Kumaon Circuit — Nainital, Kausani & Ranikhet

About this journey

Kumaon is the eastern half of Uttarakhand and it is a quieter, greener, more pastoral place than the Garhwal side most visitors see. This seven-day circuit links its three finest hill towns — Nainital, Kausani and Ranikhet — across a landscape of lakes, pine ridges, terraced fields and orchards, with the Himalaya on the northern horizon almost the entire way. There is no pilgrimage and no trekking on this route; it is a touring holiday, and it is the one we recommend to people who tell us they want to slow down.

Nainital opens the loop. Two nights around the emerald Naini Lake gives you time for boating in the late afternoon when the hills reflect and the lights come on, the Naina Devi temple at the northern end, the Snow View ropeway for the Nanda Devi and Trishul panorama, and a day out to the smaller lakes — Bhimtal with its island café, Naukuchiatal, and Sattal, seven interconnected lakes in dense forest and one of the best birding spots in north India.

Kausani follows, and it is here for one reason: the roughly 300-kilometre unbroken Himalayan view from the ridge, with Trishul, Nanda Devi, Nanda Kot and Panchachuli lined up and turning gold at sunrise. We give it two nights so a single cloudy morning does not cost you the whole point of coming. The Anasakti Ashram where Gandhi stayed in 1929 has the best terrace in town, the organic tea estate below is worth walking through, and the twelfth-century Katyuri temples at Baijnath are thirty minutes down the valley.

Ranikhet closes the circuit — a cantonment town of pine forest, empty roads and remarkably clean air, where the highlights are the bell-covered Jhula Devi temple, the 600 acres of orchards at Chaubatia, a nine-hole golf course at 1,800 metres, and the drive out to Majkhali for the widest views in the district. Almora, with its old stone bazaar and the Kasar Devi ridge, slots in easily if you want a fourth stop. March to June and September to November are the best windows; the post-monsoon weeks give the sharpest mountain visibility of the year.