End of December every year is the time when I take one of my longest trips of the year to some beautiful place in the world. Most of the times it has been somewhere outside the country in recent years. But this time, my strong desire to travel with my kiddo Oz (a handsome chocolate brown lab) inspired us to explore our own beautiful country via a road trip. Another thing I really wanted to do this time around was to see the Himalayas winters in all its might. Uttarakhand has always been my favourite for road trips and it seemed like the perfect option for this holiday.
Why Uttarakhand? I had mainly three reasons for deciding to visit this beautiful part of our country:
Great roads
Beautiful pine forests
And the farther parts of Uttarakhand are rather untouched.
So we (me, my husband Gaurav and my kiddo Oz) embarked onto this beautiful road trip to this winter wonderland, with hopes of playing with some snow, witness a snowfall, set out on gorgeous day treks with Oz and see him enjoy to the fullest playing on mountain tops.
The itinerary
While planning the trip, it came as a little bit of a shock to me that Uttarakhand was in fact very vast and the places we wanted to visit there were quite far from each other. There were two villages I definitely wanted to see during this holiday, 'Chopta' for the Chandrasila peak trek and 'Munsiyari' for being at the edge of a massive mountain range called Panchachuli. Chopta to Munsiyari is a very long drive and can't be possibly completed in a single go. Therefore we decided to add another place in between these two destinations to also act as a buffer between two extremely cold climates (Chopta min temp -7 degrees and Munsiyari min temp -2 degrees). Below is my 11-day itinerary for this epic road trip -
1-night pitstop at Rishikesh
Day 0: We left from Gurgaon in the evening to stay someplace midway to Chopta and Rishikesh seemed like the best option for that. So after 6 hours long drive from Gurgaon, we reached our homely pet-friendly apartment called 'Ganga Vatika Boutique Guest House'.
3 nights in Chopta
Day 1: We left Rishikesh at 10:30 am after having an awesome breakfast at a pet-friendly cafe called 'Cafe Karma'. Love it how people are so comfortable with having pets around in the mountains!
After a good 9-10 hours drive from Rishikesh, we reached a snow-covered Chopta right at dinner time after a leisure driving and a lot of stops. We ended our day with a nice hot meal at the camp and went early to bed in preparation for our trek to Chandrashila the next day.
Day 2: Spent a large part of this day, trekking till Tunganath Temple and back. We intended to go up till Chandrashila peak (which is another 1-hour trek from the temple) but didn't make it there due to limited time. It's suggested to leave early in the morning by 8 am to cover both. Nevertheless, we had the best time trekking for 7-8 hours on complete snow with Oz and see the most beautiful scenery on the way.
Day 3: We went on another day trek on this day to Deoriatal but this one was much relaxed and we didn't have to constantly watch our steps on the snowy terrain. The lake is beautiful and it's a must-visit while in Chopta. We spent a great picnic day at the lake with Oz and then had our evening coffee at a hip and cool cafe called 'Cafe Nirvana'. The main highlights of this day were the bright sunny weather at the lake, and us getting a cappuccino after a whole 3 days!
Travel tips for Chopta
Preferably stay in Sari village - If you are planning on making a trip to Chopta, do your research about the property amenities mainly for electricity and network connectivity. We stayed in a campsite near Chopta called the 'Medows camp' in Baniya Kund and discovered that this part of the region was scary cold, with no electricity and network. If you would like to stay in comfortable temperatures and prefer to stay connected with the outside world then staying in Sari Village is the best option.
Plan your drive to reach Chopta before sundown - We left a little late from Rishikesh after having our leisure breakfast which resulted in us reaching the snow-covered Chopta at night. And driving in snow at night is not as much fun as one would imagine!
3 nights in Binsar
Day 4: We spent almost the entire day driving through the picturesque Garhwal valley from Chopta to Binsar. This was the most hectic day of all the 11 days trip we made. The sad condition of the roads on this route and the absence of a decent place to eat was quite disappointing for sure. We reached the Binsar wildlife sanctuary gates at around 7:30 PM, which was already past the permissible timings of the sanctuary (7 PM). Thanks to our host who informed the forest gate much in advance and we were able to convince the forest officers to make an exception for us. And finally, we reached our beautiful stay after driving for 20 mins more inside the sanctuary. We stayed at 'The Grand Oak Manor, Tree of life resort' and this was undoubtedly the best of all the stays we made during this trip.
