Best Time to Ride a Royal Enfield in Uttarakhand — Month by Month

By Himanshu, who's ridden these roads since 2015 · Last updated August 2026

There are two genuinely good windows for riding in this state, and most people book in neither of them.

The short version: mid-September to early November is the best riding of the year. May and June are the busiest and, for the Chardham, the most practical. July and August are the ones to think hard about. Here’s the whole calendar.

Dates for temple openings and closings move each year with the Hindu calendar. Verify the current season’s dates before you book — or message us and we’ll tell you.

January — Cold, Clear, Empty

Rishikesh sits around 5–18°C. Clear air and the best mountain visibility of the year on a good day.

Open: Rishikesh and around, Devprayag, Tehri, Mussoorie, Dhanaulti, Kunjapuri, Chopta (usually, with snow). Closed: all four dhams. Kedarnath and Badrinath are under deep snow. Ride it for: Chopta in the snow — genuinely one of the best things you can do in Uttarakhand and almost nobody does it in winter. Bring: far more warm clothing than you think. Riding at 5°C at 60 km/h is a different proposition to standing at 5°C.

February — The Underrated Month

Still cold, starting to soften. Crowds nonexistent. Rooms cheap.

Open: everything below the snow line. Auli is at its best for snow. Closed: the dhams. Ride it for: Chopta, Auli, Tehri, the Mussoorie–Dhanaulti–Kanatal loop.

March — Spring, and the Rhododendrons Start

Warming up. 12–25°C in Rishikesh, cool in the hills.

Open: almost everything except the dhams. Chopta clear of most snow by late month. Ride it for: rhododendron season starting in the mid-altitude forests. The Chopta road in late March is remarkable.

April — Season Opens

The dhams open toward the end of the month or early May, on Akshaya Tritiya. Weather is close to ideal.

Open: Yamunotri and Gangotri open first, typically late April. Kedarnath and Badrinath follow within days. Ride it for: the Chardham circuit at the very start of the season, before the crowds build. Rhododendrons at Chopta. Watch for: the first week or two after opening can be chaotic. Roads are freshly cleared and registration systems are under load.

May — Peak Season

Hot in Rishikesh (up to 38°C), perfect in the hills. Everything open. Everybody here.

Open: all four dhams, all routes. Ride it for: Kedarnath, Badrinath, the full circuit. Watch for: heavy yatra traffic on the Guptkashi and Joshimath roads, full hotels, and book your bike four days ahead — the Himalayans go first.

June — The Last Good Month Before the Rain

Peak yatra continues. Monsoon arrives in the last week or so, and its arrival date moves.

Open: everything, until it isn’t. Ride it for: the Valley of Flowers begins to open toward the end of the month. Watch for: the first rain is often the most disruptive because nobody’s ready for it. Check road status daily in the second half of June.

July — Monsoon. Think Carefully.

This is the honest section.

Uttarakhand gets serious rain in July. Landslides close the Chardham roads regularly — sometimes for hours, sometimes for days. Visibility drops. Surfaces stay wet. The state issues closure advisories and they’re not decoration.

Open: technically the dhams, in practice intermittently. Ride it for: it’s greener than any photograph conveys, there are no crowds anywhere, and rooms are cheap. Some riders love it. Don’t ride it for: a first Himalayan trip, or a trip with fixed dates and a flight home. If you go: build in spare days, message us the morning of every leg, and accept that you may be turned back. We’ll refund unused days if a road closure ends your trip — that isn’t your fault. Terms →

August — Same, Plus the Valley of Flowers

Monsoon continues. Landslide risk stays high.

Ride it for: the Valley of Flowers is at its peak in late July and August and it is the only time it exists. If that’s the trip, this is when. Watch for: the Joshimath–Govindghat road is exactly the kind of stretch that closes. Plan spare days.

September — It Turns

Rain eases through the first half. By the third week, most years, it’s over.

Open: roads reopen and get repaired. Everything comes back. Ride it for: this is where the best window starts. Green from the monsoon, clear from the rain having stopped, and the crowds have gone home. Watch for: the first half of the month can still throw a closure. Later is safer.

October — The Best Month

If you can choose your dates, choose October.

Air is at its clearest. Temperatures are perfect for riding — warm days, cold nights. Roads have been repaired after the monsoon. The yatra crowds are gone but the dhams are still open. Mountain visibility from Chandrashila or Kunjapuri is as good as it gets all year.

Open: everything. Ride it for: all of it. Chardham, Kedarnath, Chopta, Auli, Harsil. Watch for: cold nights at altitude, and the dhams beginning to close from late in the month.

November — Closing Down

The dhams close around Bhai Dooj — usually early-to-mid November, varying by year and by temple. Cold arrives properly.

Open: the dhams for the first stretch of the month, then not. Lower routes stay open all winter. Ride it for: the last week before Kedarnath closes has an atmosphere nothing else matches. Watch for: check the closing date before you commit. Riding 220 km to find the temple shut is a bad day.

December — Winter Proper

Cold, clear, quiet. Snow at Chopta and Auli.

Open: everything below the snow line. Ride it for: Auli, Chopta in snow, and empty roads everywhere. Watch for: black ice on shaded hairpins in the early morning. It’s the one genuinely dangerous winter hazard and it catches people out on north-facing bends that never see sun.

The Summary Table

Booking by Season

April–June and September–November: book the bike three to four days ahead. Himalayans go first and in the second week of May we run out.

December–March and July–August: same-day is usually fine.

Whenever you come, tell us the route at booking. Whether a road is open today is a question we answer several times a day, and we’d rather answer it before you’ve paid for a hotel in Guptkashi.

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