Visiting Tao Butt (Taobat) and Rati Gali (KASHMIR) using public transport

I Visited Taobutt and Rati Gali lake August 2018 on a public transport. For your ease i am mentioning to the point details of my Bus Journey and all expenses which i spent day wise:

BUS FROM LAHORE

You have below options to depart from Lahore

1. Sri nagar express (Lorry Adda)
2. Habib Express (Lorry Adda)
3. Skyways (Niazi Stop Bund road)

DAY-1 | 03-AUG-2018 | LEAVING FROM LAHORE

– 1400 Rs ticket of Habib Khan Bus Daewoo ticket which leaves at 2200 hrs from Lorry Adda Lahore

– The bus has good service, Air conditioned and travels via Motorway

DAY-2 | 04-AUG-2018 | ARRIVAL MUZAFFARABAD

I slept whole night in the bus and when wokeup, the bus was going on murree express way and was moving towards Muzaffarabad.
– 0530 hrs crossed KOHALA BRIDGE kashmir.
– 0612 hrs crossed NEELAM ROPE BRIDGE
– 0625 hrs reached at MUZAFARABAD BUS STOP

MUZAFARABAD > KERAN > DAWARIAN > SHARDA > KEL

After arriving muzaffarabad, I had breakfast at bus stop and bought a ticket of a local bus from MUZAFARABAD TO KEL @ 430 Rs. The bus is without AC and not very comfortable so better choose a seat with a good leg space.

– 0700 hrs Bus started but stopped at many locations
– 0915 hrs crossed NEELAM JEHLUM DAM
– 1035 hrs crossed kundal shahi
– 1100 hrs crossed ATH MUQAM
– 1135 hrs crossed KERAN

Keran is a good spot to stay and also at this point you can see Indian flags just few hundred feet in front of you. Few of the good hotel options at Keran are

– Valley tracker Hotel

– Neelam star river Hotel

– Pine park lodges

– Kashmir Color guest house

The bus did not stop at Keran and continued onwards:
– 1200 hrs  Stopped at LAWAT for lunch break
– 90 Rs: I had Bar B Q tikka at Lawat
– 90 Rs: Purchased water bottles

– 1215 hrs Left from LAWAT
– 1235 hrs crossed DAWARIAN (from where ratti gali Jeep track starts)
– 1410 hrs reached SHARDA and had a small break

Sharda is one of the famous stop for stay. Most of the tour operators provide accommodation at this place. There are many basic level guest houses as well as camping tents available along the river. There is also ancient times, Shardah hindu Temple which was built 1000 years ago which you can visit across the river. I did not stop at Shardah during this trip, however sharing my video of visiting shardah temple during my May 2017 trip below:

From here, KEL is 19km far and Tao butt is 62km
– 1430 hrs left from SHARDA
– 1545 hrs reached KEL

My today’s bus journey ended at KEL. I booked a basic level guest house at KEL and kept my bags there to spend 2 nights there:

– 1000 Rs (500 Rs x 2 nights) paid to “Green hills view guest house”

After keeping my bags in guest house, i decided to hike towards ARANG KEL. There are 2 options to reach Arang Kel from Kel:

i) Complete track by hiking which takes almost 2.5 hrs

ii) Cover half way by Cable Car and then hike the remaining portion in just 45min

So, i decided to go through cable car. The waiting line for cable car is almost 30 to 40 min but still it is better than hiking (for those people who do not have tough stamina). The cable car takes only 30 seconds to drop you on other side.
– 100 Rs cable car ticket (for both ways)
– 1645 hrs sat in Cable car, dropped at other point and started trekking onwards

– 1720 hrs Reached Arang kel top

Since there was lot of public and long ques on going back so i spent only 45min at Arang Kel and then returned back to reach my Hotel before sunset.
– 1800 hrs started trekking back from Arang Kel and reach at cable car point at 1835hrs

– 1915 hrs sat on cable car and reached back to my room at 1945 hrs
– slept at 2100 hrs

