Uttarakhand: suggestions needed

spicetrekker

I and my family (wife, son and parents) are planning on a vacation to UA - Kumaon. I need adivse on my itinerary:

Day 1: Early morning flight Bby-Delhi and then drive to Bhowali
Day 2: Explore nainital stay at Bhowali
Day 3: Explore Nainital stay at Bhowali
Day 4: Drive to Binsar (stoppage at Mukteshwar)
Day 5: Binsar Rest
Day 6: Binsar- Jageshwar- Binsar
Day 7: Binsar - Patal Bhubhaneshwar
Day 8: Patal Bhubhaneshwar towards Delhi
Day 9: Reach delhi and take evening flight to bby

Questions:

• Any overall suggestions
• Is the itinerary too packed
• Is Mukteshwar on the road form Bhowali to Binsar or on a different route
• On return from patal bhubhaneshwar to Delhi - which is a good place to break journey - I have a flight to catch on day 9 so I have one day in between
• Should I try and accomdate Munsiyari and drop Patal BB
• Any other thoughts

Many thanks

Almoraboy

Hello,

I think the last leg can be improved. You can see more in the same amount of road travel if you slightly restructure it as:

Day 7 -> Binsar (start), Jageshwar (visit), Dhaulchinna, Seraghat, Berinag, Chaukori (stay)


Day 8 -> Chaukori to Patal Bhubaneshwar


Also, day 4 does not seem correct. From Bhowali, one road goes to ALmora, Binsar and another goes to Ramgarh, Mukteshwar. Dunno if I am wrong, coz its been ten years since I left UK (Uttarakand) and now am able to go there during the hols only.

Btw, we were there last month. I have put up the pics and write of all all these places like Chaugarkha (Jageshwar) and Gangolihat (Patal B area) over here:

http://almoraboy.blogspot.com/2008/0...nter-2008.html

It includes write ups on both the history and geography of these areas.

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Trek blog over here

spicetrekker

Thanks Alomora Boy. I will incorporate your suggestions

Day 3: We will leave from Bhowali to Mukteshwar - have lunch at Mukteshwar and come back to Bhowali by evening - all of us have seen Nainital so will not spend time there

Day 7 Also will go by what you say. BTW is there a road map of Uttarakhand that I can buy.

Nice picture on your blog - I am now sure that I have taken the right decision.

Thanks once again

jyotirmoy

You may cut short your Nainital exploration to one full day.
I second Almoraboy's suggestion.

spicetrekker

Thanks Jyoti: Nainital shall be graced by my presence for only one day :-)

Dilliwala

Nest & Wings map of UA is good - Rs. 70.

jdebabrata

Dear friends,

I am a frequent traveller and like to cover Uttarakhand in phases along with my family.

Kindly help me by providing following informations.

1) I will be getting down at Kathgodam/Haldwani at 22.35hrs on 22nd April. Where to stay for the night?

2) Whether to start tour from Kathgodam or Nainital ?

3) I will be there upto 27th. I am mainly interested in observing snow-peak mountains. Which areas can I cover within these days?

4) where can I get good tour operators, Kathgodam or Nainital ? Or opt for a cab ?


Thanks in advance.


jdebabrata

Dilliwala

1. KMVN, Kathgodam

2. If you're IN Kathgodam, you can only start FROM there, isn't it?

3. Ranikhet, Nainital, Mukteshwar, Kausani, Binsar, Chaukori, Munsyari, take your pick. But I suggest don't stay in more than 2 of these places. Too much moving around won't be enjoyable.

4. Why do you need a tour operator? You'll just be paying money for nothing (no puns if you're reading this, Capt). You can arrange a car for the whole trip in KGM, if you like. Shyamal Mukherjee has posted the name of a driver and fone no. somewhere. Just search for recent threads with "Kumaon" or "Uttaranchal" in the title.
Accom you can arrange yourself at KMVNs once you have finalised your plan. More here: www.kmvn.org

capt_mahajan

You can also go upto Bhimtal from Kathgodam/Haldwani and stay overnight there. The KMVN place is not great, but has a much nicer view, and is quieter.

for DW- and chicks for free?

