[Tiger]

We are planning for a drive from B'lore to Uttaranchel by road. Want to know the must see places at Uttaranchal, better hotels to stay at those places & the best routes(most scenic).
Some of the details which will help you to guide me,
1. Our main focus is seeing Uttaranchal during winter. Places of interest are Naini, Kumaon, Auli, Joshimat etc
2. Vehicle - Bolero
3. We are 4( Friend & Myself will be driving)
4. Leaving Blore on 21st Dec evening & should be back by 6th Jan
5. Will be reaching moradabad by 23rd evening & should leave moradabad or delhi on 4th Jan. So our uttaranchal trip will be from 24th Dec to 3rd Jan.

We are going thru some of the lonely planet books & Web to decide on the places. It will be great if I can get some help from BHPians, specifically on routes & hotels.

Thanks in advance.

[snaronikar]

Suggest you put in some of the proposed/possible routes that you are driving. It will be helpful for fellow bhpians to advice. What Say ?

[anupmathur]

Tiger, you travel dates include the 'high season' of the Christmas-New Year week. Whatever else you do, please quickly finalize your plan and make bookings already. By & large, GMVN and KMVN (tourism departments) hotels are good. They have parking, reasonable rates, good food. I have always used these. Bookings might even be possible on-line, much like HPTDC hotels.

I can suggest you do Nainital, Naukuchiatal, Kaushani, Ranikhet, Binsar, Mukteshwar, Chaukori etc in the Kumaon region. You might just have time for Joshimath and Auli, but it would become too much.
Uttaranchal is pretty large to do in a week!

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Tiger

We are planning for a drive from B'lore to Uttaranchel by road. Want to know the must see places at Uttaranchal, better hotels to stay at those places & the best routes(most scenic).
Some of the details which will help you to guide me,
1. Our main focus is seeing Uttaranchal during winter. Places of interest are Naini, Kumaon, Auli, Joshimat etc
2. Vehicle - Bolero
3. We are 4( Friend & Myself will be driving)
4. Leaving Blore on 21st Dec evening & should be back by 6th Jan
5. Will be reaching moradabad by 23rd evening & should leave moradabad or delhi on 4th Jan. So our uttaranchal trip will be from 24th Dec to 3rd Jan.

We are going thru some of the lonely planet books & Web to decide on the places. It will be great if I can get some help from BHPians, specifically on routes & hotels.

Thanks in advance.

Lots of interesting places in Uttaranchal are obviouslt closed down during winter (like the 4 pilgrimmage spots of Badri, Kedar, Gangotri and Yamunotri), but there are several places that are great.

Dec 24 - Drive from Moradabad to the Jim Corbett Park (if interested in wild life, although the place will be crowded with tourists).

Dec 25 - Cover the Lakes District - Nainital, Naukuchiyatal, Saatal, Bhimtal, etc.

Dec 26 - Drive from Nainital to Almora, Binsar and Bageshwar to Gwaldam - am told that the place is very pretty during peak winter, with some gorgeous views.

Dec 27 - Drive from Gwaldam to Joshimath via Karnaprayag, Pipalkoti, and then travel to Auli, where skiing should be in progress on the snow slopes

Dec 28 - Auli

Dec 29 - Drive from Auli to Ukhimath via Chamoli (great landscapes on this route, plus an opportuniy to trek to Tunganath (no idea whether the route is open) and link up to the main Rudraprayag-Kedarnath road at Kund. You can aim for New Tehri, by turning off at Tilwara and proceeding via Ghansyali.

If Tunganath is open, that will be an extra day there.

Dec 30/31 - Drive via Chamba to Dhanolti

Dec 31/Jan 1 - Dhanolti/Surkhanda Devi (for some great views)/Musoorie area

Jan 1/2 - Dhanolti/Musoorie to Chakrata (route has snow, but understand that it is open in Dec)

Jan 2/3 - Chakrata to Rohru, Kufri (Himachal) and Shimla

Ideally, buy Outlook Traveller's Uttarakhand book, and a good map of Uttaranchal.

[rkbharat]

Tiger, 9 days (+2 days for up and down to delhi), will be just sufficient for the trip. Regarding uttaranchal, this state to vast to be covered in 9 days. But as you have your own drive, that to Bolero, I will not call it impossible but may be tiring.

