Chopta Travel Guide - Tungnath & Deoria Tal Trek

I am finally coming up with Chopta guide which is coming after a long time as my last trip was in June 2021 for Tirthan Valley. Recently there have been lot of changes in life and it was difficult to manage time for traveling. Thanks to my friend wedding which could make this trip possible. From a while, Chopta has become a popular weekend destination among Delhi travellers because of its accessibility & convenience to reach.

Chopta is a small town located in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand and lies on the Ukhimath - Gopeshwar road. It is located at an altitude of 2600 m. Distance of Chopta from Delhi is around 460 kms and the distance from Ukhimath to Chopta is around 29 kms. Chopta can be easily reached by both public and private vehicle. Though, with public bus, you need to change the bus twice. First Delhi - Haridwar & then Haridwar - Kund / Ukhimath and then there are lot of sharing cabs available to Chopta. If you are traveling by private vehicle, then the route should be followed as :-

Delhi – Haridwar – Rishikesh – Devprayag – Srinagar – Rudraprayag – Agastyamuni – Kund – Ukhimath – Duggalbitta – Chopta

On the first day of the journey, we decided to stay at Rudraprayag as it was about to become dark soon. There are plenty of hotels located there with all budget options. It will take you around 9-10 hours from Delhi to reach there. I had a long day so I just ate and went to bed quickly. The photo above is morning view from the hotel at Rudraprayag.

Next morning, I just walked around the town and soon, started driving towards our destination. The weather was quite cold but the sun made it pleasant.

The condition of roads are very good and the journey is not tiring at all. You can find lot of small food points as well in regular breaks.

As we took enough breaks, it took us around 3 hours to reach Chopta via Ukhimath. We could feel the beauty as snow started to appear on the roads and the weather became chilly.

We started to see accommodation options though very basic ones. Don't expect anything luxury here as Chopta is a town with no electricity and bad internet but at some places you can find electricity through solar panels. I wanted to explore the accommodation till the end to find the best one so I decided not to stop here and move forward until the road allows. Soon, the snow increased on the roads and tents started to appear. That place is known as Duggalbitta where you can find tent & camping options to stay.

As it was getting difficult to drive on the road & I didn't want to stay in the tents because of the poor network connectivity, I decided to move back around 5-6 kms to find the best possible hotel option. I chose The Bunker House as it is the only property there with WI-FI, electricity & the best cafe where you can find multi cuisine dishes such as Italian, Continental, Chinese, Israeli delicacies & ofcourse Indian. The ambience of the cafe is quite vibrant giving you positive vibes with the smooth music & delicious food. However, the service of the cafe is little slow but we were patient enough. At this property, you can find both options of rooms, bunk beds and private rooms. Each bed will cost you around 600 Rs and the private room will cost you around 2500 Rs.

As the day was about to end, I clicked a beautiful picture of sun glowing in the snowy capped mountains and then went to sleep.

Today was the trek day, the main day but I was still not ready for the Tungnath trek. So, I decided to go for Deoria Tal first. The trek for this lake starts from Sari village which is located 5 km from our hotel. While going back, there is a short road going uphill from the right side leading to Sari village. Sari village is one of the most cleanest village I have ever seen and witnessed in north India. Surprisingly, the connection was good here so I decided to stay here for rest of the days. As we reached to the starting gate of Deoria Tal, we saw lot of guest houses and hotels for stay there. We checked in to Hotel Mountain View which costs us around 1000 Rs. for a room for 3 people. Everything was perfect, cheap price, beautiful view, good network and connectivity, a decent restaurant with basic food amenities.

Trek to Deoria Tal is about 2.5 kms that takes around one and a half hour. The trek is quite easy and first time trekkers can also do it easily. The trek path passes through the lovely village of Sari that has some charming old houses. It is a well marked trail and there is no possibility of losing your way. There are dhabas at every interval in the way also so there is no need to carry lot of things from the village.

