15 best treks in India

The Kodachadri trekking trail is a 14-km path near Maravanthe, Karnataka. The trail cuts through the Western Ghats, and is at a height of 4,411 feet above sea level. Most of you will be able to attempt this since it's considered an easy trail among professional hikers. As a start, it’s a great place to go trekking in India.

Situated on the steep Ulhas valley, Karjat is a lush green paradise in the rainy season. On your way to Karjat, you may explore many rivers, Bahiri cave, and stunning waterfalls. Located amidst lush green mountains, Karjat is definitely one of the best weekend getaways from Mumbai. It also happens to be one of the best places for trekking in India, especially in the monsoons.

Sandhan Valley is a natural rock formation located near Igatpuri, one of the most popular hill stations in Maharashtra. A trek of the Sandhan Valley is best done in the winter season, because you will be crossing a shallow stream filled with slippery pebbles, and you don’t want to do that in the summer when temperatures cross 40 degrees Celsius. Igatpuri also has amazing hotels, villas and resorts which you should checkout at InterMiles.com. Remember, every booking earns InterMiles that you can redeem on your next trip.

Also Read: Top 10 Places to visit in Igatpuri for a Perfect Monsoon Vacation

The town of Naneghat was, thousands of years ago, a checkpoint for traders going to and from what is Ahmednagar today. Along with Satavahana paintings, the Naneghat trek also offers a fantastic view of the Western Ghats. It’s considered an easy trek, and if you’re in the area in the monsoons, Naneghat is one of the better places to go trekking in India.

The Devkund trekking trail starts from the village of Bhira in the Raigad district, 66km from Pune. It’s best explored in the monsoons, since, along the way, you will cross the world-famous Devkund waterfalls, which are of a ‘plunge’ type -- meaning that the water gushes down a gorge. The Devkund trek can last up to 13 hours. But the views are worth it, and that makes a top place to go trekking in India.

Embarking on the Sandakphu trail means that you’re in for an international experience. It’s the only trekking trail in India that skirts an international order -- the one between India and Nepal. All throughout the trek, you will be under the watchful eye of the Sleeping Buddha, a collection of the seven highest peaks in the world (including Mt. Everest). Sandakphu is close to Darjeeling.

The Kotagiri Trek is set in the Nilgiris, and is one of the best forest treks in India. Winding through a thick jungle filled with endangered animals, it will give you the complete Indiana Jones-like white-knuckled experience. You need to be quiet, and you need to move smoothly, as this is the wild.

Looking straight from a sci-fi film, the desolate environs of the Sharavathi Valley trek betray the solitude you’ll experience once you arrive. The 20-km trek through the Western Ghats is of a medium level of difficulty and is best attempted between November and May. Don’t forget to set up camp near the backwaters. Sharavathi makes for one of the best treks in India.

The state of Kerala continues to throw up surprises. The hill station of Wayanad, is now cleared for night trekking. The trek begins in the evening, with the first halt at the halfway point, 10km from Ambukuthi hills. At night, you will reach the mountain top, and experience possibly the best sunrise in the South of India. Reaching Wayanad is quite a task, since the closest city is Kozhikode, 65 km away. But, anything is possible with Intermiles.com that helps you earn miles on all your flight bookings and also enables to earn miles on refuelling your car or cab at Indian Oil fuelling stations.

Wait - there’s a trekking trail at Gokarna, too. The beach trek route starts at Belekan Beach, and along the way, you’ll be hiking along some of the rarest adventures landscapes in the country. Some of the places you will come across include - Paradise Beach, Half Moon Beach, Om Beach, Dolphin’s Point, Kudle Beach and the Mirjan Fort. It’s a great place to start trekking in India.

Also Read: 10 Things to do in Gokarna for a Magical Experience

The Valley of Flowers Trek is possibly the most famous trekking trail in India. Spread over four days, this delightful path weaves through a valley with so many flowers some travellers have fainted in happiness. While here, do not skip a visit to the Hemkund Sahib Lake; on the shores of this water body, you will the Brahmakamal, a rare breed of flower that is found only in places between 10,000 and 15,000 feet above sea level.

Kudremukh, which means ‘horse-head’ in Kannada, is a verdant hill station in Karnataka. The town gets its name from the nearby mountain. The 3000+foot-high mountain also serves as a great place to go trekking in India, especially because of the clear views and the fantastic weather all-year-round. Don’t forget to visit Kudremukh National Park while at it! The nearest city is Bangalore, from where you will need to take a bus to Balegal, and then another connecting bus/cab to Kudremukh.

Part adventure trip, part pilgrimage, the Gomukh Tapovan trek will take you to the home of the Ganges river. On this route, you will see all the glaciers that form the Gangotri system and feed India’s mother: the Ganges. Some portions of the trek are bone-dry and resemble the Tundra regions. Doesn’t that sound like it’s one of the best places to go trekking in India?

For this one, you’d need to head over to Sikkim. The Green Lake trek, considered one of the toughest examples of trekking in India, and possibly the world, requires a special pass. And that’s not considering how physically tough you’d have to be to trek for 15 days on a 16,000-foot-high pass in freezing weather. The trail will take you to the base of Mount Kanchenjunga, by the way. Now you’re interested, right?

There’s a very interesting story around the formation of Prashar Lake. Thousands of years ago, when Lord Bhim and the rest of the Pandavas were returning from Kurukshetra, they were greeted by Lord Kumrang, the king of the Gangotri kingdom. He treated them so warmly that Lord Bhim gave him a very unique gift. He slammed his elbow into the mountain side and created a lake with a floating island. Sage Prashar was so enamoured by this sight that he meditated there for the rest of his life, and that’s how the lake got its name. This storied place also makes for one of the best places to trek in India.

On the whole, we do our best to list places that are yet unexplored. Now this works in your favour for a number of reasons -- undiscovered places are cleaner, better maintained and offer the much-valued peace and quiet you’re looking for. In the end, it’s all about escape, right? With Intermiles.com, we hope that your next trip remains an exciting, rewarding and safe one.

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