Honeymoon in uttarakhand

vedab

Hi all,
I am new to IM and need all your help. We are planning for a honeymoon from Bangalore during 9th - 16th Dec, so we contacted few package tour operators (in order to avoid hassle of negotiating at each and every place once we reach and enjoy our honeymoon )

Here are the few quotes. We are not able to decide which option is the best and if the rates are reasonable. Please help us to decide.

Itinerary 1 (Cost Rs.39,000):

Day 01: Delhi - Jim Corbett National Park (Stay @ Corbett Suman Grand)

Day 02: Jim Corbett - Nainital ( Stay @ Chevron Fairhavens)

Day 03: Nainital (Stay @ Chevron Fairhavens)
After breakfast ,go out for local sightseeing including Naukuchiatal,Sataal and Bhimtal.Dinner and overnight stay at hotel.

Day 04: Kasauni (Stay @ Hotel Chevron mountain villa)
After breakfast proceed for Kausani enroute Ranikhet visiting Chaubatia,Kalika and Upat in Ranikhet.

Day 05: Kausani (Stay @ Hotel Chevron mountain villa)
Day reserved for local sightseeing and leisure activity at Kausani.Dinner and overnight stay at Kausani.

Day 06: Almora (Stay @ Kasaar Jungle Resort)

Day 07: Mukteshwar (Stay @ Resort Sequester)
we take you to local sightseeing to some of the most beautiful spots in Mukteshwar including Methodist Church,Chauthi jaali and Mukteshwar temple.Dinner and overnight stay at hotel in Mukteshwar.

Day 08: Departure Mukteshwar

Itinerary 2 (Cost Rs. 33800):
Day 01: Delhi - Mussoorie (Stay @ Fort Resort)

Day 02 : Mussoorie (Stay @ Fort Resort)

This morning you visit to the fabulous Kempty falls and other popular tourist spots including the Sukhradevi temple and Gun Hill.

Day 03 : Mussoorie - Ranikhet (Stay @ Chevron's Rosemount)

Day 04 : Ranikhet - Binsar - Almora - Ranikhet (Stay @ Chevron's Rosemount)

excursion to Binsar (65 kms / 2 hrs) and on to Almora (43 kms / 1-2 hrs) to enjoy the stunning scenery of these locales.

Day 05 : Ranikhet - Nainital (Stay @ Fairhavens (Lake Facing) / Classic The Mall)

Day 06 : Nainital (Stay at Fairhavens (Lake Facing) / Classic The Mall)

excursion to Bhimtal and Naukuchyatal

Day 07: Nainital (Stay @ Fairhavens (Lake Facing) / Classic The Mall)

Day 08 : Nainital - Delhi

Itinerary 3 (Cost Rs.41,000):

DAY 1: DELHI- NAINITAL (Stay @ Chevron Fairhaven)

DAY 2: NAINITAL (Stay @ Chevron Fairhaven)

city tour of Nainital. Visit the Naina Devi Temple and Hanuman Garhi. Spend the rest of the day at leisure to enjoy a boat ride in the Naini Lake

DAY 3: NAINITAL - RANIKHET (Stay @ Chevron Rosemount)

Visit temples and the wonderful sights in Ranikhet.

DAY 4: RANIKHET - KAUSANI (Stay @ Chevron Eco Lodge)


DAY 5: KAUSANI (Stay @ Chevron Eco Lodge)


DAY 6: KAUSANI - NAINITAL (Stay @ Chevron Fairhaven)

Visit lakes around Nainital including Sat Tal (a group of seven lakes), jade green Garud Lake, the larger Bhim Tal and Naukuchiya Tal.

DAY 7: NAINITAL - DELHI

vedab

Somebody please help.

kamal.nandan

vedab...I dont see any hassles in travelling to a place like Uttarakhand on your own. I dont see any need to go for a package tour because of the following reasons:
1. Package tours are much costlier.
2. You dont have the flexibility to travel on your own. Some of the places you may find better and might like to stay longer than planned but you have to go as per the plans of the tour operators.
3. Tour operators in most cases take you for granted once the money has gone into their pocket.

4. In a place like Uttarakhand you dont need a package tour at all. You will find hotels(of all budgets) round the year. And in December, its much more easy to get accomodation at a much cheaper price. You would end up paying much more if you go for a package tour or thru some agent/operator.

