One drive up from the plains, 2 climbs and 9 days for Adi Kailash and Darma Valley

Can you do Adi Kailash, Om Parvat and Darma Valley in one trip?

Yes: both valleys fit one journey as two out-and-back climbs from Tawaghat, not as a single loop.

Both roads start along the same river. Above Dharchula, at Tawaghat, the Dhauli Ganga joins in, and one road crosses the bridge to follow that river towards Sobla and the villages above it. The other stays with the Kali and climbs to Gunji. Above Tawaghat they never meet again.

The short answer, and how many nights it takes

A combined plan from Delhi runs nine days and eight nights, with one drive up from the plains instead of two.

Darma from Delhi is 6 days. Adi Kailash from Delhi is 6 days. Booked as two separate trips you drive up from the plains twice and back twice, and those are the days worth saving. Joined at Dharchula the two plans come to nine: one day up from the plains, two in Darma, a changeover day, three in the Vyas valley and two days back.

So the saving is in the plains, not in the mountains. If you start and finish at Pithoragarh, both plains days go and the trip gets shorter at the bottom, never at the top.

Who should not try both on one visit

A tight return ticket, or a heart or lung condition, suits one valley rather than both on the same visit.

It works if you have a spare day in hand and no train to catch the morning after you come down. Nine days on mountain roads is a great deal of sitting upright, and two of those days are spent gaining height. If your return is fixed and close, do one valley properly.

There's a second filter, and it has nothing to do with time. If a doctor treats you for your heart, your lungs, your blood pressure or your sugar, or if you are pregnant, get their opinion before you book either valley, and tell us what they said. The Darma leg also holds a full day on foot. Decide about that day before you decide about the drive.

Message us your dates on WhatsApp. We'll tell you if a combined Darma and Vyas plan can run in that week.

Where the two valleys split, and the pass that is not a road

At Tawaghat, above Dharchula, the Darma road leaves the Kali, and above that junction no motorable link joins the two valleys.

Tawaghat is one bridge and two roads. The Darma road follows the Dhauli Ganga to Sobla, about 37 km from Dharchula, and carries on through Dar, then Nagling, then the twin villages of Dugtu and Dantu. The Vyas road follows the Kali to Gunji, about 80 km from Dharchula. Everything you move between the two valleys comes back through that bridge.

Which pass connects Darma and Vyas valley, and can anyone cross it

No road crosses between the valleys, and Adi Kailash Explore publishes no walking crossing between Dantu and Kuti.

People search for the pass between the two valleys, and there is high ground between Dantu, about 3,150 m, and Kuti, about 3,820 m. We don't name it or measure it, and we don't treat it as a route: it is border country, and what is permitted there is not ours to publish. Plan on driving back down to Tawaghat. That is the only connection this page stands behind.

What the junction town settles before you go up

Dharchula at 908 m, with its bazaar, is the last ordinary town on either road. Kuti's first mobile call went out in December 2023, after a new tower went up, which tells you what the network was like before that. Carry cash in small notes.

For the full list of what to settle in town, the guide to the drive up to Darma goes through it leg by leg.

Ask us which vehicle each road needs on your dates, and where it changes, before you commit to a plan.

Darma Valley to Adi Kailash: the distance you actually drive

Darma to Adi Kailash by road runs down to Tawaghat and back up the Kali: Dharchula to Gunji alone is about 80 km.

On a map Dantu and Kuti look like neighbours. By road they are two separate climbs with a river junction between them, so the honest answer to the distance question is given in legs, not as one line.

Munsiyari to Darma Valley and Munsiyari to Adi Kailash by road

Munsiyari to Dharchula is about 94 km, and both valleys are reached by adding their own leg above it.

From Munsiyari you come down the Gori valley to Dharchula, about 94 km. For Darma, add Dharchula to Sobla, about 37 km, and the road above it. For Adi Kailash, add Dharchula to Gunji, about 80 km, then Gunji to Jolingkong.

Why the map distance and the drive are not the same number

Our figures are road distances a router measures along the actual carriageway, which is why they run longer than anything you draw across the ridge. We hold distances, not times. Hours on these two roads change with the surface, the weather and what the authorities are doing that morning, so you won't find drive hours printed here.

The full combination, night by night

The combined plan goes Darma first, a changeover night at Dharchula, then the Vyas valley: nine days from Delhi.

Day 1 counts from Delhi. From Haldwani or Kathgodam it is the same first day, only shorter, and from Pithoragarh you join on day 2. The sleeping heights below are model elevations, which is also where you can see the two legs for what they are: two separate climbs.

Day 1: Delhi to Pithoragarh

Delhi to Pithoragarh is about 480 km, a long day with nothing high in it. You sleep at Pithoragarh, 1,645 m, a market town with a hill temple above it and the snow range on its horizon. Eat early, sleep early. Tomorrow is the day that matters.

Day 2: Pithoragarh to Dugtu or Dantu, in the Darma valley

You drive about 91 km from Pithoragarh to Dharchula. The Darma road turns off above the town, at Tawaghat. Sobla comes about 37 km from Dharchula, then Dar and Nagling, with Dugtu and Dantu at the end of the road. You sleep in a homestay at Dugtu or Dantu. Dantu stands at about 3,150 m. The stretch above Sobla changes most with the weather.

