Uttaranchal to HP?

daveyboy

Hello all I'm after your thoughts. I want to go to Utteranchal with followed by a bit of Himachal Pradesh. How best do you think I should combine the two in three weeks? Will I have to go back to Delhi. Or is there a good route between them?

Alan D

Apart from some remote villages there is a good network of bus routes in the Indian hills but because of the twisting roads and the stops for picking up and setting down passengers, these buses tend to average between 20-30 K's an hour. You could spend a lot of time travelling, which, I would guess, is not what you want to do.

If you want to visit both states you could take a train and then bus to Almora, spend some time in that area, then return to Delhi and take a direct bus to the Kullu Valley and Manali and back to Delhi. This would still involve about 4 days (or nights) travelling out of the three weeks you have to spend in India. On the other hand if you want to do more travelling it's perfectly possible to travel along the Himalayas by bus making night stops in towns along the way.

BTW, daveyboy, have you definitely given up the bus to Ladakh idea? That's the most spectacular bus journey I've ever taken.

Midnite Toker

Alan's right about the slow buses. From your other postings I see you are going in June. You might get flash flooding and/or landslides in Uttaranchal at that time. The roads tend to stay down in the valley bottoms, so get whatever the weather deals out. Another reason to use the Kathgodam >> Delhi train for in and out - the road to Almora from Kathgodam is much more sturdy.

HP doesn't have to mean Manali. For my money, I would rather go on the lovely little train to Shimla (overnight train to Kalka, then change to the narrow-gauge railway from there - if you upgrade to the "Viceroy's railcar" from Kalka you'll find it well worth it, I'll wager). Do some day walks around Shimla, and take trips on the HPTDC tourist coaches to places like Naldehra and Kufri. There are virtually NO other foreigners in these places, more than can be said for Manali!

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daveyboy

Thanks you two. One of the reason I am going to India is having been to the Andes and had my mind blown by being at 4,000m I NEED to get back there. I'm no mountaineer but there was something so special about it, so at some point I need to get up that high - views, thin air, away from civilisation aaahhh! Manali sounds a bit where I would have liked 15 years ago but not now- I love a relaxing place to meet people and have a few beers but too big a traveller/party scene won't do a lot for me - I don't disrespect it for others but it's..well..sort of not exciting enough. I like places which are just a little bit challenging and wierd - they are the things you remember the rest of your life - dropping my sleeping bag in a toilet in Peru after a 2 week water cut has actually given me an experience that I value more than lying on some beaches. I'm no great sightseer, I prefer to be places than see 'sights'. To be honest the trip to Leh sounds a bit scary and arduous - maybe I'll just go to HP and see if I fancy going on there. I think 3 weeks to cover about 4 different bases and a 4 day trek? Where are your favourite 'high up' villages in HP? What I really fancy is 'joining up' two nice villages with a 3 day trek across a pass. So, thanks for letting me ramble on and if you've any more thoughts they'd be appreciated.

kolobar

I am not familiar with Uttaranachal as a whole being only to Kumaon part. For a few relaxing day you can stay in Kasar Devi above Almora. Altough being a sort of long term staying westerners hang out the location on exposed ridge and views (well, not much of the views in summer months) makes it very attractive spot. I went further north and found valleys along nepali border great tourist free (beside indian pilgrims to Mt.Kailash) and easy to do hiking area. But monsoon period is not a great time to visit Kumaon since you wont be able to see magnificent mountains perched above you.
HP is much more familiar to me. I agree with Midnite Toker. Shimla is better choice (plenty of Indian tourists in June, overbooked and more expensive, but still ok for few days). But I would continue further on to Reckong Peo (also to get inner line permit). You are out of the monsoon area now. Further on in upper Kinnaur there is Nako, nice small tibetan like village perched above Spiti river surrounded with mountains with small but ancient budhist temple and a tiny guesthouse. After awhile you enter Spiti valley to stop at famous Tabo monastery (there is guesthouse right in monastery) and you can make a detour into Pin valley or/and to Lalung village where you can stay in small monastery with a very nice monk. You end up in Kaza and afterwards you have to decide if you want to continue to Manali or Leh or to make another stop in Kibber village.
In case the time of your travel is monsoon period, most of the time you will be in monsoon shadow with continous sunny weather with sights of great mountain ranges all around you in an area far from being packed with tourists.
If you want a short trek you can for instance connect Lalung village with Kibber village on foot, staying overnight at local houses or/and in Thagyud monastery.

daveyboy

Thanks Kolobar that sounds great, you've painted a good picture!. I'm actually going mid May to early June so I've heard the route from Kaza to Manali won't be open - is this right? Is mid- late May monsoon period in Kumaon?

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kolobar

The road will not be open yet so you would have to return from Spiti to Shimla.
Mid-late May is not yet monsoon period. I was there in June and it was becoming more and more hazy with occasional showers, but May should be just fine.