I would suggest, dont go for package tour...just plan for the places that you will like to go and then search(on internet) for good hotels at these places and jott down their contact nos. Just a couple of days in advance make a booking for your first destination (BTW...you will easily get accomodation at all the destinations in Uttarakhand at runtime), reach there and then plan your ownward journey or the places to go. In uttarakhand, there is no dearth of places to visit.
Accomodation as well as transport will be easily available at all places in Uttarakhand. If you go for package tour, you might end up paying up much more...If you are on your own, you can also think of eploring on your own in seclusion...:-)

spicetrekker

A few things not sure if it helps
1. I quickly read thru the three alternatives but could not find anywhere what the rates include, only stay or boarding + lodging or all inclusive, so difficult to comment if it is ok or not
2. On one hand you dont want to spend 15 minutes negotiating the rates but on the other hand you seem to be running from one place to another. I would suggest for 7 nights just select 2 places at max 3. If you go to Corbett plan atleast 2 nights and get three games rides minimum
3. My advise is that Dec (first 3 weeks) will be low season in most places resorts would be empty so first you decide whether you want to go to Gharwal or Kumaon - for honeymoon I would say Kumaon. so if u decide to go to Kumaon, just get train bookings organized to Kathgodam, land at the station and hire a cab it will take 15 minutes and a bit of bargaining or you can prebook a cab thru some of the people recommended on this forum - do a search and you will get these names and rates, I think Almoraboy and Delhiwalla have some good recos
For places please read similar threads and decide on 2 max 3 places. Once you have done that for likes of Nainital, Ranikhet I would just land up there look up a few places and bargain with them and believe me you will get a a great price, more importantly you will know what you are getting into, if you dont like the room you can move on and see other places. If you plan to go to Binsar then I would suggest you pre-book either GMVN or Khali estate. The other advantage of not pre-booking is that you can change for eg if you dont like Nanital you can spend less time there and more in some other location.

I hope this helps. I would say first step for you is to search on “Honeymoon Kumaon” on Indiamike home page and read the various threads

vedab

Thanks Kamal for replying. Can you please suggest a good itinerary for honeymoon couples for 7-8 days (staring and ending in delhi)? Will it be better to book one car for the entire trip? If yes, Is it possible to book car for entire trip online?

vedab

Thanks spicetrekker for quick and insightful reply.
1. Sorry, I have not travelled much to understand the difference between stay in hotel and boarding + lodging in hotel. Please explain. I was told that it includes stay @ specified hotel + travel (drivers cost inclusive) + breakfast + dinner.

2. Yeah, we have decided on Kumaon. If you can please suggest few itineraries I would be greatful to you.

3. I will do more research on your suggestions. Thanks a lot of the suggestion.

delhiwala

Dear Vedab,

It's better if you restrict it to Nainital & Binsar.

Base yourself there and explore nearby areas....

Take it easy and have fun....

__________________
Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone. - The Dhammapada

vedab

Thanks delhiwala for replying.

Hi All,
After reading lot of threads in IM here is the itinerary. Please suggest places to add or remove.
Few questions:
a. Do I need to book kmvn from Bangalore or should we go there and negotiate?
b. Other problem is the car, we need transport from Day 4 to Day 9. Can someone give me contact number of good driver (I see anil bisht's name in lot of threads but did not find his contact number)?

Day 1 (Delhi):
1. Start from Bangalore reach Delhi
2. Delhi to Kathgodam by trains

Day 2 (Nainital):
3. Will reach kathgodam at 6:00AM
4. Kathgodam to Nainital (Stay at kmvn Tallital)
5. After lunch visit nearby places. Rope way Mallital side Gondola ride, Boat ride

Day 3 (Nainital):
6. Horse-riding First Lover's Point, then Land's End provides a view of the Khurpatal and valleys in the distance. Enroute you will be shown Tiger Top where tigers WERE known to roam (a saltlick, thickly wooded area) and in a certain clearing where some movies have been shot. Then to Dorothy's Seat-climb a few rocks and there is a magnificent view all around. On the way down you will be shown Sukhatal.

7. Lakes Tour - Now, a trip to Nainital is incomplete without a tour of the lakes...depending on the mode of transport you own, (khurpa taal,naukuchhia taal,bhim taal and saat taal) you visit +4 Kms is Naukuchiyatal.

Day 4 (Binsar):
8. Nainital to Binsar
On the way visit mukteshwar temple and Chauli Jali. Reach Binsar and stay @ Kmvn for 2 days.

