My 11 days in Uttranchal

We planned our Uttaranchal tour in mid of Dec’2010. It was 11 days tour and we covered Nainital, Mukteshwar, Binsar, Patal Bhuvaneshwar, Chaukori, Munsiyari, Kaushani, and Ranikhet.

19th Dec 2010 From Sealdah we boarded on Akal Takht Express at 7-40 AM. We took our breakfast at Train. This train doesn’t have any Pantry car. But some private vendors used to sell lunch and dinner on the train. So you will get food on the train.
20th Dec 2010 We reached Bareilly station in Uttar Pradesh at 6-30 AM. Train was late for about 45 mins. Now we need to move to Nainital from Bareilly (140 KM). We took an auto from Bareilly station to Rahilakhand bus stand at Rs/-50. It took around 15 mins. From Rahilakhand bus stand you will get buses to Haldwani in every 30 mins. Ticket will cost only Rs/- 71 per head only. We boarded on the bus at 7AM and we reached Haldwani at 10 AM. From Haldwani you will get many buses or Taxi to Naninital. We reserved a cab at 300/- to Nainital and we reached Naninital around 11-30 AM. This route is the best one. We had a booking at Hotel Bengal in Nainital. It’s located on the Mall Road. Hotel room was average but food is awesome. They don’t have water heater installed but they will provide you hot water in bucket. They provided room service and staff were really good. Sadananda Guha Mazumdar is the owner of this Hotel. He is a very nice and helpful. You can get advice from him on your itinerary. He could suggest you the best. He is running his hotel and restaurant Mouchak in Nainital for last 46 years. After lunch we went to the Mall road to check local market and the Naina Devi Temple area. We purchased a ticket for boat ride in the lake at Rs/-160. It’s really a nice to spend some time in the boat ride in the afternoon. After the boat ride we went for a seven point site seeing by a cab at Rs/- 500. They covered the places like Naini Peak, Khurpa Lake, Snow view, Fun Park, Ropeway station, Garur Lake Etc. It was the time of the sunset and we enjoyed the lovely view from the ropeway peak station. We took a free fall ride @60/- at the fun park. It would take you 50ft above the ground and you will get an unforgettable view from there. We came back to the Tallital bus stand and walked though the Mall road. It’s a nice experience to walk through the Mall road in the evening. Lights were reflecting on the lake. We spend some time in the Mall road and came back to Hotel around 8 PM.
21st Dec 2010 Today we had a plan to do the lake tour around Nainital and we booked a car @800/-. After breakfast we started our tour around 10 AM. We covered Bhimtal, Sattal, Naukuchiatal, Hanuman Temple etc and we really enjoyed all the places. We came back to Hotel around 3PM and had our lunch. Tomorrow we had planned to move to Binsar from Naninital. So we need to collect some gift items from Nainital. Nainital is famous for its designer candles. You must collect some of them. In the evening we went to market and purchased some woolen garments and lovely candles. You can get some Masala Corn at Mall road. It’s really spicy and delicious. We came back to Hotel around 8-30 PM.
22nd Dec 2010 We booked a car @1300/- per day for our rest of the tour. Kishan Joshi was the driver for this trip. He is a nice guy. Today we started for Binsar via Mukteshwar temple at 10-30 AM after a heavy breakfast. We reached Mukteshwar around 1-30 PM. It’s located 52 KM away from Nainital. This place is really good. It has an old Shiva Temple located on the top of the hill and you will get a lovely view of the Himalaya from there. Binsar is located 94 km from Mukteshwar. We started for Binsar from Mukteshwar at 2 PM and reached there around 4-30 PM. It was really cold at Binsar and it’s very close to Himalaya. You have to pay tax to the forest dept to enter this place. We paid 550/- for our car and two of us. KMVN cottages are located inside the jungle and you will get a lovely view Himalaya at sunrise and sunset. We reached KMVN Binsar around 4-30 PM and it’s the time for sunset. We enjoyed the lovely view from the KMVN Binsar. KMVN Binsar doesn’t have electricity and they used to provide generators from 5-30 PM to 8-30 PM. They will provide you hot water in bucket in the morning. Foods are not too good here, although they will provide buffet dinner and lunch. On dinner they served Salad, Rice, Dal, Alu gobi, Paneer, Egg curry and Payesh. Next day we planned to move to Chaukori via Patal Bhuvaneshwar.
23rd Dec 2010 We woke up early in the morning to enjoy the sunrise at Binsar. We enjoyed the lovely view at 7AM. It was terrible cold outside. They served Tea at the sunrise point. KMVN staffs are really friendly and helpful.  Breakfast was ready at 8-30 AM. After breakfast we started for Patal Bhuvaneshwar at 10 AM and reached there around 3 PM. This place is really beautiful. This place has a cave and you will get a guide from the Mandir itself. They don’t allow taking camera inside the cave. You have to get down through a very narrow passage made of stone. That path is really risk and slippery. You need to hold the chain while going down to the cave. But inside the cave at least 20 cars can be parked. Guide will show you different mythological stories in the different cave structures. Overall the place is really good. It took around 45mins and we were very hungry as didn’t get a chance to take lunch today. We took some hot Maggi from outside the temple and moved to the Chaukori KMVN. Chaukori is located 42 KM away from Patal Bhuvaneshwar. Location of KMVN Chaukori is really nice and you will get a view of Himalayan peaks closely. In KMVN Chaukori rooms are really well furnished and they have water heater installed. They served dinner at 8-30 PM. Here also KMVN staffs are really nice.