Nainital, Ranikhet, Binsar, Kausani, Baijnath. then via Gwaldam/Karanparyag/Chamoli/ Joshimath and Auli

Delhi to Nanital will be 10 Hrs drive
2 days in Nainital
Nanital to Ranikhet will be 2 .5 hrs drive
2 day in Ranikhet/Binsar

Kasauni and Baijnath can be covered while going to chamoli,

Ranikhet to Kausani is 1.5 hrs drive, Kasauni to Baijnath is 1 hrs drive, Baijnath to Gwaldam in 3 hrs drive. Gwaldam to Karanpryag is 5 hrs drive, Karanprayg to Joshimath is 4 hrs. You might have to take a halt between Kausauni to Joshimath. Gwaldam is very nice/calm place for night halt on the way.

All these hours on the basis of driving I do. You can take more or less.

[harjeev]

would also be good to buy or borrow a decent GPS receiver, so that you are always sure that you are always on the right track. Further you could also carry a GPRS enabled handset and install GoogleMAps and MGMaps. They have detailed road maps of all the highways of india.
BTW best of luck for your trip. I always wanted to do something like this but the work dosent permit now Keep us posted on your progress. Have a safe journey

[ramkya1]

Hai Tiger,

Like someone said, December is high time, most of the hotels would be bookekd out in advance. There will be snow likely in Josihmath and surely in Auli.

Last year I covered the region in November and got snow in many places. We also used the TTK map of Uttranchal, entire book, district by district, the distances and road markings were pretty good. You may calculate average speers of about 30-40 Kms only, the maps are pretty deceptive, the roads are all curvy and in most places above 7K feet, road would be closed out by 7 PM.

Try the website of leasure groups, they have a chain of about 20 properties all over Uttranchal, you may be able to work out of package deal. Needless to say, you'd need to carry lots of warm cloths. All the Dhams would be closed around this time, that's good in one way, less pilgrim traffic and all the roads to yourself.

Like Kumar said, Ukkimath / Chamoli is one of the most beautiful places and the drive out of this world.

A GPS would be helpful if the map you get along with it is accurate. I wonder if good all India Maps are available, I'm using Satguide and the All India Maps are all way off beam.

Happy Driving,

--Ramky

[Akshay1234]

tiger - had been there last summer. in auli, AVOID the gmvn guesthouse. stay at a hotel called clifftop. its very good though might be a bit pricey. you can go to joshimath from auli via cablecar (they call it trolley or something).

[Tiger]

Thanks hvKumar, Akshay, ramkya1, harjeev, anupmathur, rkbharath,

Thanks for all the input,

We have done some more detailing of our trip,

21st evening 4.0pm leave Blore
22nd Morning 2.0am Hyd'bad
22nd A'noon 2.0pm Nagpur
22nd Night 10.0PM - Sagar
23rd Morning 12.0PM - Agra
23rd A'noon 4.0PM - M'Bad
23rd Night Approx 8-9pm will be reaching N'tal

Till agra(upto leh) we have done the trip in 2005 with approx same time, so no issues in travelling so much in 2 days.

24th Full day go around N'tal

From 25th we are bit confused as we are not aware of how much time each place will take.
We planned to cover Ranikhet, Almora, Kausani, Gwaldham, K' prayag, N'prayag, Chamoli, Auli/Joshimat( 2 days)

We thought of the above places & as everyone is suggesting we may travel towards dhanolti, chambal, mussori etc if time permits. Need some more suggestions from you all to decide on that. Also wants to drive thru' Corbet if we get a proper plan.

4th morning we will be leaving U'chal & by 6th evening should be back in B'lore.

One more issue is which route is better to reach Agra,
1. Blore, H'bad, Nagpur, Gwalior, Agra or
2. Blore, Belgaum, Pune, Nasik, Indore, Gwalior, Agra
2nd route is 200kms more than the 1st one. But if we can save time because of good roads then we will take that.

Thanks in advance.

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

tiger - had been there last summer. in auli, AVOID the gmvn guesthouse. stay at a hotel called clifftop. its very good though might be a bit pricey. you can go to joshimath from auli via cablecar (they call it trolley or something).

Last Nov I was in Joshimath, the roads going up to Ali were pretty bad, they advised me against driving up in my Ford Fusion. If you have a 4W drive and a powerful car, many people drive up to the Auli top till the ski resort. The resort on top also arranges pick up.

The cable car is pretty good, charged us Rs.400/- per person !!!!! It was well worth it, on a clear day (you should be lucky to get that in December end Jan 1st week) you can see all important mountain peaks from the top.

--Ramky

[Tiger]

Thanks a lot to all of you,

Harjeev - We are planning to buy GRPS, can you pl help us to get the details of the equipment & the cost.