Day 5 (Binsar):
9. Visit Zero Point, Jageshwar, Dandeshwar and walk through jungles

Day 6 (Kausani):
10. Travel from Binsar to Kausani. Overnight stay at kausani (kmvn kausani for 2 days)

Day 7 (Kausani):
11. Roam around kausani

Day 8 (Kathgodam):
12. Kausani to Kathgodam - Start after breakfast to kathgodam (train at 20:40 to delhi)
13. Visit Bhimtal on the way to kathgodam
14. Any more places to visit?
15. Catch train to Delhi

Day 9 (Bangalore):
16. Delhi to Bangalore

spicetrekker

I would agree with Delhiwalla that you restrict to two places, Nainital and Binsar. I would suggest the reverse order i.e. go to Binsar first and then come to Nainital - reason being you have better hotels in Nainital then in Binsar and so it would be nice to signoff from the honeymoon in style. The other reason is that you can take a taxi to binsar, and keep it with you till you reach nainital and one more day for visiting the other lakes and then release it as for the two days you plan to spend doing local sight seeing in Nainital you dont need a cab, you can alway ask your hotel to arrange a drop back to Kathgodam. And the prime reason for suggesting nainital to be the last destination is shopping - I have had only one honey moon and believe me that shopping was pretty high on my wife's to-do list. So go for binsar, first day relax as you would have had a overnight train journey, day 2 drive to jageshwar and back day 3 relax, day 4 reach nainital via naukuchiya , bhim and saat tal, - for boating sat tal is the place to go - release cab
day 5 and 6 nainital, day 7 check out and reach kathgodam by eve

And in Nainital I would say stay in some other hotel and not KMVN, there are no of options like Alka etc on the lake front and I am sure you can drive a good bargain there

delhiwala

This has given me another idea, why not stay at Kalamatia Sangam near Binsar and Bob's Cottage at Nathuakhan...

vedab

Thanks spicetrekker and delhiwala for wonderful suggestions.
We came up with previous itinerary after lot of discussion and as rightly pointed out by you we have scope to improve . He wanted to visit binsar (however was worried about the facility) and chaukori. I wanted to visit nainital (for shopping and lakes) and kausani. We finally decided on nainital, binsar and kausani . We both would also like to see and roam around uttaranchal. So, we decided on 2 days at each place rather than 3 days.

After your suggestions, it makes sense to reorder the itinerary as:
1. Binsar (2 days) - Kausani (2 days) - Nainital (2 days)
OR
2. Binsar (2 days) - Chaukori (2 days) - Nainital (2 days)

Which one is better (1) or (2)? Can you please also suggest good hotels at kausani, chaukori and nainital? Also, please share the contact details for cab.

Thanks guys,
Veda

delhiwala

Keep it Binsar, Kausani & Nainital....

Kausani one day is sufficient, give additional day to Nainital, so that you may visit Pangot & Kilbury.....

What kind of hotels you are looking after....

You may hire an Alto from Haldwani/Kathgodam station @ Rs. 1200 per day. There are N number of taxis available at both places....

spicetrekker

Delhi if Kalmatia is in Binsar ... then Manesar is in Delhi and Panvel in Mumbai

Nonetheless very good suggestions

rajen83

Hi folks,

This is how I am planning my honeymoon mid-november. Total 5N/6D.
Day1: Club Mahindra, Naukuchiatal - Lake visit etc
Day2: Nainital site seeing
Day3: Move to Kalmatia Sangam, Almora. Spend time in the resort lazing around
Day4: Visit jageshwar and back
Day5: Visit Binsar zero point and the bird sanctuary
Day6: Check out and move to Kathgodam. Visit Ranikhet enroute.

I need inputs on to dos for Day5. No clue what exactly I should look for in Binsar and not miss any of them.

Hope this info helps other folks in the forum too.

Cheers!

aruna64

club mahindra BINSAR & Corbett were both very good in feb 2005 in fact we even managed to see snow in BInsar and apprently a leopard was spotted whihc we did not see .Mahindra has 2 resorts in binsar and one of them is individual cottage while the other is a palace converted - resort.there was nothing much in binsar all trips are per day trips there of course the famous siva temple one of the 108 jyotirlinga


i would say if you are the adventurous type and love wild life then corbett is a better choice however if you want to just laze and enjoy each others company then BINSAr is good.
please keep in mind the roads are not great and if either one of you suffers from motion sickness that could be a dampner so carry adequate medicines