Day 5 and 6: Our time in Binsar was the most relaxing of the entire trip. The credit for this definitely goes to the incredible property we stayed in, the impeccable staff and the most delicious food ever! Binsar is known for its forest and offers multiple half or full-day trekking options. We hiked to the Zero point and explored a couple of forest trails during the 2 days we stayed here. Oz had the best time playing in the backyard garden of the property overlooking the beautiful Kumaon hills!
Travel tips for Binsar
Pets are 'NOT' allowed in the wildlife sanctuary - If you plan to take your pet along with you to Binsar, make sure you book a property outside the sanctuary area. We didn't know about this, accidentally sneaked Oz in and fortunately got a property with pet-friendly owners. Too many coincidences worked out in our favour!
Stay within the wildlife sanctuary area for the best experience! - The Binsar forest area is beautiful and it's a great experience to stay inside the sanctuary area. You would be very near to the Zero point if you do so and you can possibly go on really cool forest exploration treks just stepping outside your property.
The sanctuary gate closes at 7 PM! - If your property is within the forest area, then arrive well ahead of 7 PM since they close the gates at that time. We didn't know about this and arrived much later!
3 nights in Munsiyari
Day 7: Munsiyari is 6.5 hours from Binsar, but considering the stops and lunch break it can take anywhere between 7-8 hours for you to reach there. We spent the day travelling on the road and reached Munsiyari by 4:30 PM.
Day 8: Today was yet another beautiful day which we spent in trekking to the Khaliya top and back. The highlights of the day were the incredible snow-covered views and hot Maggi + chai at the top. Oz spent the day running along the snowy trails with utmost ease, putting his head inside the soft fresh snow and eating it at his will. In short... this day was super exciting and fun for both the humans and our super doggo.
Day 9: Today was the last full day for us in Munsiyari and we decided to keep it a relaxed one considering the heavy drive ahead of us on our way back. We saw the Tribal heritage museum and learnt a bit about the local Bhutia tribe of this region. Our lunch was at a local favourite restaurant called Apna Bhojanalaya situated right in front of the bus stand. Both these suggestions were from a local friend of ours and we were glad to spend a chill day doing small things in Munsiyari and exploring the town itself.
Travel tips for Munsiyari
Arrive here before sundown - Munsiyari is pretty remote and there would be lesser vehicles leading up to the town during the night. This can get a little scary if you are alone on the road and don't have anyone to seek help from if something goes wrong.
Leave for Khaliya top by max 8 AM - Khaliya top trek is a long one and it's advisable to leave for this trek early in the morning. The mountain top gets very cold and tough to trek if you are stuck there during your descend in the evening.
Stay need not be thoroughly planned for Munsiyari - You might think that a remote destination like Munsiyari might not have a decent stay option but we found a lot of last-minute travellers coming there without a hotel booking but ended up finding last-minute good deals.
Pet-friendly properties in Munsiyari - Although none of the hotels in Munsiyari had been listed as a pet-friendly property, but many of them didn't mind having a dog on-board. We stayed at the 'Milam Inn' and would recommend this property to other travellers as well. This place has incredible and uninterrupted views of the Panchchuli range and clean big rooms.
1-night pitstop at Bhimtal
Day 10: Bhimtal was more like a pitstop for us on our way back from Munsiyari since Munsiyari to Delhi is a good 580 km and more than half of this distance is a mountain drive. Bhimtal and Haldwani are the best pitstops on the way back since the difficult hilly drive almost ends here.
We stayed at 'The Retreat, Bhimtal' for taking a break and this heritage and carefully conserved property ended up being such a pleasing experience. Great friendly host, a true heritage property where every single thing inside it is conserved from the Britisher's period and delicious food! Highly recommend.
Day 11 - Back home
Last day of our trip and largely spent on the road. Bhimtal to Gurgaon is a smooth and enjoyable drive. We took very fewer pitstops but of them were at our favourite place called the 'Pots and pans' in Haldwani. This is one of our favourite cafes to take a break on this route and we had the best Cappuccinos here on our 11-day trip!
Our road trip to Uttarakhand ended up being a time for a lot of my firsts. My first ever big road trip with Oz, my first all-day snow trek, my first time offering a lift to a hitchhiker and regretting it immediately (more about it later) and my first ever magical experience of a snowfall! I am in love with the Himalayas and have taken multiple trips to many of the Himalayan places until now. However, the mountains surprise me every time I go there and that's what I love about them. They are never the same and offer a completely different version of themselves every single time. Every time the mountains look prettier than the last, but I know that this time it just didn't 'seem' like it... It was! Heaven on the earth!
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