Delhi to Barkot: How to Reach the Yamunotri Base

Barkot is the base town for Yamunotri, and reaching it from Delhi is a drive of a little over 400 km that nobody should attempt in one push. Every route climbs into the hills through Dehradun, and the mountain stretch past it is slow by nature. The sensible trip spreads over two days, with a night in Dehradun or Mussoorie on the way up.

The journey, leg by leg

From Delhi the quick part is the run to Dehradun on the expressway; the slow, scenic part is the climb from there over Mussoorie and down into the Yamuna valley to Barkot, and the short hop beyond it to the trailhead.

Leg	Distance	Rough time
Delhi → Dehradun (expressway)	about 290 km	5–6 hours
Dehradun → Barkot (via Mussoorie)	about 120 km	4–5 hours
Barkot → Janki Chatti	about 45 km	roughly 2 hours
Janki Chatti → Yamunotri (trek)	6 km uphill	3–5 hours

By road

There are two ways up from Dehradun. The shorter, prettier line runs through Mussoorie and Nainbagh before dropping to Barkot — about 120 km, but a genuine four to five hours of ghat road that no map app gets right. The alternative descends to Vikasnagar and follows the Yamuna up past the Yamuna Bridge on NH-507; it is longer but gentler, and the one most buses and larger vehicles take. Either way, the Delhi–Dehradun expressway has swallowed the dull plains leg, so your time is now spent in the hills rather than on the highway.

Timing and the road

Start every driving leg in daylight. The ghat sections slow after rain, and in the July–August monsoon a landslip can hold up traffic for an hour or more, so build a spare buffer into any plan that crosses the wet months. Carry light layers even in summer — it is warm down in the Doon and cool by the time you reach Barkot — along with motion-sickness tablets if the bends trouble you, and keep some cash, because card machines and phone signal both thin out as you climb. In winter the Yamunotri shrine is closed and the upper road quiets, though Barkot itself stays reachable the year round.

By train, then road

Barkot has no railway of its own. The nearest railheads are Dehradun, Rishikesh and Haridwar, with Dehradun the closest at about 120 km. Dehradun has good daily trains from Delhi, including fast morning services. Arrive by train, sleep a night in Dehradun, and drive up fresh the next morning — the combination most yatris use, and the one that spares you the long plains drive.

By air

The nearest airport is Dehradun's Jolly Grant, roughly 150 km from Barkot by the hill road — a short Delhi flight followed by a half-day drive. For that transfer and the onward hill connections, see the Dehradun airport guide.

On arrival

Barkot sits at about 1,220 m on the Yamuna, low enough for a proper night's sleep before the climb — which is the whole reason you stop here rather than push on to the trailhead. The where to stay in Barkot guide covers the areas and the rooms, and our Barkot hotels are set up for the early Yamunotri start. From here the Char Dham road carries on to Uttarkashi for Gangotri, about 100 km on; the route guide has the rest of the loop.