Solo bike trip to Switzerland of India (Harsil)

Harsil is a small village situated on the bank of Bhagirathi river , on the way to Gangotri in Uttarakhand. January is generally off-season  in Harsil but it is an awesome, off beat destination if you are searching for some solitude.

Route to Harsil.
Dehradun>>mussoorie>> Uttarkashi>>Harsil.
Total distance  is around 220km.
My journey  started  from Mumbai, i had early morning  flight to Dehradun. I reached my destination in Dehradun at around 8am.

I Rented bike from Dehraroadies in Dehradun and started my journey  towards  Harsil.
Road till mussoorie is very  busy due to plenty of tourist traveling through this route.

Mussoorie to suwakholi is 14 kms.
After suwakholi ride is smooth since there is very little  traffic and you can enjoy your ride with beautiful landscape's.

Distance between suwakholi to uttarkashi is around 100kms. While riding you will come across many small village's on your way.
I reached uttarkashi around  7pm.
Uttarkashi is another  famous  pilgrimage, filled with tourist. But since i was traveling in off season rates of hotel were cheap.

Uttarkashi to Harsil
Morning in uttarkashi was phenomenal.

Harsil is 70 odd kms from Uttarkashi,but road is treacherous and you will find snow on the road for last 4 to 5 kms . So it's better to start  the journey  early in the morning  from uttarkashi.
I left uttarkashi around 9am.

On the way there is one hot water spring at  Gangnani.

From Gangnani you start ascending  high altitude ,  till sukkhi top  there are lot of twist and turns plus road is not in good state.

My first  encounter with snow was near sukkhi top.

As you approach Harshil amount of snow on the road increases.

This was my first experience of riding bike on the snow carpet. Riding on snow without spikes and traction is bit difficult. I reached harsil around 1 pm.
Harsil is a military  cantonment. So there are lot of army people around.

Temperature was freezing cold in Harsil.Entire place was under snow,riding in this terrain was challenging. soon i reached the main village.

Village had handful number of people with limited option for food.

There is nothing  much to do in the village, just go near the river bank and enjoy the nature and solitude.

About 6 kms from harsil there is another  beautiful place called  Dharali.  I stayed  in Dharali. This place  had  less than  10 tourist. 

There was only one small hotel with limited food options like Maggie, rice, dal, tea, eggs. I dumped my luggage in the room had some food and went out to explore the place.

Just 1 km ahead there was plenty of snow,i stopped by and clicked some awesome pics. Best thing about the place was that there was no crowd, no pollution,no traffic. I guess i was the only person in that 2 km radius. Truly this place was awesome. Soon it started to become dark, i returned to dharali. I met some tourist  near that hotel, we all started borne fire and chilled for couple of hrs.

Spending night under open sky filled with sparking star's and surrounded by white snow was an divine  experience. It feel's very close to Mother Nature when you are in Harsil valley. The magnificent landscape , deep silence, fresh air, all this is enough to rejuvenate one's senses

Harsil & Dharali.

This place is flooded  with tourist from april to November  since it is on the way to Gangotri.
So it's best to avoid  Harsil valley  in peak season.
I had a lazy start nxt morning , it was pretty cold outside. I wish i could  have witnessed snowfall.

veiw from my room......entire day i explored nearby place's and started my return journey on nxt day.

No fancy shop's, no malls,no restaurants,no fancy food ,no water(frozen pipelines) , still Harsil is worth coming ....truly...it was an amazing  trip.....

Thank you...!!!!!