Day 3: the Panchachuli base camp day

This is the day on foot: out from the village towards Panchachuli Base Camp, then back to the same homestay for a second night. At the head of the valley stand the five summits, and first light shows them best. If the walk defeats somebody in your party, the day can be spent in the village instead, which is no small thing at this height.

Day 4: back to the junction, the changeover day

Down the Dhauli Ganga, over the bridge at Tawaghat, and into Dharchula at 908 m for the night. On paper it is the dullest day of the trip. In practice it is the day the valleys change hands: the papers checked against your ID, and a bed low enough to sleep properly before the climb.

Day 5: Dharchula to Gunji

Dharchula to Gunji is about 80 km, and you climb from 908 m to 3,200 m in that one day. That is the biggest gain of the whole trip. Your bed is at Gunji or Nabi, 3,200 m to about 3,290 m: no night on either leg sits higher. Walk slowly on the stairs, drink more water than you want to, and keep the evening flat.

Day 6: the Adi Kailash day

The drive from Gunji to Jolingkong measures about 36 km and passes the fields at Kuti, about 3,820 m. Jolingkong stands at about 4,500 m. Beside Parvati Sarovar there, travellers take the darshan of Adi Kailash. Your bed is back at Gunji or Nabi that night.

Day 7: the Om Parvat morning

From Gunji the road climbs past Kalapani, about 10 km on and about 3,600 m high, and finishes the morning at Nabhidhang. Om Parvat stands above it. People come for the Om on its face: snow lying on rock, which the weather shows or hides on any given morning. If the Army and the ITBP open the stretch beyond, you carry on to Lipulekh, over 5,000 m, where Mount Kailash itself comes into view on a clear day.

Day 8: the drive out to Pithoragarh

Gunji back to Pithoragarh is about 168 km, downhill most of the way, with the checkposts behind you. Night at Pithoragarh, 1,645 m.

Day 9: Pithoragarh to Delhi

The same about 480 km in the other direction, and you are home that night. Keep nothing fixed for the morning after.

Which order to do the two valleys in, and why

Darma first is the better order, because its highest night at Dantu sits below the Vyas valley nights at Gunji and Nabi.

Will the Darma leg make the Vyas leg easier? A little, and for a reason you can read straight off the heights: Dantu at about 3,150 m sits below Gunji at 3,200 m. The day on foot at the lower height also tells you something useful about how your party handles thin air, three days before it counts.

The shortest version that still works, and what you lose

Starting and ending at Pithoragarh is the shortest version that still works, and the base camp walk is cut first.

Adi Kailash from Pithoragarh is 4 days, and Darma from Haldwani is 6 days. Join the two at Pithoragarh instead of Delhi and the plains days disappear: you reach Dharchula on your first evening and the Darma valley on the second. For anyone flying into Pantnagar or taking the train to Tanakpur, that is the version to ask about.

What goes first when you cut it

1. The walking day towards Panchachuli Base Camp, and the second Darma night goes with it.
2. The spare day, the one that absorbs a road block without costing you the darshan.
3. The second plains night at either end, if you can arrive and leave at awkward hours.

One night is not on that list. The night at Gunji before the Jolingkong morning stays, whatever else goes, because that is the night your body uses to catch up with the road.

Is one week enough for both valleys?

One week from Delhi covers one valley properly; both valleys in seven days leaves no room for weather or altitude.

Seven days from Delhi gives you two drives from the plains and five days of mountain road. Spend those five on one valley and you come home having seen it. Split them and you reach Gunji on a short night with nothing in reserve, and one closed morning on the high road costs you the lake. Pick the valley, or find two more days.

Adding Munsiyari and Panchachuli base camp on the way out

Panchachuli base camp already sits inside the Darma leg, and Munsiyari is a separate tail, about 94 km from Dharchula.

People search for Adi Kailash, Om Parvat and Panchachuli base camp as though the base camp were a third stop to bolt on. It isn't: the day towards Panchachuli Base Camp sits inside the Darma leg, on day 3. Munsiyari is the piece that is genuinely extra, the same five summits seen from across the Gori valley rather than from the head of Darma.

As a tail you are adding the drive and the nights: Munsiyari to Dharchula measures about 94 km, or about 125 km if you loop round through Pithoragarh instead. How far Darma Valley is from Munsiyari, and where the Darma road turns off sets out that drive and the nights it adds.

Permits: which paper covers which valley, and where it is checked

The Inner Line Permit covers the Vyas and Darma valleys. You apply online, and the SDM's office at Dharchula issues it.

Since 20 February 2025 the form has lived on the district permit portal, and the SDM's office at Dharchula stamps it. We get it in long before you arrive, not on the morning you want to drive up. Whether one filing carries both legs is the first thing to settle for a combined trip. Ask us the week you book.

Your side of it is small. Bring photo ID issued by the government, plus passport-size photographs. The portal lists two more papers: a fitness certificate signed by a doctor on the medical register, and an affidavit you declare yourself, each with a format to download (read 25 September 2026). The portal's list shifts from one season to the next, so check it against your own dates.

