Srinagar (Garhwal)

Srinagar, always written Srinagar (Garhwal) to distinguish it from the Kashmiri city, sits on the right bank of the Alaknanda at about 560 m, roughly 105 km up the Rishikesh-Badrinath highway.

• For centuries it was the capital of the Garhwal Kingdom under the Panwar (Parmar) dynasty, and though repeated Alaknanda floods and the great 1803 earthquake swept away much of the old riverside town, Srinagar remains the largest and liveliest settlement in the interior Garhwal hills and the natural staging post for travellers heading up to Kedarnath, Badrinath and the Panch Prayag.
• It is also a education hub, home to the Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna (HNB) Garhwal University, a central university whose hillside campus gives the town a youthful, bookish energy alongside its pilgrim traffic.
• The spiritual anchor is the ancient Kamleshwar Mahadev temple, a revered Shiva shrine in the old town where childless couples keep the all-night Kartik Purnima vigil known as the jaage.
• A short way downstream, dramatically rebuilt on an elevated platform above the river, stands Dhari Devi, revered across Uttarakhand as the guardian goddess of the Char Dham; and across the Alaknanda the Chauras flats hold the riverside Kilkileshwar shrine and the university's second campus.
• Srinagar is a working hill town rather than a pure pilgrim enclave, so its food is mixed; vegetarian travellers should choose clearly pure-vegetarian bhojanalayas, halwai sweet shops and thali houses, of which the market has plenty.
• Best visited from September to November and March to June; the town is a comfortable overnight halt on any Char Dham journey, reached by shared jeep, bus or taxi up the Alaknanda valley from Rishikesh (about 4 to 5 hours).