[rs49]

My husband and I, both in our sixties are planning a road trip for early September. We plan to pick up a car in Delhi ( we live in Hyderabad) and do a hill holiday for a fortnight or so. We want to spend some time at Mussoorie, Almora, Nainital ( also take in Rudraprayag) and then head back to Delhi and then back home.

We have been looking at the maps and find no convenient routing from Dehradun to Nainital. We do not want to do any long drives - we like the journey as much as the destination! Also, hill driving is a bit tricky - that too in a car that one is not familiar with.

Please suggest an routing where drives are short. Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

Rekha

[simply_sunny001]

You can do
Delhi --Dehradun -- Mussoorie -- Chamba -- Shrinagar -- RodraPrayag -- Almora --Nainital --Delhi

This seems to be the convenient route provided roads are good.

Please plan a schedule as per route and hotel stays and all.

will do some more research and will let you know the distances.

thanks

[Shakensoul]

From where do you plan to hire car in Delhi ?

Also, you can check this site to get an idea about the directions, donno how accurate these maps are, but will definitely be of help.

MapmyIndia - maps, directions, and local search across India - just search, print and go!

[hvkumar]

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/884723-post30.html

Please check the above link for the route between Nainital and Dehra Dun

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by rs49

We do not want to do any long drives - we like the journey as much as the destination! Also, hill driving is a bit tricky - that too in a car that one is not familiar with.

Rekha ji, based on the above two factors, I would advise you to hire an Indigo/Innova with a chaffeur from Delhi & employ his services for the holiday. While this might be a tad expensive, it'll be much more convinient for you as you don't have to worry about the driving & if you put in a prior request with the car rental agency they'll provide you a driver whose knowledgeable about the routes so you don't have to worry about that also.

[phamilyman]

Rekha ji,

Either of Innova or Indica will do just fine. The newer indica would be perfect. It has reasonable back seat comfort as you would require.

plus you would have a min 200-300km per day charge you would need to pay for your little running. So an indica would be much cheaper than innoca in there.

[rs49]

Thank you all for your prompt and informative replies.

Simply Sunny, the route you suggested seems most convenient. We may look at a few stops along the way.

Mr Kumar, the link you suggested does indeed have useful info. Thanks.

A friend of ours is lending us his Honda City ( which he assures us is in perfect condition!). Since my husband loves driving and we like our privacy, hiring a driver is not an option. Thanks for the thoughtful suggestion anyway.

Will Joshimath and Valley of Flowers and Auli be difficult to reach?

I am so happy that such a helpful and enthusiastic team of people are out there, ready to help. Keep it up.

Rekha

[hvkumar]

No difficulty in reaching Joshimath and Auli.

From Nainital, you can go to Joshimath (day's journey) via Almora, Bageshwar, Baijnath, Gwaldam to Karnaprayag and proceed via Nandaprayag, Chamoli and Pipalkoti to Joshimath. From Joshimath, Govindghat is 20 kms away, from where you have to trek 15 kms to Gangariya. Valley of Flowers is 2-10 kms from Gangariya. Auli is also under 20kms by road from Joshimath.

[simply_sunny001]

Please first finalize the places and a rough draft of iternary and then post it here.

We can then discuss the night halts depending upon the distance and comfort etc etc.

That way it will be very easier to come up with the best iternary.

[rs49]

The rough itinerary is as follows:

We are planning 6- 7 days at Mussoorie ( where we can use our time share accomodation). From there we will do day trips to Landour, Dhanaulti and maybe even Renuka Lake.

Then to Rudraprayag via Rishikesh. Two nights halt there and on to Ranikhet. From Ranikhet, we will do a day trip to Almora and any other place interesting.

Next halt will be at Bhimtal ( where we have time share accomodation again). A few days there and then back to Delhi and return to Hyderabad.

How does this itinerary sound? Any suggestions for day trips from our night halts at Mussoorie, Rudraprayag, Ranikhet and Bhimtal?

Thanks.

Rekha

[hvkumar]

You can go to Rudraprayag from Musoorie via Dhanolti, Chamba, New Tehri and Deoprayag instead of coming to Rishikesh.

Day trips from Musoorie: Kempty Falls, Dhanolti, Surkhanda Devi

from Ranikhet: Binsar, Baijnath, Gwaldam, Corbett WLS

[mobike008]

Rekhaji, firstly welcome to tbhp.

It is really wonderful to know your plan and salute the spirit in you and your husband. Have a safe and happy journey

[rs49]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Rekhaji, firstly welcome to tbhp.

It is really wonderful to know your plan and salute the spirit in you and your husband. Have a safe and happy journey

Thank you for your good wishes.

Just to let you know that a couple of years ago we did a long trip to the South. The places we touched are Bangalore, Madikere, Guruvayoor, Munnar, Thekkady, Kottayam, Trivandrum, Kanyakumari, Cochin, Mallampuzha and Yercaud - a total of about 4000 kms. It is because we had such a good time that we considered doing a similar one in the North.

Rekha

[rajneeesh]

Rekhaji, the route from Mussorie - Dhanaulti, Chamba Srinagar involves a lot of driving on narrow hilly roads which can be in a state of utter disrepair immediately after the monsoons. So it would be a good idea to check out the road conditions before starting on the trip.

Dhanaulti is a peaceful plac that is not crowded like Mussorie or Nainital. It is a good place to relax, go for walks or treks and visit a temple . Other than that there is little else to do. Since these places are at a decent altitude, evening can be pretty chilly( especially after it rains). Please pack in a few woollens.

Dehradun to Nainital via Haridwar, Nagina, Jaspur & Kaldunghi is mainly thru the plains and is a much faster route. The hills begin once you cross Kaladunghi. This route is relatively free from traffic, has decent roads and much wider.

[rs49]

This is for all of you who so kindly responded to my request for help:

After much research and advice we have finalised our trip to the Garhwal and Kumaon hills from 21 Sep to 7 Oct 2008.

Our itinerary is Haridwar ( 1 night); Mussoorie (5 nights); New Tehri, Pauri and Karnaprayag ( 1 night each); Ranikhet ( 2 nights), Binsar ( 2 nights) and Bhimtal ( 3 nights).

We had to regretfully drop Lansdowne since there was no good route from there directly to Ranikhet ( We checked with the GMVN people).

As for accomodation: The GMVN site is great. They have a lot of guesthouses all over, the tariff is reasonable and the online booking is very simple. We are staying at their guesthouses at Tehri, Pauri ( there was no vacancy at Khirsu which was our first choice) and Karnaprayag.

For accomodation at Binsar, we had to use the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam site which is a total contrast to the GMVN site as far as online booking goes. The online booking facility does not work! I complained and got an automated reply that they will look into it and send me a reply by 5 Oct 2007! We were forced to speak to the office in Nainital and send a DD to get the booking. We have not yet received our voucher so I am keeping my fingers crossed! On the GMVN site, one can print out the voucher immediately and they also send you a confirmatory email. It's a pity since their Kumaon resorts must be losing a lot of tourists with this kind of careless attitude.

At Haridwar, the Ginger Hotel ( a Tata hotel) is well located and reasonable. Streling resorts at Mussoorie and Bhimtal and the Kumaon Regimental Centre at Ranikhet takes care of the rest of our accomodation.

We are eagerly looking forward to our trip.

I shall post once we return with our experiences and any advice for future travellers in those parts.

Thanks again to all who responded.

Rekha