24th Dec 2010 Sunrise at Chaukori is unforgettable. We woke up early today and witnessed the lovely sunrise at 7 AM. This was really nice moment. White snow peaks were coloring golden with sun lights. Today we planned to move to Munsiyari. But we should have stayed there one more day at Chaukori. But we had a booking at KMVN Munsiyari. After a heavy breakfast we started for Munsiyari at 10 AM. On the way we halted at Birthi falls around 12-30 PM and we went near to the falls. You need to climb up to 150 meters to reach the falls. We reached Munsiyari around 1-30PM and had our lunch at KMVN Munsiyari. Here the food was ok. Temperature at Munsiyari was chilling even inside the room. Here the locations of the KMVN rooms are not as good as Chaukori. We enjoyed the lovely sunset at Panch chulli from the hotel room. In the evening there are not many activities. You can enjoy camp fire at KMVN Munsiyari which is not allowed in Binsar and Chaukori. We had our dinner at 8-30 PM served at hotel room. Here also KMVN staffs are really nice.
25th Dec 2010 Today we woke up early to see the sunrise at Munsiyari. After breakfast at Hotel we went to the temple of Nanda Devi 7 KM from the KMVN hotel. From this place you will get a best view of Panch chulli peak. There is a watch tower on the ground of Nanda Devi temple. You can get a 360 degree view from there. We came back to Hotel before lunch.  Today we went to Nanda Devi temple again at the time of Sunset around 5 PM and the view is really unforgettable. Peaks were colored with the light of Sunset and the view was breathtaking. In the evening we came back to Hotel and enjoyed a camp Fire. You can give money to the Hotel staff and they will arrange everything for you.
26th Dec 2010 Today we will move to Kaushani and its located around 195 KM from Munsiyari. So we started early around 8-45 AM from Munsiyari without breakfast. We reached Birthi falls around 9-50 AM and took our breakfast from a roadside shop. The route we followed is Chaukori – Bageshwar – Baijnath – Kaushani.  We reached the temple of Baijnath around 3-15 PM. It’s an old Shiva temple and located in a nice location. Himalaya can be seen in the backdrop of the temple. There is a small lake near the temple with lot of fishes and you can feed them by purchasing some food for them available on the temple. After spending some time at Baijnath we moved towards Kaushani. We reached Hotel at 4-30 PM.  We booked Hotel Prashant at Kaushani which is in a best location. Mr Sadananda Mazumdar booked the hotel for us from Nainital. We paid him 1700/- for two days. As per our plan we will stay one day here at Kaushani and next day we will move to Ranikhet. We found the best room at Hotel Prashant on the rooftop called south East. Here the food is very good. From the room you will get the best view of Himalaya. Here you can spend hours just sitting idle in the terrace enjoying the lovely view of Himalaya. Hence we changed our plan and decided to stay one more day here. Room service is very good here in this hotel and staffs are very friendly. We enjoyed the lovely sunset from the terrace with a hot cup of tea. You can see the town Bageshwar from the terrace at night with sparkling lights. Dinner was served at 8-30 PM in our room. The food is really very delicious.
27th Dec 2010 We got up early today to see the sunrise from the terrace and it was really amazing to witness such a beautiful moment. Around 8 AM most of the peaks were clearly visible from Nandaghunti to Panch chulli range. They served breakfast and tea at the terrace. From hotel they suggested to go for a short trek near by the Shiva temple. We walked through the temple which is 15mins walk from the hotel.  We came back to our hotel after doing a short trek through the jungle. It was a great experience. Himalaya can be seen between pine trees. After the lunch we went to the Anasakti Ashram which is 2 mins walking distance from our hotel and we enjoyed the lovely afternoon at Anasakti Ashram. In the evening they used to arrange Prayers.
28th Dec 2010 This is the last day of our tour and we need to catch our train to Kolkata from Kathgodam station. After a heavy breakfast we started for Ranikhet at 10 AM. Ranikhet is 77 km from Kaushani and Kathgodam is 80 km from Ranikhet. At first we went to the Durga Kali Temple near the Ranikhet Golf course.  You can spend some time at the golf course ground. Later we moved to the Ranikhet market area and visited the Manakameshwar Temple and the Gurdwara. Now it was lunch time and we took it at restaurant on the way to Kathgodam. On the way we stopped near the hanging bridge on the Kosi River around 2-30 PM. This place is really nice for camping. It has a small restaurant also. You can spend some time on the bank of Kosi. Later we moved to the Kanchi Temple on the way. It was established by the Sankaracharya of Kanchi. We reached Kathgodam station at 5 PM and our train was scheduled to leave at 9-55 PM. We boarded on the train after spending 5 hrs in the waiting room at Kathgodam station.
29th Dec 2010 There is no pantry car on this train and even in the day time you will not get any food at all. Please make sure you take some food from Kathgodam.
30th Dec 2010 Reached Bandel station at 11-45 AM and we reached home around 1 PM. Important contact numbers: Hotel Bengal: Sadananda Mazumdar: 5942235503 Hotel Prashant (Kaushani): M.L Shah: (05962)258037/258270/9412995850 Drivers Kishan Joshi: 9411793288, we booked him for our tour Nainital onwards.