The Valley of Flowers
Valley of flowers is an outstandingly beautiful high-altitude Himalayan valley that has been acknowledged as such by renowned mountaineers and botanists in literature for over a century and in Hindu Mythology for much longer.
Its "gentle" landscape, breathtakingly beautiful meadows of alpine flowers and ease of access complement the rugged, mountain wilderness for which the inner basin of Nanda Devi National Park is renowned. Valley of flower is splashed with color as it bloomed with hundreds different beautiful flowers, taking on various shades of colors as time progressed.
Valley was declared a national park in 1982, and now it is a World Heritage Site. While trekking towards valley of flowers, one can experience the beauty of shining peaks fully covered with snow. One can also see the beautiful view of surrounding greenery and various running streams with crystal clear water. The valley is home to many celebrated flowers like the BrahmaKamal, The Blue Poppy and the Cobra Lilly. It is a much sought after haunt for flower-lovers, botanists and of course trekkers
The Valley of Flowers is an alpine valley, and has been formed by the retreating glaciers whose periodic advances and retreat pulverised hard rocks, resulting in a smooth U-shaped valley which was later colonised by numerous plants adopting themselves to the harsh climatic conditions prevailing there.
The Valley of flowers remains snow covered from November to May but when the ice envelope thaws on June it is a signal for profusion of colours hidden in petals of alpine during July and August. Some important flowering plants having tremendous medicinal values are: Anemone, Geranium, Marsh, Marigold, Primula, Potentilla, Geum, Aster. Lilium, Himalayanblue poppy, Aconite, Delphinium, Ranunculus, Corydalis, Inula, Saussurea abvallata, Campanula. Pedicularis, Trysimum, Morina, Impetiens, Bistorta. Ligularia. Anaphalis Saxifraga, Lobelia, Thermophis, Trolises. Aquilogia, Codonopsis, Dactylorhiza, Cypripedium, Straw berries and Rhododendron etc.
Apart from the flowering plants, wild animals like Himalayan birds, phigents, butterflies, Tendula, Musk deer, Bharal Mountain goats), Himalayan bear, tail less rat etc. are enchancing the beauty too. The Valley of Flowers is an irresitible treat for naturalists, ecologists. environmentalists, zoologists, ornithologists, trekkers. tourists and pilgrims.
The Base Camp : Ghanghria,
Village ghangria is the base camp for trek to Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Sahib. Since camping and overnight stay Is not allowed in the Valley of Flowers, Ghanghria is the logical base camp for the trek. Travel beyond Ghanghria is on foot at Nature's place since the entry of ponies is prohibited. The trek is subject to strict ecological discipline and the trekker is expected to be concerned about the ecosystem of the region
After staying overnight at Ghanghria the next day trek to valley of flowers is started early in the morning. After crossing a log or iron bridge (This bridge breaks every season due to glacier) over the Laxman Ganga, 300 mts. from Ghanghria. the route of the Valley of Flowers separates from that going to Hemkund Sahib.
How to reach Valley of flowers
Generally people from all over the world coming to Valley of flowers need to first reach Haridwar. Haridwar is situated200 kilometers from New Delhi in the state of Uttrakhand (India). On day one from Haridwar you need to travel by road for almost 10-12 hours and reach Govindghat. The mode of transport available is only by road.
Things to be taken care of: Do not take your own vehicle for the trip as you may get stuck on the way and you cannot leave your vehicle and move on.
The next day (day 2) you need to reach Ghangaria, the base camp to visit valley of flowers. You have got four options to reach from Govindgaht to Ghangaria viz. Trek, Pony, Porter (They can carry you on their back in a basket if you weigh up to 50-60 kilograms and Helicopter). You can use any of them. We recommend you to conserve your energy for the next day if you are not a professional trekker. As next day you will be going to Valley of flowers. For full detailed tour program for trip to Valley of flowers kindly visit our trek page. Here detailed itinerary is given.
The next day (day 3)you will be going to Valley of flowers. Here you need to trek on your own and no pony or helicopter service is available. Although, if you are not physically fit for trek you may hire porter/porters. Generally four porters can carry one person. Overnight stay is not allowed in Valley of flowers, you need to be back by five in the evening and the Valley of flowers opens at seven in the morning. Do not waste time in clicking photographs too much as should reach at least up to Pushpawati River bed. And that point is seven kilometers from the entry gate of Valley of flowers. Means you need to trek for 14 kilometers in total. We recommend you to have one extra day for Valley of flowers as many times it rains and you require an extra day to have a good view of Valley of flowers.
