Kumaon in winter

sics66

Planning to visit some places in Kumaon starting around 19th December,2008. This is the planned itinerary. Expect other members to suggest modifications,if needed.

Day 0: Leave Kolkata by Upasana Exp
Day 1: Reach Bareilly around 11.10 a.m. Take a car to Nainital.
Day 2: Nainital
Day 3: Nainital to Kausani.
Day 4: Kausani
Day 5: Kausani to Munsiyari
Day 6: Munsiyari
Day 7: Munsiyari to Chaukori
Day 8: Chaukori
Day 9: Chaukori to Binsar
Day 10: Binsar to ?????
Day 11: ????? to Bareilly to catch 2318 Amritsar Sealdah Exp. at 16:20 hrs.

A few clarifications and questions:
1. I hate spending 2 or more nights in a train. Hence I had to choose someway to reach Nainital from Kolkata spending only 1 night in train.There is another option,albeit a costlier one,by reaching Delhi by air and taking the Ranikhet Exp.
2. How long should it take to reach Nainital from Bareilly?
3. I will hire a car for the entire road trip. Where should I reserve it from ? From Bareilly or Nainital ?
4. Finally, what about Day 10 ? Where should I stay( keeping in mind that I will have to reach Bareilly from there the next day to catch the evening train) ?

BTW,I have read through this thread and got a lot of info there.

Regards.

Bhaswaran

Stay day 10 and night on Binsar. On day 11, start early from Binsar. I think you can reack Barielly. However talk with your driver in this regard. Otherwise, you have to come to Nainital from Binsar on day 10 and spend the night there.

Kasauni to Munsiyari in one day. I am not sure if you can make it. Again, talk to your driver.

Reserve car from Nainital. I always rely on hill drivers in the hills.

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Sadanand Kamath

Hire a taxi from Nainital for the rest of your Kumaon trip as suggested by Bhaswaran.
On 11th day, you may come to Bhowali for overnight stay. There is a KMVN Tourist Bungalow. I always prefer to be nearer in distance to the railway station on the date of train journey.

Sadanand

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capt_mahajan

Or even Bhimtal instead of Bhowali.

sics66

The distance is around 182 km. Will that be too strenuous ? Saw in some other site that it takes about 6 hrs. But still, you are right. I should confirm it with the driver.
Absolutely.That is my preference too.That is why I asked about any nice place to stay which will be nearer to Bareilly. Bhowali or Bhimtal seem good choices.

Thank you all for your inputs. So you think that the itinerary is ok ? BTW,what about the expected time of travel from Bareilly to Nainital? The distance seems to be 142 km. ? Do I have the correct info ?

Dilliwala

Not forgetting Kathgodam itself.


6 to 6.5 hours driving is realistic. Shud be comfortably doable, barring delays.

kmalik

Perhaps you should rationalize between Kausani and Binsar and drop one - very similar views, and all you'll get in Bisar is the morning views given that you are only doing a fly-by.

If you were to do that, you could come back from Munsiary via Pithoragarh, Champawat, Tanakpur, Khatima, Bareilly. Champavat - Munsiary is 204 km. From there, Bareilly is about 200 km.


Be careful though, you might see stuff others haven't seen and need to get in the saddle advising unsuspecting folks

PS: Do verify my distances if you fall for this suggestion! I have not done this route but have always wanted to travel this part. And, for what you are doing (with start and end at Bareilly), this is a no-brainer, from what I see. Also look for what the pros like the wizard of Dilli say...

sics66

Thank you both for the suggestions and advice.
@kmalik, yes ,your suggestion is a reasonable one.And if I follow this route I can visit Mayawati(the place,not the person ) enroute. Hmmm.... I will have to calculate the days.

ArjunRao

Hi All

need help. travelling to ranikhet tommorrow. which is the best hotel chevron rosemount? ranikhet club? KMVN guest house?

Appreciate immediate response.

mousourik

hello sics66,
we went to kumayon last march from bareilly and took the lohaghat - pithoragarh - munsyari - p.bhub - almora - naini route. it's always advisable to take drivers from the hills as they can manage those roads very well. if you start your road trip at bareilly, you'll have to pay for taxes at the border. rather, you take amritsar mail, get down at lucknow, take nainital ex. that will eliminate unnecessary hassles. you can spend the in-between hours at the railway retiring room also.

182 km in a day - very very strenous. we did a max. of 126 km from pithoragarh to munsyari. better try to keep daily travel to 100 km. max. if you have kids with you, it'll be really strenous for them.

another suggestion - better to avoid nainital, it's very crowded.

sics66

Thank you for your advice and concern. But I(with my family) have covered 200+ kms. in a single day on multiple occasions during my trips into Garhwal and Arunachal Pradesh.Unless this stretch is particularly notorious , I don't see too much problem in that.But again, you are right to suggest to keep daily travel to <100 km.Not always possible practicably.
Please see my first post. I hate to spend two consecutive nights in train.