Choose where you are setting out from, any town in India, and the planner orders all twelve shrines into the shortest sensible circuit, leg by leg, with the distance and a realistic duration. Going by train or by car? Each has a calculator of its own below.
The map above orders the twelve. These two work out what that order costs in days and rupees — one for the rail circuit, one for driving it.
Clockwise from Somnath. Almost every operator follows this order, because it keeps the two long crossings — the run south to Rameswaram, and the haul north to Varanasi — to one each instead of three.
| # | Jyotirlinga | Where it stands | On to the next |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Somnath | Prabhas Patan, Veraval · Gujarat | 263 km |
| 02 | Nageshwar | Between Dwarka and Bet Dwarka · Gujarat | 864 km |
| 03 | Mahakaleshwar | Ujjain, on the Shipra · Madhya Pradesh | 139 km |
| 04 | Omkareshwar | Mandhata Island, Narmada · Madhya Pradesh | 468 km |
| 05 | Trimbakeshwar | Trimbak, near Nashik · Maharashtra | 120 km |
| 06 | Bhimashankar | Khed, Sahyadri Hills · Maharashtra | 253 km |
| 07 | Grishneshwar | Verul, beside Ellora · Maharashtra | 734 km |
| 08 | Mallikarjuna | Srisailam, Nallamala Hills · Andhra Pradesh | 945 km |
| 09 | Ramanathaswamy | Rameswaram, Pamban Island · Tamil Nadu | 2,280 km |
| 10 | Kashi Vishwanath | Varanasi, on the Ganga · Uttar Pradesh | 479 km |
| 11 | Vaidyanath | Deoghar (Baba Baidyanath Dham) · Jharkhand | 1,279 km |
| 12 | Kedarnath | Kedarnath, Rudraprayag · Uttarakhand | — |
Twelve shrines · 7,824 km · about 23 days
The longest single leg is Ramanathaswamy to Kashi Vishwanath, 2,280 km. Plan a train or a flight for that one.
The floor is set by Kedarnath and by the two long crossings — the south, and the run up to Varanasi. Anything shorter than a fortnight is a shorter yatra, not a faster one.
| Length | How it is done | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| 15 days | Six or seven flights, helicopter at Kedarnath | The real minimum, with no slack for weather |
| 18–21 days | Flights for the long hops, road in between | Where almost every serious operator lands |
| 24 days | By train, the whole circuit | Cheaper in rupees, dearer in time |
| 25–30 days | Unhurried, a night at most shrines | If you want to be at these places, not tick them |
Kedarnath opens on 22 April 2026 and shuts around ≈ 11 November 2026 (Bhai Dooj) for the season. For roughly six months of the year the twelve-shrine yatra is an eleven-shrine yatra, and the months when Kedarnath is easiest are the months the Sahyadri and the south are wettest.
The clearest window for all twelve: mid-September to early November.
Shravan (July–August) fills every one of the twelve — Mahakaleshwar and Kashi Vishwanath especially. Beautiful, and not a first visit.
Per person, for the full twelve, self-planned over about three weeks. Quotes from operators run from ₹10,500 for two shrines to ₹1,48,450 for fifteen days with six flights, which is why the range below is worth reading before you ask anyone for a price.
| Tier | About | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | ₹40,000 | Sleeper class, dharamshalas and modest hotels, buses for the last mile |
| Standard | ₹72,500 | 3AC and some flights, ₹1,500–2,500 hotels, taxis where buses are slow |
| Premium | ₹1,27,500 | Flights for the long hops, 2AC otherwise, better hotels, the Kedarnath helicopter |
The advance window was cut from 120 days on 1 November 2024. Booking opens at 08:00 IST, and the Rameswaram–Varanasi train runs once a week — that one decides your dates.
Registration for the yatra is compulsory and free. Helicopter tickets are sold through IRCTC HeliYatra and go quickly.
Online registration is now mandatory for darshan. Check before a three-and-a-half hour drive each way from Pune.
Bhasma Aarti at Mahakaleshwar, and the paid quick-darshan queues elsewhere, are booked on each temple’s own portal.
The map of all twelve as a PNG, and the rail circuit as a printable PDF — both free, both without a sign-up.