DAY-3 | 05-AUG-2018 | KEL TO TAOBUTT AND RETURN

– Woke up at 0500 hrs
– 0620 hrs left from Hotel to KEL Bus stop
– 350 Rs jeep ticket from KEL to Taobut from Alhabib Hotel 03558111937

There are only 2 jeep timing from KEL to TAO BUTT: 0730 hrs and 1030 hrs
– 0740 hrs jeep left from KEL towards TAO BUTT
– 1100 hrs reached Tao Butt

Tao butt has wooden guest houses and 02 very good family hotels on the bank of river i.e; Ganga Hotel and Shabistan Hotel

– 350 Rs Return jeep ticket bought at 1400hrs timing
– 50 Rs pakoray at Taobutt
– 1410 hrs left on Jeep from Taobutt
– 1440 hrs stopped for 30min at Hulmat due to heatup of jeep
– 1600 hrs dropped few passengers at Phulawai
– 1815 hrs reached KEL
– 250 Rs dinner chicken meal
– 2030 hrs slept at Kel guest house

DAY-4 | 06-AUG-2018 | KEL > DAWARIAN > RATI GALI LAKE

– 0500 hrs wokeup and reached bus STOP at 0545 hrs
– 250 Rs bus ticket KEL to DAWARIAN
– 90 Rs paratha and egg breakfast
– 0600 hrs bus left from KEL (every 30min bus leaves starting from 4.30am)
– 0740 hrs reached SHARDA and and then resumed onward journey at 0805 hrs
– 1000 hrs Reached DAWARIAN and got off from Bus

From here, you have to hire a separate jeep which takes almost 2500 ~ 3000 Rs to take you upto Base camp. However i was traveling solo so i sat with locals by paying them 500 Rs
– 500 Rs took a local jeep from Dawarian to Rati Gali Base camp
– 1330 hrs reached at base camp of RATI GALLI

The base camp has lot of tents to spend a night and also have local kitchen huts and food options.
– 1345 hrs started hiking towards RATI GALLI
– 1500 hrs reached top of RATTI GALI LAKE

– 1620 hrs left from Rati Gali due to heavy rain started  and reached base camp at 1700 hrs

Few people had already booked their jeep, so i requested them to take me along.
– 500 Rs paid to jeep for one seat. Jeep started at 1710 hrs
– 1850 hrs reached at DAWARIAN BRIDGE and waited a long for bus. After 1.5 hr a bus arrived which was fully packed and i could only find a space to stand in the gate of Bus.
– 2030 hrs Bus started at Dawarian for Pindi
– 650 Rs Bus fare to Rawalpindi

On the way, there was lot of rain and land sliding

DAY-5 | 07-AUG-2018 |  DAWARIAN > RAWALPINDI > LAHORE

– 0010 hrs bus stopped at GHORI (CHASHMAY WALI JAGA) due to heavy land sliding. The road was blocked and bus river brought the bus 1 km back. We spent the whole night in a Mosque to wait for clearance of land sliding.

– Wokeup at 0545 hrs and all passengers sat in Bus but still land sliding was not clear and again waited for the crane.
– 0910 hrs finally sliding cleared by dumper and resumed the journey
– 0945 hrs crossed Muzaffarabad city Rope Bridge
– 1040 hrs crossed KOHALA BRIDGE
– 20 min stop for meal at PHAGWARI
– 1245 hrs entered MURREE EXPRESS WAY
– 1425 hrs bus dropped me at FAIZABAD Bus Stop Rawalpindi
– 1445 hrs sat in FAISAL MOVERS BUS for Lahore
– 1070 Rs FAISAL MOVER ticket to Lahore

– 1915 hrs reached Lahore

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TOTAL EXPENSE OF TRIP  = 6900 Rs (Including all bus tickets, accommodation and meals)

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ALSO READ: HOW TO PLAN YOUR FIRST TRIP TO NEELUM VALLEY | KASHMIR