Rishikesh to Kedarnath by Bike: Route Guide

Kedarnath is the single most-asked-about ride we handle, and also the most misunderstood one. People plan the 215 km to Sonprayag carefully and then treat the last 16 km as an afterthought. It's the other way round — the ride is the easy part.

The two-stage journey

Stage one, by bike: Rishikesh → Devprayag → Srinagar → Rudraprayag → Guptkashi → Sonprayag, 215 km, 8–9 hours of mostly good mountain road. Private vehicles stop at Sonprayag — a shuttle jeep covers the final 5 km to Gaurikund.

Stage two, on foot: Gaurikund to Kedarnath is 16 km, climbing roughly 1,600 m to the temple at 3,583 m. Six to eight hours up for most people. Ponies, palkis and helicopters (from Phata, Sersi or Guptkashi) are all available if you'd rather not walk it.

For the full leg-by-leg breakdown — fuel stops, road surface, where each ATM stops working — see our Kedarnath route guide.

Give it three days, minimum

Day 1 to Guptkashi or Sitapur. Day 2, trek up and overnight at Kedarnath. Day 3, down and ride out. People do occasionally try to compress this into two days — riding 215 km and then starting a 16 km climb on the same afternoon — and it goes about as well as it sounds.

Which bike

A Himalayan, not a scooty. The road above Guptkashi gets broken in places, and ground clearance genuinely matters there. The Himalayan 411 is the value pick and what we hand most first-timers on this route; the450 is the stronger choice if you want more power in reserve. See our 411 vs 450 comparison if you're deciding between them.

Permits

Kedarnath is a Chardham shrine, so Uttarakhand registration is mandatory — free, and produces a QR e-pass checked at checkpoints and at the temple. See ourregistration guide for the full process.

The part that actually catches people out

Riders train for the ride and skip training for the walk. If you can comfortably ride 215 km in a day, that tells you nothing about whether you can walk 16 km uphill at altitude. Start walking three months out, build to 10 km with a daypack, and find some hills — or budget for a pony or helicopter and stop worrying about it. We run this route as part of ourDo Dham tour with a backup vehicle, mechanic and tour leader throughout, if you'd rather not plan every leg yourself.