Kheerganga
What it is
A high meadow at the top of the Parvati walk with a hot spring that fills a stone pool, a day on foot above the road-end at Barshaini. The spring is the destination: hot water in a cold place, a view down the whole valley, and camps on the grass where people sleep so as to have the pool to themselves at dusk and at dawn. Nothing reaches it but the path.
Photos: ArjunChhibber01 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Photos Worldwide (CC0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
The hot spring is also a tirth, a place of pilgrimage: Hindu and Sikh pilgrims both come to the springs here, as they do at Manikaran further down the valley.
Getting there
From Kasol, 37 minutes by road to Barshaini, then across the bridge and up the true left bank of the river. Nakthan, the last village, in about an hour; Rudranag, the waterfall and shrine with a dhaba on its bridge, at the halfway mark; then two to three hours of steady forest to the meadow. Five to six hours up and three to four down on a well-used path that needs no guide in clear weather. One at ₹1,000–2,000 a day from the Kasol counters is cheap for a first time.
The day — and the night
Leave Barshaini by eight; the forest climb above Rudranag is the hot part and is better done before noon. Reach the top by mid-afternoon, take a camp or a hut — typically ₹500–1,500 a head with dinner as of September 2026 — and wait for the day walkers to go down. The pool at dusk, dinner at the camp, a cold night, and the pool again at first light before the descent. The three-day plan is built around exactly this.
When to go
April to June and September to November, when the path is clear of snow and out of the monsoon; October is the best of them. July and August bring slides on the Barshaini road and mud on the steep parts. From December to February the upper path is a snow walk and most camps close — for the experienced, with warm gear, and not for a first time.
Around it
Barshaini at the bottom; Kalga and Pulga just above the road-end on the way down, both good for a slow lunch; Tosh across the valley from the same bridge. The walks guide puts Kheerganga among the valley's other paths.
Plans that include this
All 3 plans that stop here →
Nearby places
All of Kasol →
Nearby destinations
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Questions people ask
How do I get to Kheerganga?
On foot from Barshaini, the road-end 37 minutes above Kasol: across the bridge and up the left bank through Nakthan and past the Rudranag waterfall, five to six hours up and three to four down. No road reaches it. Camps and huts at the top take you on arrival.
Can I stay the night at Kheerganga?
Yes, and you should — camps and huts on the meadow are typically ₹500–1,500 a head with dinner as of September 2026, arranged on arrival or through the Kasol counters. It is cold after dark in every month and there is no signal; carry cash, a warm layer and a torch.
Is the hot spring at Kheerganga free?
Yes. The pool is open to anyone who has walked up; it is treated as a sacred spring, so bathe respectfully, and there is a separate enclosure for women. It is crowded in the middle of the day and empty at dusk and dawn.
When is Kheerganga open?
The path is walked all year but the reliable months are April to June and September to November. July and August are wet and slide-prone; from December to February the upper path is under snow and the camps mostly closed, and the walk needs experience.