Har-ki-dun trek is a very decent trek, which usually takes 2 days to reach to the valley. Where as you can return back on the same day if you are physically fit. We returned from Har-ki-dun to taluka on the same day. We started walking at 6am in the morning and reached taluka village at 3.30pm in the evening. And we again walked for 11kms from taluka to sankri. If you are not willing to walk from Taluka to sankri then you can always take a hired car which will cost you about 700rs. Remember that there are no public buses going to taluka from sankri as the road condition are not good. So while going to taluka you must hire a jeep to reach there. We were lucky we found a friend going that way who only charged 100 each from both of us, but it doesn’t happen always.
So let me explain you how to get to Har ki dun in details
1- Take a night bus from ISBT Kashmere gate From Delhi, which will cost you around 250 to 300 per person. if you start your journey from 7pm or 8pm you will probably reach dehradun at 1.30 or 2.00 am in the morning
2- The bus will drop you at dehradun isbt but you have to reach Mussoorie bus stand from isbt dehradun, it's only 4 to 5 kms distance from isbt. As there is only one or two bus services to sankri from dehradun. The bus from mussoorie bus stand usually leaves for sankri at 5.30am in the morning. But we were lucky that the bus was late that day which left for sankri at 8.30am in the morning. The bus fare from dehradun to sankri is usually 250 to 300rs per person.
3- You will probably reach sankri in the evening around 7pm. But before reaching sankri there is an entry gate to Govind pashu vihar national park,the bus will stop there for few minutes where you will have to take a pass for how many days you are going to stay at har-ki-dun. The charges of passes are about 150 rs per person, and it also differs for how many days you are going to stay. And on reaching sankri you either go to a government guest house for a night stay if you only find rooms available or you can look for a room for a night. But unfortunately we couldn’t find rooms available for us, and we had to rent a room for a night which cost us about 250 per person.
4- Next morning around 9am take a hired jeep from sankri to taluka which is about 700 rs per hire.
5- On reaching taluka you can buy stuff to eat on the way. The trek starts from taluka which is 27 kms from taluka to har-ki-dun. The first trek will begin from taluka to osla/seema village. Before reaching there you will see two routes, upwards going towards osla and down towards seema. Osla is a village of almost 150 families living there, where as seema is a village for tourist only. You can book a room at seema village of your choice. But we stayed at osla village at a guest house which cost us about 200 rs per night and per person.
6- On the next morning you start your 2nd trek from osla/seema to har-ki-dun, it's about the same distance that took you to come from taluka to osla. Don’t worry about the trails as there are local villagers, they will help you. So don’t worry about not having a guide.
7- On the way to har-ki-dun from osla/seema you will find 3 shops where you can rest and have tea or Maggie if you like.
8- After reaching har-ki-dun there are places to stay which is about 200 Rupees per night and per person. You can always ask the person living there, they will show you everything. After that you can explore har-ki-dun.
9- Minimum budget will be 7000 to 8000 per person for a solo traveler or even if you are traveling with your friends. And while returning back you will follow the same route to reach sankri from har-ki-dun.
10- Lastly don’t forget to carry a lot of sweets because the villagers in osla keep asking for sweets from the trekkers.
Till then happy travels.
#DayTrekWonders