Deoriatal is a small lake amidst green meadows (Tal = lake). The main charm of this place is the reflections of the snowy peaks during sunrise. I thought it looks beautiful with greenery in the summer but in winter as well, it was looking gorgeous with snow.

Steeping down is more easy and you can reach back in just 45 min. As i was hungry a little, I had rhododendron juice & pahadi maggi.

In the evening, I spent some time walking around the village and exploring it. As it was my relaxing vacation, I didnt want to rush about anything otherwise you can complete this trip in just 3 days. Following are some night views of the village.

Today we woke up early and had our breakfast. We started our journey towards Tungnath trek. The trekking path to Chopta begins right on the road and is surrounded by many dhabas and guest houses. The trekking trail is well marked and is properly paved till Tungnath. Trees welcome the visitor as soon as the trek begins, and an endless array of snow capped peaks can be seen on the left side. The entire trek from Chopta to Tungnath and to Chandrashila is fairly easy and does not require the services of a guide. It will be a proper snow trek as the whole meadow is covered with complete layers of snow. There are few places where you can take the support of railing to climb up otherwise you need to be careful about every step you make. In winter, carry ample water as there will be nothing available in the way.

As you climb up, it will begin tougher and tougher. The complete trek is about 4.5 kms one way. It will take you around 3-4 hours one way in the snow.

After climbing for around 3 hours, we started to see some structures and we knew that the temple is nearby. Soon, the gate appeared which says "Third Kedar, Hail Baba Tungnath". (I will narrate the story of Panch (5) Kedar in the end of this blog).

Tungnath is the highest Shiva Temple in the world located at an altitude of 3680m and is one among the Panch Kedar Shrines. It is believed to be more than 1000 years old. The temple is closed during the winters and the deity is shifted to Mukku village. Tungnath temple opens its doors to pilgrims in the summer around the end of April and shuts down in November in winter.

From Tungnath, the trek to Chandrashila Peak (The moon rock) starts which is about 1.5 km from Tungnath but due to heavy snow. it was not possible for us to do it. So, I recommend either doing it in summer or come early morning in the winter to have enough time and people to join you in the way. Otherwise, it's too risky. After spending our visit to the temple, we started moving down and by the time, snowfall started so we hurried up little bit and reached back in 2 hours. We went back to our hotel and made sure that we take enough rest.

The Legend of the Sites of Paanch Kedar

Shiva had taken the form of a bull when he went into the ground to escape the Pandavas. Kedarnath temple is dedicated to the hump of Lord Shiva and is the most famous Paanch Kedar Shrine. The other Paanch Kedar sites are; Tungnath, Madyamaheshwar, Rudranath, and Kalpeshwar. At Tungnath temple, Lord Shiva’s arms are worshipped.

Today we started our journey back to Delhi. While in the way at Ukhimath, I wanted to visit Omkareshwara Temple (Winter home for Kedarnath & Madhyamaheshwar) so we stopped there. I had no idea about how to reach there so I started climbing the stairs from the road. It was about 0.5 km trek from the road and i reached to the temple in 20 min. The dieties are brought here from Kedarnath after Diwali and from Madmaheswar in December and worshipped here for six months. These dieties are taken back in a procession to their original temples in mid May. It is believed that the wedding of Usha (Daughter of Vanasur) and Anirudh (Grandson of Lord Krishna) was solemnized here. This place was named as Ushamath after the name of Usha and is now known as Ukhimath. At the temple, there is one stone statue of Mandhata. According to the legend, this emperor, during his last years gave up everything including his empire and came to Ukimath and did penance for 12 years by standing on one leg. At the end Lord Shiva appeared in the form of 'sound' , 'Omkar', and blessed him. From that day onwards this place came to be known as Omkareshwar.

Last but not the least, I would like to share some views of Sari village as I stepped down inside the village to walk.

If you have any other queries about the place, you can write me on Instagram @sudarshan.g. Till then, be safe & see you somewhere on the road :)