Valley of Flowers National Park

The Valley of Flowers National Park is a national park in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, protecting a high alpine valley renowned for its meadows of endemic alpine flowers. The valley sits between roughly 3,352 and 3,658 meters in elevation and contains about 520 plant species, including orchids, poppies, primulas, marigolds, daisies and anemones alongside sub-alpine birch and rhododendron forests. Its gentle landscape complements the more rugged terrain of the adjoining Nanda Devi National Park, and together the two parks form a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1988 as part of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. The park also shelters rare and endangered wildlife, including snow leopards, Asiatic black bears, musk deer and brown bears, along with numerous high-altitude bird species. Because it lies under heavy snow much of the year, the park is open to visitors only during summer, from June to October.