Planning Trip - northern hills

nar

Hi All,

This site looks amazing n provide a bulk of info .. So ,pls guys out there pls help me in making certain decisions as follows . Thanks in adavance for your help.

Actually My best fren is getting married in November n they are planning a honeymoon trip to Almora -Kausani OR Almora- Nainitaal OR Kausani-Nainitaal.
Now , he was quite busy making other arrangements, so he gave this particular duty to me to decide upon the itiernary part.

Now , I want to know as follows -
a) Which of these three would be the best places to go for a honeymoon trip
b) As they plan to go from 16 Nov - 20 Nov, how abt the weather part . hope they dont face any problems going there relating to weather ( like landslinding)
c) Do you have other choices of places to suggest in Uttranchal other than these ?
d) Pls let me know some good hotels ( below Rs 2000 per day )
e) What is the best way of forming iterniary .

Pls help . Your answers are really awaited

capt_mahajan

If living in Delhi, I would drive up. If not, Ranikhet express to Haldwani and hire a car.

2 weeks, I would

Drive up via Mukhteshwar, stay overnight if I liked it, or drive on and stop at Binsar.. stay at KMVN (no electricity, so is that romantic or what?)
Next day, trip to Jageshwar plus hanging around for beautiful views if you are lucky. If not, you will get them later.

Then, drive upto Chaukori for 2/3 days... stay at KMVN with electricity this time.

Consider Munsiyari for a day.

Drive back via Kausani to Ranikhet... 3 days. Some nice places around, including short day treks/walks. Find a better/more expensive hotel in Kausani or Ranikhet for 3 days.. honeymoon after all. Use Kausani or Ranikhet to relax a bit. Kausani can have nice views too, and its kind of off season so may not be crowded.

Kausani or Ranikhet/Nainital (If they must do the tourist trap).. for 2/3 days at Nainital.


Almora is not really worth stopping at, but if they do, the KMVN place is nice, central but quiet. Can book train tickets there too for the return trip, if not already done so.

Tweak the days, and I think you have your basic 2 week trip. Slow it down if you desire fewer places or add a few side trips around Nainital if you want more sightseeing.

Note: Suggest 3 days at either Chaukori/Munsiyari or Kausani. The views can be hard to come by on a daily basis because of the clouds. But they are well worth the wait.

The car.. if the budget is getting killed, negotiate oneway to Chaukori or from there to Ranikhet/Nainital. Local transport will be available, or you can hire another car locally if you need one. This way you can save maybe 5 days car hire. If budget is not a constraint, keep the car. It is useful.

Buses and shared jeeps will be available, but not recommended on a honeymoon.

For somebody living in delhi, driving in your own car is an excellent option.

nar

Many Thanks Capt Mahajan .. It was so humble to write such a detailed iterinary for me !

BUt , the duration is not 2 weeks .. its 5 days , 4 nights . They plan to start at 15 Nov Night and retrun on 20 Nov night to Delhi ..

Could you pls help me now in making iterinary for them !

capt_mahajan

apologise for messing that up. I read 6th and 20th.

Hmm. 5 days is not a lot.

15th : Overnight Ranikhet Express to haldwani, hire car for 5 days. drive mukhteshwar (brunch), and on to binsar sanctuary vaia almora, stay at kmvn binsar

16th: am: jageshwar trip and drive upto kausani

17th : kausani and afternoon drive upto ranikhet OR stay on at kausani overnight, if you like the place.

18th Kausani or Ranikhet

19th: Ranikhet

20th drive via Nainital.. few hours there, and leave evening for Kathgodam/Haldwani. Try to reach Kathgodam in daylight hours, safer as avoid driving in hills in the dark. Or at least get off the mountains before dark, a good way is to land up at Bhimtal at dusk and spend an hour or two there. Its a short drive in the plains to Kathgodam from there.

20th night: Catch Ranikhet express from Kathgodam

21st am 0500 or so: arrive old delhi railway stn.

========
Alternative is knock off Kausani if you get good views from Binsar and stay there longer if you like it.

