Beautiful Uttarakhand.. 10 days Itinerary for families

    Uttarakhand, aka. Devbhoomi is really amazing state of India. I travelled across this state recently and in this post I am covering my itinerary of Uttarakhand. Apart from places I am mentioning here, there are many more places to visit, which I will cover in another post.

  We traveled in Uttarakhand for 10 days as I could take only that much leave from office, but if you want to cover entire uttarakhand at leisure, I will suggest 2 weeks of vacation. So, here is a route I took.

Mumbai - Dehradun-mussoorie-Haridwar-Rishikesh-Nainital-Jim Corbett-Delhi-Mumbai

  Here is a day by day account along with notes:
DAY1:
   Traveled from Mumbai to Dehradun by flight and stayed at Dehradun. (If early morning flight is possible for you, then fly only till Delhi and book a taxi for round trip from Delhi to Delhi and reach Dehradun on first day. Delhi - Dehradun by road will take 6-7 hours max.)

DAY2:
   Did local sight seeing in Dehradun.
   Forest research institute building is must see for its beautiful architecture, magnificent lawns and there are 3 small museums as well. You will spend around 2 hours here.

   You can then head for Robber's Cave aka. Kachchu Paani. which is some 15 kms. away from Dehradun.

This is interesting 600 mts cave with water flowing out of it. Water is not very deep but its very cold. This is another point I liked in Dehradun. You have to walk through this water to see this cave from inside but its worth walking and then after coming out you can also enjoy hot maggi or pakoda's..

Again, at this place you can spend 2 hours max. You can either visit deer park in remaining time or opt for evening stroll in Bada bazar which is near Dehradun Clock Tower.

For eating in Dehradun, I tried Town table restaurant and level one restaurant. Town table food as well as ambiance is very good.

DAY3:
  We visited Musoorie on this day. Its only 24 kms away from Dehradun. Road from Dehradun to musoorie itself is very scenic and beautiful. As you climb up, temperature starts dropping. Views of the valley from mussoorie are amazing. We also visited company garden and kempsky falls which are 15 kms from Musoorie. There are other small places in Mussoorie, but I wont recommend spending a day in Mussoorie. We went straight to Haridwar after spending day in Mussoorie. Mussoorie to Haridwar takes around 3-4 hours of drive. So Start from Mussoorie latest by 5 pm. We checked into Hotel Ganga Lahri in Haridwar which is on the banks of Ganga river.

DAY4:
   This was long day for me which started very early at 5 am. I went to BrahmKund for morning Ganga Aarti. Aarti starts around 6:10 am. (but time changes as per sunrise and sunset so confirm with hotel staff). Morning Aarti is not as grand as evening one but the atmosphere is amazing.

Beautiful Ganga Ghat in Haidwar

   After enjoying Ganga Aarti and amazing breakfast of hot Suji Halwa, Chhole Bhature etc. we headed straight to Rishikesh. Rishikesh offers amazing adventure activities, but we had our small daughter with us so couldn't enjoy those. You can enjoy Rafting, River cossing, Kayaking or Bunjee Jumping. These activities take place 5 kms after Rishikesh. On the road to DevPrayag.

  In Rishikesh, you can cross Ram Jhula bridge and visit Temples, Baba Kaali Kamli Wale Ashram, Geeta Bhavan etc. and then come back by boat.

   We came back to Haridwar in the evening for evening Ganga Aarti. Evening Aarti is bigger and its really amazing. Dont miss this Aarti. For best view, be at Har ki Paudi, Brahmakund at 5:30 pm. Time changes as per sunset.

Evening Ganga Aarti at BrahmaKund, Har ki Paudi, Haridwar.

  Haridwar is great for foodies. I shall write separate post on this topic and present Haridwar in detailed manner. But dont miss amazing Haridwar food.

DAY5:
   We left Haridwar and headed for Naianital.We visited Patanjali Peeth in the morning and then went to Nainital. Haridwar to Nainital will take around 6 hours to travel.

   Reached Nainital at night and checked in to Hotel Vikram Vintage. Its really amazing hotel and charged us 4500 INR per day including BF & Dinner. There are many other good hotels in Nainital (Pavilion, Grand, Manu Maharani to name a few). Vikram vintage is amazing considering quality of food, service and room as well.

DAY6:
  Visited High altitude Zoo in Nainital. Its very close to city and must visit Zoo built on top of the hill. Tigers here are amazing. They also have Bear, Sambhar, Leopard, fox, Red Panda, and many birds as well.

Tiger in Nainital Zoo

 After Zoo, we took a boat ride in beautiful Naina Lake. This lake makes Nainital stand apart from other hill stations. There are many lakes in and around nainital which are really beautiful.

Beautiful Naina Lake.

  After lake we headed to Bada Bazaar which is main market of Nainital. Dont forget to buy amazing candles which is specialty of Nainital. There are scented, aromatic, magic or various shaped candles available in the market.

DAY7:
  It was another day in Nainital, we went for horse riding to peak. Its around 2 hrs. ride which covers around 8 kms of route. We paid 700 INR per horse. but this ride is must take. If you are big PETA supporter then you can go for trek on this route. but dont miss this one. View of Nainital from the top is amazing.

Beautiful Nainital from Peak

 After this we visited Bhimtal and saatataal. You can also choose to visit Mukteshwar which is around 40 kms from Nainital or almora or kausani.

DAY8:
  Travelled from Nainital to Jim Corbett National park. Its only 2 hours drive and very good road. Checked into hotel The Den Corbett. Its very good resort inside open forest zone. There are forest rest houses inside reserve forest as well but as we booked only for visit purpose, I booked it in open forest. Resort charged me 5500 INR per day including all meals. This resort is very good place to relax and views from open terrace is beautiful. If you are booking over the phone ask for DEER PARK room which is vey beautiful

  We just relaxed after reaching to corbett and spent evening on beautiful sundeck constructed near the valley.

DAY9:
  Went for early morning safari from Durga Devi Gate. Safari was from 6:30 am to 9:30 am. It was a open Jeep safari, but the choice of gate was wrong. This being a hilly area, citing animals is very difficult and rare. If you are visiting jim corbett with intention of watching animals or tiger. Please plan your trip after doing proper research. I will put few points in separate post.

 After early morning safari relaxed in the resort and then went on small elephant ride near resort.

DAY10:
  Started from Jim Corbett at 7:30 am in the morning for Delhi. We went to Delhi airport directly from Jim Corbett. If you are planning in same manner please keep at least 8 hours in hands for this travel. Many times you get heavy traffic between Gaziabad and Delhi. So keep buffer time.

 So on day 10th, We reached back with lot of beautiful memories from Uttarakhand. If you need any help planning your trip to uttaakhand, you can write to me at kaustubhkhare@gmail.com or call me at 9820031162.

  I will write few more options of itineary as well as budget soon.. till then bye bye.. and yes dont forget to write your feedback on the post.

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