Akshay - We checked with Cliff top, They are charging around 5k/day, Looks to be very expensive. We are trying GMVN hotels may be we may decide by next week.

rkbharat - I think we will have 11days from Naini & will not be touching Delhi as we are taking a deviation from Agra itself towards aligarh. Driving will be bit tiring but we enjoy driving in those places. in 2005 we did Blore - leh same way.

ramkya - We will try to get in contack with Leisure hotels. Looks to be a better bet with hotels across U'chal. Also we use Lonely planet maps(its a map in the book form), it is a fantastic guide & using that we have travelled across india. I think it is pretty accurate. We also have other books on uttaranchal & think that will do. We are also trying to buy GPS. If you have details I will be thankful.
Since we are taking a bolero, think it will do the job in those tough roads. We had driven the same vehicle to Ladakh also.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Tiger

21st evening 4.0pm leave Blore
22nd Morning 2.0am Hyd'bad
22nd A'noon 2.0pm Nagpur
22nd Night 10.0PM - Sagar
23rd Morning 12.0PM - Agra
23rd A'noon 4.0PM - M'Bad
23rd Night Approx 8-9pm will be reaching N'tal

24th Full day go around N'tal

From 25th we are bit confused as we are not aware of how much time each place will take.
We planned to cover Ranikhet, Almora, Kausani, Gwaldham, K' prayag, N'prayag, Chamoli, Auli/Joshimat( 2 days)

We thought of the above places & as everyone is suggesting we may travel towards dhanolti, chambal, mussori etc if time permits. Need some more suggestions from you all to decide on that. Also wants to drive thru' Corbet if we get a proper plan.

4th morning we will be leaving U'chal & by 6th evening should be back in B'lore.

One more issue is which route is better to reach Agra,
1. Blore, H'bad, Nagpur, Gwalior, Agra or
2. Blore, Belgaum, Pune, Nasik, Indore, Gwalior, Agra
2nd route is 200kms more than the 1st one. But if we can save time because of good roads then we will take that.

Thanks in advance.

I think day 3 is a little ambitious considering that you have to face slower roads on Sagar-Lalitpur-Gwalior and Agra-Modaradabad, but if you can pull it off, fantastic.

Corbett is just 1-2 hours from MOradabd, but teh problem with Corbett is best time to visit the Park is early morning or late evening. If you can push on to Ramnagar (Corbett Park town) on Day 3 from MOradabad, you could chance looking for wildlife in teh early morn on Day 4.

From Corbett, the drive to Lakes Region is easy via Kaladhungi and Kathagodam (if going to Bhimtal, etc) or directly to Nainital from Kaladhungi (2 hours or so). A day in the Lakes Region should be more than enough.

You can also proceed from Corbett Park direct to Ranikhet, but taht would mean you have retrace your road back through Almora to and from to come to Nainital region.

Day 5 (25th) could be the drive from Nainital to Ranikhet/kausani.

Day 6 (26th) can be teh drive from Ranikhet/Kausani to Joshimath via Baijnath (direct from Ranikhet without touching Bageswar) through to Karnaprayag and Joshimath. So that means you can be in Auli that night.

Day 7 (27th) can be at Auli.

Day 8 (28th), hit the road again and head for Tunganath/Tehri via Chamoli, Ukhimath, Tilwara. Lots of GMVN hotels en route to chose where to stay that night. If you are able to go to Tunganath, you may have to halt in that area that night.

Day 9 (29th), you could be in Dhanolti by night.

As you can see, there is lots of time for you to spend in the Kumaon region and Auli. Maybe, you can also try the twisties to go to Munsiyari where I am told the Himalayan views are gorgeous.

[tsk1979]

How much more is the Bombay route. Its the GQ and you will make better time.
Nagpur route is not safe at night(Esp MP) and also slower due to bad roads.
If you take BLR/MUM/DEL it will be better.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

How much more is the Bombay route. Its the GQ and you will make better time.
Nagpur route is not safe at night(Esp MP) and also slower due to bad roads.
If you take BLR/MUM/DEL it will be better.

Bangalore-Bombay-Jaipur-Delhi is 2,530 kms, plus the distance to go to Moradabad (extra 160 kms). If they were to go to Agra from Jaipur, that would mean 2,500 kms.

On the other hand, the route via Nagpur to Agra is only 1,950 kms, a saving of over 500 kms. I have no idea how much distance it is from Agra to Moradabad, but even if you add 200 kms to that, you will still save some distance.

But I think you could be equally fast on NH4/NH8 via Delhi.

[tsk1979]

My cousin runs a transport company and they have had a few truck looting instanced in MP. So now they do not ply at night, and even in day the trucks prefer to stay together.
Thats why I was suggesting the Bombay route.
I presume its going to be around 400kms extra.