Uttarakhand Trip - November 2012

I would be travelling during the last week of November for 12 days.
Would like to cover Nainital, Corbett, Mukteshwar, Munsiyari, Chaukori, Kausani, Mussoorie and Haridwar.
Can anyone please suggest an itinerary.

here is a draft.........how many days of each point depends on you

1. Corbett
2. Nainital
3. Mukteshwar
4. Munsiyari
5. Chaukori
6. Kausani
7. Haridwar.
8. Mussoorie
9. Delhi

Thanks pkanti.
Can you suggest the no. of days which I should stay and what to see in these places?

hopefully tomorrow (have details on home PC)........are you skipping Binsar intentionally?

No no. Actually dont have much idea. I can include Binsar too.
Requesting you to please provide an itinerary covering all these places and the places of interest within them.

if you want to put Binsar on list need to put one/two extra days. Possible?

Yes. Definitely possible.

1. Corbett
2. Nainital
3. Mukteshwar
4. Binsar
5. Munsiyari
6. Chaukori
7. Kausani
8. Haridwar.
9. Mussoorie
10. Delhi

** before finalize itinerary its always advisable not to mix Garhwal with Kumaon..............according to above draft itinerary around 40% time of your trip will be on wheels

we are planning to go to uttarakhand(kumaon) on october 13 to 26

First and foremost, you must never combine Garhwal Uttarkhand with Kumaon Uttarkhand in your travels, unless you know the topography very well and can manage your overnight halts well enough to keep both your intra-day as well as your inter-day travels optimum. Second, yourself being a female traveller, IMO you aren't convenienced in travelling full-time so much so that you suggest by your intended places of travel. Even young back-packers woulld struggle to do this trip due to the combination of destinations that you have i.e. Mussoorie on one end of Garhwal and Nainital at the other end of Kumaon. My take on first sight and the route you should take is as follows:

1. Alight at Haldwani and not at Kathgodam.
2. Then to Munsiyari..............3 nights.
3. Move to Chaukori...............2 nights.
4. Get to Baijnath..................1 night.
5. Move on to Gwaldam...........1 night.
6. Turn now to Kausani...........2 nights.
7. Move on to Ranikhet...........1 night.
8. How about a bit of Almora....1 night.
9. Now Binsar would be cool......2 nights.
10. Head on to Mukhteshwar.....2 nights.
11. Conclude on a high.............2 nights in Nainital.

This gives you a total of 17 nights in Kumaon Uttaranchal, which you may cut-down on by a bit of fine-tuning of the above itinerary. I've deliberately left out Corbett, which IMO is a separate trip to be done with some other combination and permutation of destinations.
The aforesaid trip in itself would be pretty exhaustive, but I'v given some leverage at certain places by additional days of halt, more than that which may be necessary.

Don't you try to combine Mussoorie and Haridwar with this trip bindiya. Make no mistake on this one, then you'd yell.

Kausani-Haridwar-Mussoorie........what route would you take PK Even if bindiya would've sat on a flying saucer, that wouldn't have taken her that far, or would it. Mebbe some flight ideas that PK has

@ nomadic wanderer

did you see what I already mentioned it on post no #8

there is a good road to Karnaprayag from Kausani (around 100km) ............. but obviously you can say better to stay one night in between Kausani-Haridwar

PKanti and Nomadic Wanderer have sorted it out well

My tuppence...

1. Drop the Haridwar Mussorie bit if not absolutely important. However, there is a Kasauni- Haridwar road via Karnprayag. Was there last month, and roads were in good (read, prime) condition.

2. Include Corbett if and only if you are planning atleast a 2 nights stay. The core zones would only open around November 15 and late November is a busy time. Bookings need to be made really early, esp if you plan to be there on the weekends.

3. Well, based on what exactly is your trip about shall drive the number of days you would like to spend in the Kumaons. Typically, Kumaon is all about a leisurely trip roaming around in the jungle trails and some amazing Himalayan sun-rise/sun-set views. Add a few pit stops at temples (say, Jageshwar Dham (Almora), Baijnath, Golu Devta, Patal Bhuvaneswar). If you have enough time at your disposal, Nomadic Wanderer's 17night itinerary rocks!

4. You also have an option of not staying at a new place every night. You can choose your night halt locations in a manner to operate as a base. You can stay there for a couple of nights and do short day trips to nearby places. May work out to be less strenuous.

All the best!

I agreee with tarbuspanda, you can head for Mukteshwar first, then onto Binsar - Kausani - Chaukori - Munshiyari - Almora -Nanital. Check out my blogs - http://ghummakar-biswas.blogspot.in/...of-kumaon.html

Have a nice journey

Yup seen. I think 40% is an aberration. IMO, 65-70% of her time would be spent on the road thus.



Nopes, don't agree here. Much of the stretch between Karnaprayag and Tharali is in pretty bad shape due to landslides in the not-too-distant-past. There is further risk of landslides too. This stretch seemed to me to be very landslide-prone, hence the impasse in repairing the damage.


My comments posted hereinabove. Was there last month too. Didn't find much of the stretch motorable.



Yup, that's perfect. That's why I mentioned that Corbett ideally should be a separate trip, max-max can be combined with Nainital-Mukhteshwar.



Yes. Kumaon is all about a leisurely trip, and it must be well-planned, so that a little-bit-of-driving gels with an itinerary that bases itself on more-days at the "more-better" halts and less-days at the "less-better" halts. 17-days is a very long stay, but I drafted that from the point of view of a lady coming all the way from Kolkata for some leisure, some views, some fun and some relaxation.


Exactly, that's what my itinerary is all about......more time for the better-places and one-night for the other ones. Do some more research, and you'd know which points/locations in the itinerary can be given a pass/how the number of days can be reduced. That way you can reduce the duration of your trip to what-suits-you-best.

Thanks for reading.
All the best!

@ nomadic wanderer

love your view