I don't like Nainital too much, but you put it in there, so..
depends what they are looking for. If a more urban touristy setting, go for Nainital and knock off everything else!

Sadanand Kamath

Captain, since it is a honeymoon trip, some touristy setting will be good especially when the trip is in off season. I would suggest the following schedule:

Nov.16 : Reach Kathgodam @05.45 a.m. by Ranikhet Express. Take a cab to Nainital. Alternatively, request the hotel to send the pick up car as complimentary(as part of hotel package). After freshening up, go for local sight-seeing and boating in the Naini lake.

Nov.17 : Drive to Mukteshwar. After lunch drive to Binsar via Almora. Stay overnight at Binsar.

Nov.18 : Drive to Jageshwar via Almora. After lunch, drive to Ranikhet via Almora-Kosi-Majkhali. Overnight at Ranikhet.

Nov.19 : Sight-seeing in and around Ranikhet. Overnight at Ranikhet.

Nov.20 : Drive to Sattal, Naukuchiatal and Bhimtal. After spending sometime in these places, drive to Kathgodam to catch Ranikhet Express to reach Delhi Jn. @5.00 a.m. on Nov.21.

Sadanand

__________________
Sirf ek kadam utha tha galat rahe shauk mein
Manzil tamam umr hame dhunti rahi.

[Just one wrong step on the way of the quest
My destination looked for me all life long]

nar

Many thanks for your replies .
Captain & Sadanand .. Thanks a lot for sharing info ..

So going ahead .. I Plan to include Naintaal as they wud be interested in an Urban location as well along with a peaceful and less crowdy location ..

However , they really dont to travel much .. but would like to spend good time at these locations n enjoy the places.

Also, they plan to go to Naintal in the last 2 days .. so can we have a perfect iterinary for them based on this information.

I really dont have any idea abt these places but wud help them making a perfect trip for them . So , Now I can think of


Nov.16 : Reach Kathgodam @05.45 a.m. by Ranikhet Express. Take a cab to ( Kausani ??? )

Nov.17 : ??

Nov.18 : ?? , Satrt for Naintaal

Nov.19 : Sight-seeing in and around Naintaal .

Nov.20 : Drive to ???. After spending sometime in these places, drive to Kathgodam to catch Ranikhet Express to reach Delhi Jn. @5.00 a.m. on Nov.21.

Could you pls fill in these ??? ..

Also, Could you pls list out good hotels at these places .


Thanks a lot !!

capt_mahajan

16th: drive upto Binsar via Mukhteshwar. Overnight at KMVN
17th Drive Jageshwar.. about 25/30km.. (not neccessary to go via Almora) and then back to Kausani
18th Kausani, trip to Ranikhet
19 pm early am drive to Nainital, about 115 km, via Ranikhet (50km from Kausani)
20th: Nainital till afternoon. Then drive to Kathgodam via Sadanand's suggested places

Hotels: Kausani land up at the row of hotels facing the Himalayan range, and choose.. and bargain, you are off season!

Nainital: search here, recent thread on hotels. I don't know much about Nainital hotels. Stayed at an affiliated club (some heritage something, forget), which was good only because it was a little away from the Mall road noise

nar

Thanks a lot Captain ..you are a great help !

hey , now further questions are about accomodation . Could anyone who has some experience help me with some good hotels in kausani, ranikhet and Nainital .. Budget wud be within 2000rs per night

I have learnt from this board that KMVN are nice but I was a little skeptical if they wud be providing facilities suitable for a honeymoon accomodation . Pls anyone out there help me with accomodation part .

Thanks .

capt_mahajan

KMVN is not really suitable for a honeymoon.

But the view from Binsar can be amazing.

Else there is the Club Mahindra and a few others. Kalmatia Sangam comes to mind, though not really at Binsar.
http://indoexpedition.com/kalmatia.html

nar

Thanx.

I think these are not within the budget , its 2000 per day . Could anyone who has stayed before at such places help ..

Pls your help would be appreciated!