# Hemkund Sahib Yatra Registration

> Registration for the Hemkund Sahib yatra is compulsory and is done through the Uttarakhand government's own portal, registrationandtouristcare.uk.gov.in, run by the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, the same registration that covers Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, with Hemkund Sahib listed alongside them. It is free. You create a tour, add every pilgrim, choose your dates, and download a Yatra Registration Letter carrying a QR code, which is what gets checked on the route. The gurudwara itself is run by the Gurdwara Shri Hemkunt Sahib Management Trust at Govindghat, which announces each season's opening separately.

- **Ritual:** Yatra Registration
- **Place:** [Gurudwara Sri Hemkund Sahib](https://sevahey.com/gurudwaras/hemkund-sahib/) — Hemkund, Uttarakhand
- **Administered by:** Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board runs the compulsory yatra registration; the Gurdwara Shri Hemkunt Sahib Management Trust, Govindghat, runs the shrine itself
- **Official booking portal:** https://registrationandtouristcare.uk.gov.in/ (registrationandtouristcare.uk.gov.in)
- **This page:** https://sevahey.com/rituals/hemkund-sahib-registration/

## What Sevahey does not do

Sevahey does not do yatra registration. It cannot register you for the Hemkund Sahib yatra, cannot obtain a Yatra Registration Letter on your behalf, does not sell helicopter seats, and does not arrange ponies, porters, guides or rooms at Ghangaria. All of that runs through the Uttarakhand government's portal and the operators on the route. What Sevahey offers is for the devotee who is not going to make the climb at all, and it is available only while the shrine is open for the season.

## Booking Yatra Registration at Gurudwara Sri Hemkund Sahib

1. Register on the Uttarakhand government portal, registrationandtouristcare.uk.gov.in. Hemkund Sahib is listed there alongside the four Char Dham shrines, and the state's position is that you must register yourself (and your vehicle) before you start the journey. The portal describes registration as free.
2. Create the tour, add every pilgrim travelling with you, and select your dates. Then download the Yatra Registration Letter. It carries a QR code and it is the document that gets checked at verification points on the route, so download it before you lose signal rather than after.
3. If you would rather not do it online, use an offline counter. The state lists registration points at Haridwar, Rishikesh, Vikasnagar, Barkot, Hina, Sonprayag, Pandukeshwar and Govind Ghat, and there is also an official Uttarakhand Tourist Care mobile application.
4. Register before you try to book a helicopter. Govindghat–Ghangaria seats are sold through IRCTC's HeliYatra platform, developed with the Uttarakhand civil aviation authority, and yatra registration is a precondition of buying one. Nothing else is an official channel for those seats.
5. Plan the climb, not only the paperwork. Govindghat to Ghangaria is about thirteen kilometres, roughly four of them motorable to Pulna; Ghangaria to the gurudwara is six kilometres of stone-paved path climbing about eleven hundred metres. Walk it in daylight, allow for altitude, and be willing to turn back, people do get ill up there, and the shrine will still be there next season.
6. Take the season's dates from the Gurdwara Trust rather than from a travel site. This is the fact the third-party pages most often get wrong.

**Timing.** A short summer season only. The route is snowbound and inaccessible from roughly October to April; in recent years the shrine has opened in the second half of May and closed in the first half of October. The exact dates are announced each season by the Gurdwara Shri Hemkunt Sahib Management Trust. We print no date here on purpose, for the current season, sites that ought to agree have published opening dates two days apart, which tells you how much weight to put on any of them.

**Booking ahead.** Registration itself is free and can be completed well before you travel, so do it from home rather than at a roadside counter, and certainly before you attempt a helicopter seat. What actually needs booking early is everything the registration does not cover: rooms at Ghangaria and heli slots, both squeezed into the same few months and shared with Valley of Flowers traffic.

**Dress code.** Heads covered and shoes removed at the gurudwara, as anywhere. The harder question is the cold, not modesty, the shrine sits beside a glacial lake at roughly fifteen thousand feet, it can sleet in high summer, and people climb in cotton and regret it. Warm layers, waterproofs and a slow pace matter more than anything you will read about paperwork.

**Cost.** The state registration is free; the portal says so plainly. What costs money is everything around it, the shared taxi to Pulna, ponies and porters, rooms at Ghangaria, and the Govindghat–Ghangaria helicopter, whose fare is notified and revised. We print no figure for any of it. If a package quotes you a single all-in price and wants an advance, check each component against the official portals before you pay.

**Before you pay anyone.** Two things to watch. First: registration is free, so anyone selling you a 'confirmed' or 'guaranteed' Hemkund Sahib registration is selling something the Uttarakhand government gives away. A travel operator charging a service fee to fill the form for you is one thing; a registration sold as a product you cannot otherwise obtain is another. Second: the helicopter. Govindghat–Ghangaria seats are sold on IRCTC's HeliYatra platform, and the search results around it include domains that differ from the official one only by a hyphen or a different ending. Type the address rather than following a link, never pay an advance to a mobile number, a QR code or a wallet, and remember that no operator can sell you a heli ticket before your yatra registration exists.

## About Gurudwara Sri Hemkund Sahib

Gurudwara Sri Hemkund Sahib stands beside a glacial lake in the Garhwal Himalayas, ringed by snow peaks, and Sikhs revere it as the place where Guru Gobind Singh meditated in a previous life, an account that comes from the Dasam Granth. Published altitudes differ: the Survey of India figure cited by reference works is 4,572 metres, a little over 15,000 feet, while other sources put it slightly above 4,600. Either way it is among the highest gurudwaras in the world, and the thin air is not a detail.