What the Darma side asks for

Whether anything beyond photo ID gets asked for at the Darma end, and by whom, is not something we publish. Carry the same set of papers on both legs, and ask us the week you travel what the Darma end wants.

Where it is checked on a trip up both valleys

Dharchula is where the permit comes from, and it is checked on the road up the Vyas valley: your name against the permit, your face against the ID. Keep the papers where you can reach them without unpacking, and keep a photograph of each on your phone. The part of the permit you do yourself goes through the documents and the age rules in detail.

Altitude on a plan that climbs twice

The combined plan climbs twice, and the highest nights of both legs are at Gunji or Nabi, not in Darma.

Two climbs, two profiles. The Darma leg takes you from Dharchula at 908 m up to Dugtu or Dantu for two nights, and Dantu stands at about 3,150 m. The Vyas leg starts from the same town and puts you at 3,200 m, then up to about 4,500 m at Jolingkong by day and over 5,000 m at Lipulekh on the Om Parvat morning, with your bed back down at Gunji or Nabi each night. You are driven to all of it.

Signs to act on, and what we do about them

If your head aches or your breath runs short, tell your guide early, not at bedtime. The road itself gives you places to drop to, oxygen rides in the Adi Kailash vehicles, and nobody on our side argues with the mountain. Adi Kailash will be there next season.

We give no drug names and no doses on this page. If you want something in your bag for the height, ask your own doctor, and ask before you leave home.

Parents over 60 and children: the honest read

Most travellers over 60 manage the driven route with an acclimatisation day; the Darma walking day is the part to weigh honestly.

Your driver does both valleys, and at the darshan points the walking is short. The Adi Kailash trips we run keep an acclimatisation day inside them, and the nine day plan printed above has none. The Darma day on foot is the piece to think about, and so is the plain fact that a combined trip puts more nights at height than either valley on its own.

For children, Munsiyari is the trip we suggest instead: lower, shorter, with a real morning's walk and none of this. Tell us their ages, and anything a doctor is treating in the family, and we'll say what we honestly think before you pay a rupee.

Where you sleep in each valley

Homestays carry both valleys: Rung family houses at Dugtu and Dantu, and village homestays at Gunji and Nabi.

In Darma you stay with families. Uttarakhand Tourism counts twelve tribal villages in the valley taking guests in homestays, and the state's own booking site lists houses at Dugtu and at Nagling (read 29 September 2026), some of them with one bathroom shared between the rooms. Darma Valley describes the villages themselves.

The Vyas valley works the same way, at a bigger scale. Local reporting in April 2026 put 88 homestays operating in the valley, with bookings open for the 1 May start, and by late May the houses at Gunji, Nabi and Kuti were full, along with Dantu and Dugtu over in Darma. The KMVN rest house at Gunji holds around 200 and is dated, with a new building still waiting on budget as of July 2026.

So book early for a combined trip, because you need two valleys to say yes on the same week. The district's permit portal recommends booking ahead through May to November, and singles out Gunji and Kuti, where it says accommodation is limited. Gunji sets out what the village is like to sleep in.

What to carry because of the rooms

Warm layers whichever month you pick. May nights at Gunji sink to 1°C, and 10 nights that month drop below freezing. Add a torch, a power bank, your own medication and cash in small notes. What each house provides varies, so ask us for the week you travel.

One combined trip or two separate ones: season, cost and risk

October is the season's driest month in both valleys, and combining them saves one drive from the plains, not a valley night.

The one month that works for both valleys

Inside the season, October is the month to pick when both valleys have to work on one trip, at the cost of colder nights.

Rain decides it. July puts 479 mm on Gunji; October puts 38 mm. Munsiyari, down the road, swings from 837 mm to 53 mm. Nine days of mountain road through that much rain is not a plan.

But October charges you in cold. Gunji counts 14 nights of frost in the month, and dawn at Jolingkong sits near -8°C. September is softer, 8°C at night in Gunji. You'll find every figure for both ends of the road in the month by month temperatures.

What combining saves, and what it does not

Darma from Delhi is ₹55,000 a person for 6 days. Adi Kailash from Delhi is ₹30,300 a person. That's 6 days in all. Taken as two trips in two seasons you pay twice for the climb up from the plains, two pickups, two drops. We publish no price for the two valleys together, so ask us the week you book rather than assuming a saving.

Set against that, one longer trip is one longer absence from work and one bigger bet on the weather. Some travellers would rather keep them as two holidays, and the Darma trip on its own is the shorter of the two. The cost breakdown for the Vyas leg shows what moves the price either way.

The road block question on a longer plan

Weather runs the high road, and an officer can shut it for a day with no warning. If a leg is cut, we put you on another road inside the same valley. We tell you the hour we hear. You aren't charged for a day the road refuses. A nine-day plan simply meets more weather than a four-day one, so keep a day spare at the end and keep your ticket home flexible if you can.

Ask us on WhatsApp what a combined Darma and Vyas plan would cost for your party size and dates.