Location of Valley of Flowers
Valley of flowers is located 300 Kms North of Rishikesh, near Badrinath. You need to Travel by Road till Govind Ghat and from there the Trek to Valley of Flowers Starts. Govind Ghat is 20 Kms before Badrinath. Till Govid Ghat there is a motorable Road. Rishiksh is 6 Hours Drive from New Delhi, India.Valley of flowers is located 300 Kms North of Rishikesh, near Badrinath.
Best Time to Visit Valley of Flowers
Since Valley of Flowers is a high altitude valley it is accessible only for four months in a year.The Valley of flowers is snow covered for almost Eight Months in a YearThe best time to visit Valley of Flowers depend upon your taste. The Valley of Flowers is Accessible from Last week of May till September.
In May
The Valley of flowers becomes accessible in the last week of May when snow starts melting. In the month of May you will see a lot of snow but very less number of flowers. Advantage in visiting in May is that there will be no to less rain as the rainy season starts in the last week of June.
In June
This month is flooded by a lot of pilgrims for Shri Hemkund Shahib, resulting in high cost of Food, Stay and transport facility. Also the availability of rooms gets affected. But, still certain specific flowers can be seen in this month. Also you can enjoy watching huge and beautiful glaciers, waterfalls in the valley of flowers. The biggest benefit in visiting in this month is that there will be very less to no rain. (Rain triggers landslide in this area and your plan may be affected). Rainy season starts only in June end or in first week of July.
In July and August
As snow starts melting in May and new plants starts germinating and grow up till now. You will see a lot of flowers blooming in Valley of flowers till mid July. There are almost 650 varities of flowers in total that can be seen in Valley of Flowers. The Best time to see maximum number of flowers is mid July to Mid August.
In September
The September is the Automon season of Valley of Flowers. The plants starts drying up and put their seeds on the earth for the next season. Slowly at the end of the month and in the Next Month snow starts falling and the valley becomes inaccessible. The Last official trip to Valley of Flowers is generally taken in the last week of September.
The Valley of flowers is always beautiful you can visit any time from May last week to september last
Following are the fixed departures of 2013, generally these trips are for 6 days from Haridwar.
- 30 June to 05 July
- 07 to 12 July
- 21 to 27 July (7 Days)* (Full)
- 28 July to 03 Aug. (7 Days)(Full)*
- 04 to 10 Aug. (7 Days)*(Few Seats)
- 11 to 17 Aug. (7 Days)*(Few Seats)
- 25 to 30 Aug.
- 01 to 06 September
- 15 to 20 September
- 22 to 27 September
Watch below video to see deeper parts of Valley of flowers. Kindly watch it in full screen.
Trekking tours to valley of flowers conducted in 2012
- 26th May to 1st June
- 9th July to 14th July
- 29th July to 4th Aug.
- 10th Aug. to 15th Aug.
- 2nd Sept. to 7th Sept.
- 16th Sept. to 21st Sept.
Flowers in Valley of flowers
More Flowers...
Valley of flowers changes its colours almost everyday, check below images to feel the effect.
Valley of flowers as seen May. |
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Valley of flowers is snow clad. This is the time when snow in the valley starts melting and the seeds of the last years' plants starts germinating and by the month of July the valley of flowers will be in full bloom. |
Valley of Flowers as seen in July |
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This is the time when you can see lush green color of valley of flowers, Flowers are in full bloom, the pink shade in this picture is huge colony of a beautiful flower. (see below) 
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Valley of flowers as seen in August Last week |
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as time passes, plants get matured and lessor number of flowers are visible. leaves of the plants starts turning yellowish green/peach in color (see below) 
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Valley of flowers as seen in September last week |
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This is the last phase of valley when it is accessible to general public. soon snowfall will start in the month of october, and it will be snow clad again and all the seeds put down by plants will be preserved under snow to germinate again in next season when snow starts melting in May |
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Testimonials
“Valley of Flowers is so beautiful natural wonder that Everybody Must visit this place at least once in life time"Devkant Sangwan www.trekforall.com