Almoraboy

Of course, the best place to stay will be the kumaon mandal vikas nigam tourist rest centre. it is pretty close to the railway station. just climb up, come to the main road, and there you are.

From Kathgodam, you can take a taxi and head toward Nainital or Bhimtal. And then later you can check out Almora and beyond.
For checking snow clad mountains asap, the quickets place to reach in my opinion woiuld be snow view in Nainital. Other cool places to check out nearby are Bhimtal, Sat tal, Ramgarh, etc...

But for checking these mountains from real close - I suggest Chaukori, Munsyari, Narayan Ashram

Check out my blog. Given some info on these ppl.

Blog link: http://almoraboy.blogspot.com/2006/0...himalayas.html


Contact details: http://almoraboy.blogspot.com/2006/0...formation.html

Chaukori links: http://almoraboy.blogspot.com/2008/0...nter-2008.html

Narayan Ashram Links: http://almoraboy.blogspot.com/2007/0...st-kumaon.html

Some random Munsyari links and the road trip to that place: http://almoraboy.blogspot.com/2006/1...kend-trek.html

If you are interested in trekking, then you can finds lots of info related to that also over here.

Have a great trip.

Dilliwala

I KNEW IT! I knew you'd say it.
I don't know why I bothered - not only was there little chance of you missing this thread, there certainly wasn't a chance, once found, of not giving the above response, was there now?

jdebabrata

Many many thanks friends, for your timely suggestions . . .

Shajara

Hi all,
I'm new here and in August I'll go to India for the first time ever. I know it might not be the perfect month to go around, but it's the only one we (my husband and I) can take off from work!WE're likely spending 10 days in Uttarkhand and 8 in Uttar Pradesh. I don't know even if you would recommend these 2 states during monsoon, or if it would be better to travel more northern (Himachal Pradesh and so on).
There are too many things I would like to ask to all kind users, but exspecially:

1 - Do you think road conditions will be extreme in accounts of heavy rainfall and landslides? Going around with local buses on slippy and muddy lanes frightens me a little, you know...

2 - I've no idea of what a monsoon weather in August could really mean in these regions; if it'll be dark and cloudy all the 2 weeks, if it's just rain and sunshine alternating during daytime, if rainfall will force us to change all sightseeing programs and stay inside...or what... Do we need heavy wool, waterproof, windstopper ? Touristic sites say "No problem at all", but perhaps it's that they have to sell their tours all year long.

3 - Does anyone know a mountain spot from where we could have a great view of majestic Himalaya peaks? we're not likely going on hard trekking as I'm not trained at all, but we enjoy hill hiking and taking pictures.

4- Last but not least, does anyone know about some social projects we can visit there, like Navdanya for example, or artesans' cooperative, organic farming etc.?

You'd probably think "goddess, she doesn't have an idea!"... and yes, so it is! But thanks in advance to all who'll spend a minute in asnwering.

amit2821

-road conditions will be extreme in accounts of heavy rainfall
=UTTRAKHAND – The Roads are god all across UT there is no problems at all, more important is where in UT u want to so in the rainy season i.e.

Mussoorie, Dhanolty, Lansdowne, Dehradun, Haridwar, Rishikesh
=All ok in any season as the roads are good
=Even in Rainy season these places are good to visit, the weather changes very fast from clear to cloudy sky and vice versa.

Auli, Chamba, Devprayag, Gangotri, Kedarnath, Yamunotri
=Not recommended in rainy season as landslides are the main issue.

- Mountain spot from where we could have a great view of majestic Himalaya peaks?
= That would be from himachal Pradesh, only one place comes to my mind for that
Mcleodganj (Upper Dharamshala)
= It rains heavy there but still a wonderful & unique experience in the rainy season.

Social projects no idea – but mcleodganj should have some.

lorenza

Best place you can go is Ladakh, we were there in July and no rain. If you like I can write in Italian and give you some tips. Send your e-mail.

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lorenza