Niti Village: No Permission Required for Indian Citizens
Indian citizens no longer need an Inner Line Permit to visit Niti Village in Uttarakhand. The rule changed in 2022, but most online sources still get it wrong.
A short post to let travellers know: for Indian citizens, you do NOT need any permission to visit Niti Village in Uttarakhand. The rule was changed in 2022.
Niti Valley is often called the last village before Tibet. It's a picturesque valley, covered in snow during winter and inhabited by just 25 families. We visited and camped there in the summer of 2024.
The confusion
Even the official euttaranchal tourism website wrongly states that you need permission from the SDM in Joshimath to enter Niti Village, and that Ghamsali is the last place in the valley you can visit without a permit. That information has been copied by many other blogs and websites, and it fills the Google search results.
The locals say the same thing. The removal of the ILP (Inner Line Permit) is recent, and locals aren't always aware of it. That makes sense - Niti Village doesn't have anything to do except enjoy the natural beauty of it, and it's a remote place, so locals from Joshimath aren't frequent visitors. Most tourists in Joshimath prefer Auli, so even the cab drivers haven't caught up.
How to get to Niti Village
Just drive from Joshimath. The roads are good, with only a few rough patches. There is an ITBP checkpost before Niti Village - they will ask for your national ID and keep it with them. You collect it on the way back. That's it.
You can camp anywhere inside the valley, near Niti Village or on one of the mountainsides connected to the road. There is Jio 4G network from about 5 km before Niti Village - we were even able to video call friends and family from our tent.
Happy travelling!