Chopta

The story

Discover Chopta

Chopta is barely a settlement — a scatter of dhabas and simple stays around an open meadow ringed by rhododendron and fir forest. Its real role is as a base: Tungnath, one of the Panch Kedar temples and among the highest Shiva temples in the Himalaya, sits a trek above the meadow, with Chandrashila's summit further still. Deoriatal, a forest lake, is a separate day-trek from a different trailhead nearby. Most travelers pass a night or two here specifically to stage one of these walks, not to sightsee the meadow alone.