Uttarakhand travel guide

Travel to Uttarakhand between Mar – Jun, Sep – Nov. Those are the months the weather, the crowds and the airfare line up — outside them you trade one of the three.

Currency

Indian Rupee (INR)

Language

Hindi everywhere; Garhwali and Kumaoni in the villages; English in hotels and with guides.

Time zone

IST (UTC+5:30)

Plug type

Type C / D / M

Flight time from India

2 hrs

Flying from

Ahmedabad · Mumbai · Delhi · Surat · Vadodara

• Naini Lake and the Snow View ropeway

  Nainital is built around its emerald lake the way an amphitheatre is built around a stage. Row across it in the early morning before the pedal boats come out, walk the flat Camel’s Back loop, and take the ropeway up to Snow View — on a clear October day the whole Nanda Devi range stands on the horizon like a set of teeth.

• A dawn jeep safari in Corbett

  India’s oldest national park, and still one of its best. The open Gypsy enters the Bijrani or Jhirna zone at first light, when the sal forest is loud with langur alarm calls. Elephant, deer and wild boar are near-certain; the tiger is a matter of luck and patience, and no honest operator will promise one. Book the safari permit weeks ahead — the park caps entries.

• Ganga aarti and white water at Rishikesh

  At dusk the ghats at Parmarth Niketan and Triveni fill with lamps, chanting and river mist — go once even if rituals are not your thing. By day the same river is north India’s best white water: the 16-kilometre Shivpuri stretch has named rapids, licensed operators and a jump-off cliff, and needs no prior experience beyond the nerve to get in the raft.

• The Char Dham, or a taste of it

  The full circuit of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath takes ten to twelve days on mountain roads and, for Kedarnath, a 16-kilometre walk or a pony or a helicopter. It runs roughly May to October, closes in winter, and requires state registration for every yatri. We build it as its own dedicated trip; on a shorter holiday, Rishikesh and Haridwar give you the sacred Ganga without the altitude.

• Mussoorie and the Landour loop

  The Mall Road, Gun Hill by ropeway and Kempty Falls are the postcard Mussoorie. The better half is Landour, the cantonment above it: a quiet loop of deodar-shaded lanes, a century-old bakery or two, and views that go all the way to the snow line. Come in the evening when the day tourists have gone down the hill.

• Har Ki Pauri at Haridwar

  Where the Ganga finally leaves the mountains for the plains. The evening Ganga aarti here is older, louder and more crowded than Rishikesh’s — thousands of leaf-boat lamps going downstream at once. It sits neatly on the road between Rishikesh or Mussoorie and Corbett, so most of our routings give you an hour here without costing a day.

• Aloo ke gutke with bhang ki chutneyVegetarian

  Kumaon’s everyday dish: boiled hill potatoes tossed in mustard oil with jakhiya seeds that pop like tiny mustard fireworks, eaten with a chutney of roasted hemp seed — entirely sober, entirely delicious, and vegetarian by birth.

• Kafuli and mandua roti

  Garhwal’s spinach and fenugreek curry, slow-cooked in an iron kadhai and thickened with rice paste, mopped up with dark finger-millet roti. This is what the hills actually eat, and any homestay or dhaba will do it better than a hotel buffet.

• Bal mithai from Almora

  Brown fudge of slow-roasted khoya coated in white sugar pearls — Kumaon’s signature sweet, and the standard gift to carry home. Buy it in Almora or Nainital from a shop that makes its own; it keeps a week without refrigeration.

• Pahadi rajma and bhatt ki churkaniVegetarian

  The small red rajma grown in Munsiyari and Harsil valleys cooks sweeter and softer than anything in the plains, and churkani — a black soybean gravy — is Kumaon’s winter protein. Both are pure vegetarian staples a Gujarati table takes to instantly.

• For a Jain travellerJain friendly

  Uttarakhand is easy country for vegetarians and workable for Jain food: Haridwar and Rishikesh are officially meat- and alcohol-free towns, and their bhojanalayas will cook without onion, garlic or root vegetables on request. Inside Corbett and in Landour choices thin out, so we pre-arrange those meals with the resort a day ahead.

Set a meal preference — vegetarian, Jain or halal — when you book and we brief every hotel and restaurant on your itinerary.

• Hand-knitted woollens and tweed from the Mall Road shops of Mussoorie and Nainital
• Bal mithai and singori, boxed at an Almora or Nainital sweet shop that makes its own
• Rudraksha malas, singing bowls and Ayurvedic oils from the Rishikesh ghat bazaars
• Pahadi rajma, red rice, jakhiya seed and Himalayan honey from village cooperatives
• Aipan folk-art work — the red-and-white ritual patterns of Kumaon, on trays and cloth
• Cane and ringal-bamboo baskets woven in the Garhwal valleys

This is road-trip country. Jolly Grant airport at Dehradun is the main gateway for Mussoorie, Rishikesh and Haridwar; Pantnagar airport and the Kathgodam railhead serve Nainital and Corbett. Between towns a private car with a hill-experienced driver is the only sensible buy — distances look short on the map and take twice as long on the ground, because almost every kilometre bends. Inside Corbett only registered open Gypsies may enter the safari zones, and your own car waits at the gate. Local taxis do the short hops; in Nainital the lake area is walkable and partly car-free.

• Hill roads are the real risk, not crime. Insist on daylight driving, seatbelts in the rear, and a driver who knows the route — and refuse any plan that puts a mountain descent after dark.
• July and August bring monsoon landslides that close roads for hours or days. We do not schedule departures in those months; if you travel then independently, build slack days around every hill leg.
• Kedarnath sits at 3,583 metres and the walk gains height fast. Anyone with a heart or blood-pressure condition should get a doctor’s clearance, and every Char Dham yatri must register with the state before travelling.
• In Corbett, stay in the vehicle, keep arms inside, and skip the safari operators who promise a tiger — the park fines misbehaviour and the promise is a lie anywhere on earth.
• Monkeys around temples, ropeways and Mall Roads snatch food and loose sunglasses. Keep snacks zipped away and hold phones with intent near railings.
• Nights turn cold in the hills even in May — pack a warm layer per person whatever the plains forecast says.

Per person, per day, on the ground — meals, local transport and entry tickets. Flights and hotels sit in the package price, not here.