It is also, for most of the year, unreachable. The paths and glaciers are snowbound from about October to April. In recent seasons the kapat have opened in the second half of May and the yatra has closed in the first half of October, but the dates are announced each year by the Gurdwara Trust, and when the first sangat arrive, part of what they do is kar seva on the path itself, clearing and repairing what the winter broke before the season can begin.

The approach is from Govindghat: about thirteen kilometres to Ghangaria, of which roughly the first four are now motorable to Pulna by shared taxi and the remaining nine are on foot or by pony. From Ghangaria a stone-paved path climbs six kilometres and some eleven hundred metres to the shrine. Ghangaria is also the base for the Valley of Flowers, which is why beds there are the real bottleneck of the season rather than the registration.

## What a Sevak can do instead

During the open season a verified Sevak makes the climb to Gurudwara Sri Hemkund Sahib, has your ardas offered in the names you give, sends back the day's Hukamnama, and returns proof, GPS-tagged photographs from the shrine, audio, the timing, and a handwritten note signed by the named Sevak.

- **Seva:** Ardas & Hukamnama
- **From:** ₹251 (a full seva is ₹899; booked in the Sevahey app)
- **Performed by:** a verified, named Sevak
- **Proof:** GPS-tagged photos, short video, audio where it applies, handwritten note — usually same day

**Who books this.** Devotees who made the climb once and cannot again, families whose parent or grandparent asked for an ardas at Hemkund and can no longer walk it, sangat abroad, and people who registered and then turned back, for weather, for altitude, or for a body that said no on the path.

**Proof.** One honest limit first: Hemkund Sahib is snowbound for most of the year, so this seva can only be performed in the months the shrine is open, and a request outside that window waits for the season rather than being performed somewhere else without telling you. Proof is GPS-tagged photographs from the shrine where photography is permitted, the day's Hukamnama, audio, the timing, and a handwritten note from the named Sevak.

## Questions

### Is registration compulsory for Hemkund Sahib?

Yes. Registration is compulsory for the Hemkund Sahib yatra and is done on the Uttarakhand government's portal, registrationandtouristcare.uk.gov.in, run by the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board. Hemkund Sahib is listed there alongside Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, and the registration is checked at verification points on the route.

### How do I register for the Hemkund Sahib yatra?

On registrationandtouristcare.uk.gov.in: create a tour, add every pilgrim, select your dates, and download the Yatra Registration Letter, which carries a QR code. Offline registration counters are available too (Haridwar, Rishikesh, Vikasnagar, Barkot, Hina, Sonprayag, Pandukeshwar and Govind Ghat among them) and there is an official Uttarakhand Tourist Care app.

### How much does Hemkund Sahib registration cost?

Nothing. The Uttarakhand portal describes the registration as free. That is worth holding onto, because anyone charging you for a 'guaranteed' Hemkund Sahib registration is charging for something the state gives away. A service fee to fill the form on your behalf is a different matter, and should be described as exactly that.

### When does Hemkund Sahib open and close?

The Hemkund Sahib yatra runs a short summer season: the route is snowbound and inaccessible from roughly October to April, and in recent years the shrine has opened in the second half of May and closed in the first half of October. The exact dates are announced each season by the Gurdwara Shri Hemkunt Sahib Management Trust at Govindghat. We give no date here because travel sites have published conflicting opening dates for the same season, take it from the Trust.

### How hard is the trek to Hemkund Sahib?

Hard enough to plan for. Govindghat to Ghangaria is about thirteen kilometres, of which roughly the first four are motorable to Pulna by shared taxi and the rest is on foot or pony. From Ghangaria, a stone-paved path climbs six kilometres and about eleven hundred metres to the gurudwara. The shrine sits at roughly fifteen thousand feet (reference works cite a Survey of India figure of 4,572 metres, though other sources put it a little above 4,600) and altitude sickness is a real risk. Walk in daylight and turn back if you need to.

### How do I book a helicopter to Hemkund Sahib?

The Govindghat–Ghangaria helicopter is sold through IRCTC's HeliYatra platform, developed with the Uttarakhand civil aviation authority, and yatra registration is required before you can book a seat. The helicopter reaches Ghangaria, not the shrine, the six-kilometre climb from there is still on foot. Type the platform's address rather than following a search result: lookalike domains differing by a hyphen or an ending appear in the same listings.

### Can Sevahey register me for the Hemkund Sahib yatra?

No. Sevahey does not do yatra registration, cannot obtain a Yatra Registration Letter for you, does not sell helicopter seats, and does not arrange ponies, guides or rooms at Ghangaria. What Sevahey does is different: during the open season a verified Sevak makes the climb and offers your ardas at Hemkund Sahib in your name, with same-day proof.

### Can a Sevak go to Hemkund Sahib in winter?

No, and we would rather say so than take the request. The shrine is snowbound and closed for most of the year. A seva at Hemkund Sahib can only be performed in the months the gurudwara is open; a request made outside that window waits for the season rather than being performed somewhere else without telling you.

### What can a Sevak do at Hemkund Sahib if I cannot make the climb?

A verified Sevak makes the climb during the open season, has your ardas offered in the names you give, sends back the day's Hukamnama, and returns proof, GPS-tagged photographs from the shrine, audio, the timing, and a handwritten note. An Ardas & Hukamnama starts from ₹251, and a full seva is ₹899.

Sevahey is a service platform. It does not promise a spiritual, medical, financial, legal, or personal outcome from any prayer, seva, or ritual.