang on the Rishikesh–Badrinath highway. A road now runs to within a few hundred metres of the temple, so the final approach is a short walk rather than a trek. The shrine itself is a cave, entered through a narrow passage, where Shiva's matted hair is worshipped.

Because it never closes, Kalpeshwar is often done first or last, as a bookend to the season. The Urgam valley around it is terraced, green and almost entirely undeveloped for tourism — apple orchards, stone houses and very few visitors.

The traditional order — and how long it really takes

The prescribed sequence follows the body of the bull: Kedarnath → Tungnath → Rudranath → Madhyamaheshwar → Kalpeshwar, traditionally completed with a visit to Badrinath to close the pilgrimage.

Very few people do it in that order in practice, because the valleys do not connect conveniently and following the sequence strictly means a great deal of backtracking down to the road head and along the highway. A route planned around geography rather than theology usually pairs Kedarnath with Madhyamaheshwar, and Tungnath with Rudranath, since those pairs share approaches.

Realistically, budget 16 to 20 days for all five, including travel from Rishikesh or Dehradun and rest days. Attempting it in under two weeks means either skipping Rudranath or arriving at each shrine too tired to be present at it.

If you have a week, do Kedarnath and Tungnath. If you have ten days, add Madhyamaheshwar. Rudranath is the one to build a trip around, not to squeeze in.

Season, weather and closing dates

Four of the five temples close for winter, when the deities are moved to their winter seats in the valley — Kedarnath's to Ukhimath, Tungnath's to Makkumath, Rudranath's to Gopeshwar, Madhyamaheshwar's to Ukhimath. Kalpeshwar stays open.

The season runs roughly from late April or early May to late October or November, with exact dates set each year on the Hindu calendar and announced a few weeks in advance. Confirm before booking anything.

May and June are the reliable pre-monsoon window: long days, stable weather, and the busiest period at Kedarnath. July and August are the monsoon, and Garhwal is genuinely dangerous then — landslides close roads with no warning, and the 2013 disaster happened in June. September and October are the best trekking months of the year: clear air, snow on the peaks, thin crowds, cold nights.

Permits, fitness, altitude and logistics

Permits. There is no inner-line permit for the Panch Kedar. Kedarnath requires Char Dham Yatra registration, which is free and done online; carry the QR code. A standard Indian e-Visa is sufficient for foreign nationals.

Fitness. This is not a temple tour with some walking attached. Rudranath and Madhyamaheshwar are multi-day treks at altitude on rough ground. If you cannot comfortably walk 15 km in a day carrying a daypack, build training time in before you come.

Altitude. Tungnath at 3,680 m and Kedarnath at 3,583 m are high enough for altitude sickness in people who go up fast. Spend a night at Guptkashi or Chopta before climbing, drink more than you think you need, and treat a headache as information rather than an inconvenience.

Logistics. The nearest airport is Jolly Grant, Dehradun (DED); the nearest railhead is Rishikesh or Haridwar. Mobile coverage is patchy to absent above the road heads. Accommodation at the shrines is basic — GMVN rest houses, ashrams and tented camps. Carry cash: there are no ATMs past the road heads.