By road
~13-16 km from Joshimath (the cable car up to Auli starts there)
North India · Uttarakhand
Auli, Uttarakhand
India's ski slopes under Nanda Devi · ~13-16 km from Joshimath (the cable car up to Auli starts there)
Getting there
By rail
Rishikesh or Haridwar, both roughly 265-300 km
By air
Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun, ~280-300 km
Best time to visit
January to March for snow; May-June for green meadows
Don't miss
Auli meadows
Gorson Bugyal
Nanda Devi views
Joshimath's Narsingh Temple
Things to do
Skiing and boarding lessons
The long Joshimath ropeway
Gorson Bugyal trek
Where to eat
Sources: open-meteo, Photo: Amir85 · CC BY 2.5
What to pack
Ski layers or rentals, sunglasses for snow glare, moisturizer
A quieter corner
The frozen Chattrakund pond a short walk above the meadows
About Auli
- Mountains
Where it is
Auli is a ski resort in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, on high meadows above the town of Joshimath in the Garhwal Himalaya, with panoramic views of the surrounding peaks.
History
Auli's meadows, or bugyals, were long used by shepherds for summer grazing and lie above the old pilgrim route to Badrinath. The slopes were later developed for skiing, with a long cable car up from Joshimath, and Auli hosted events of the first South Asian Winter Games in 2011.
People
The villages around Auli and Joshimath are Garhwali, and Garhwali and Hindi are spoken, while the Bhotiya people of the high valleys near India's northern border traditionally herded sheep and traded across the passes. Joshimath is the winter seat of the Badrinath deity and home to one of Adi Shankara's four mathas.
Known for
- Skiing and snowboarding in winter
- Panoramic views of Himalayan peaks
- The Joshimath–Auli ropeway
- Oak and conifer forests
Did you know?
The cable car from Joshimath up to Auli is counted among the longest ropeways in Asia.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.