Mountains and Sea... Coorg and Kannur.. Karnataka and Kerala

During the month of October our December holiday planning started. Thanks to all the AI intelligence Tripadvisor a offbeat beach place in Kannur called Thottada, Kerala. Photos and reviews in trip advisor did tempt us. Distance from Bangalore and the stunning photos in the internet fixed Thottada as our holiday destination. Felt a drive from Bangalore to Kannur may be a long one, considered a mid way break. Virajpet(Coorg district) looked interesting for a stop. Plan took a shape with 2 nights at Virajpet, 4 nights at Thottada.

Day 1: Reaching settling at Virajpet

Vacanza entrance

Stream flowing through Vacanza estate house

 

Left Bangalore at 7AM. Breakfast break at Shivalli Restaurant, Channapatna. Smooth drive till Virajpet. Lunch at Udupi hotel at Virajpet. Decent quick eat(Of the few vegetarian places in Virajpet). Headed to Vacanza Estate house at Virajpet. All the Bookings through booking.com. Homestay amidst coffee estate. Last 2KMs bad road but motor able. Location is awesome. There is a stream flowing through the place. Loads of plants(coffee and other flowering) neat bonfire, great home cooked fresh food, comfortable stay. Relaxed in bonfire and rested well. Took a stroll around to catch a glimpse of Thadiyonamol trekking place.

Day 2: Trek day Tadiandamol.. here we come

After a refreshing sleep and a tasty breakfast headed to our trekking place Tadiandamol. Tadiandamol is the second tallest peak in Karnataka(first is Mullayangiri, Chikmangalur), tallest in Coorg. There are two routes for this trek one around 4.8KM(Honeyvalley homestay route) other 3.75KM(Nallakad palace route). We stayed closer to Nallakad palace so selected this route. Jeep folks in this area threaten saying our cars can't reach the last KM but it isn't true, roads are bad but motor able. Our old Indica could reach till the point where jeeps drops folks. Autos are able to take people till that point. Take for about 1KM away from check post. There is a board stating Tadianamol trek point starts here. The path is well laid walk able and loads of folks doing the trek. There is no need of a guide. Airtel mobile signal also is there on and off. Path is marked in google maps too. Pay 20rs per person as charge and enter the trek starting point. The trek gets steeper during the last KM but definitely doable. View from peak is amazing. The check point has a small shop apart from that there is nothing available here, carry your own water and snacks. We could do total up and down in about 5 hours. This trek is refreshing. Breath some fresh and enjoy the beautiful mountain ranges of Karnataka.

Day 3: Rest and Iguthappa temple

Had a sound sleep after great lunch and dinner, headed to Iguthappa temple. This temple is in a beautiful view point and has the most friendly priest. Serves free food for all devotees. After a quick darshan, headed to Kannur our next destination on the winding roads crossing Karnataka border and reaching the Kerala border. Whole drive took around 3.5 hours, roads are getting laid at few places which slows down the traffic significantly. Caution: Winding roads, ride is slow.

Kannur is a reasonably large district well developed one. Caution for vegetarians, there are only a handful of pure vegetarian options in Kannur, all of them near railway station/bus stand. Chapatis are prepared real good in Kerala(oil-free and soft). Any place you can eat chapati and any curry(dhal/Paneer/vegetable) dishes. Finished our lunch at Dakshin veg place near railway station and headed to our beach destination, Thottada.

Our booking was with club7 beach resort. This is a simple homestay style place at a excellent location. You live so close to beach can hear the waves all through day and night.

Neat kitchen everything prepared to order. Nice breakfast, lunch and dinner. Very very slow service. Prepare to wait for 1.5 hours for any meal. Order go for a swim come back refresh and food would be ready.

December had the perfect weather to stay in water as long as one wishes too.

Club7 beach resort stone throw distance from the awesome beach

The beach is safe upto 1/2KM we were told, but waves were gentle and beaches were super clean

Day 4,5,6:Swim.. Rest.. Sunset.. repeat

Rest of our stay here we did the same every day. Morning a long walk to Ezhaara or Kizhunna beach which are either side of resort. Whole beach walk is about 4KMs. There are rocks which are hard to cross and full of colorful crabs in between. Our personal favorite was Kizhuna beach where there are almost no waves. Breakfast at resort, long swim at any of the spot for couple of hours, back to hotel place order for lunch, again another hour of swim, back to room refresh and by then lunch is ready.

Large rock barriers to reach Thottada beach

Post lunch rest and back to sea in the evening, till it gets dark swim, order refresh and have dinner sleep.

We visited the popular drive in beach of Kannur, Muzhapplangad. Nice beach but spoil with garbage everywhere. We were told each morning it's cleaned and by evening it becomes so dirty. Sad! :(

Visited another view point called overburry's folly at Thalassery. Beautiful elevation on a rock, made as a viewpoint with a park. Nice location to watch sunset.Cafe 916 near Overburry's folly is an interesting place to eat. Designed like train, they serve awesome chats and ice creams. Do not miss!

Theyyam

One evening we visited a nearby temple to watch the famous north Kerala traditional dance, Theyyam. We took the help of auto driver for Rs.1200 pickup drop and some explanation. The performance itself is totally free and the temple organized everything. If you are a local of Kerala one can easily visit all by themselves. 

The dance was stunning accompanied by energetic percussion's. The makeup fire and thrill was well worth it. We could spend only couple of hours there. We were told the performance goes on whole night. Do not miss if you are in Kerala.

 After sun tanning and burning, we checked out on the last day at 11PM and returned Bangalore by evening 7:30PM with a lunch break. Do take the Hassan route during return, make the drive lot more pleasurable.

 

 

 If you are looking for a truly offbeat beach just to enjoy sun,sea and Sand. Kannur beaches should be in your list!

K-Gudi,BR hills Diverse Karnataka

Day 1: Drive to K-Gudi

Beautiful JLR setup

Scenic drive!

Left Bangaluru at 6:30AM. Effortless drive to hit Mysore road. Being a Thursday very less crowd on road. Awesome breakfast break at Kamat Lokruchi. Do not miss Porri with Aloo and their Akki rotti!!

Entered Jungle check-post at 11:30am. The roads are great and drive is scenic.

JLR K-Gudi:
JLR K-Gudi is setup in as any JLR is at a best spot. Full of nature. Food is great. Courteous staff.
We got hot nice food followed by little rest then went for a safari. The safari rides starts right on dot. When we went it had just rained and opened. There were lots of weeds grown. This made any animal spotting very difficult. Nevertheless, the forest setting, smell, cool breeze brushing you all of it is breathtaking.

Spot the malabar squirrel

Spotted serpent eagle, kingfishers,turtles, malabar squirrels,many other birds.

Day 2: Safari and awesome drive to BR hills:
JLR greets in the morning at cottage with a super hot coffee/tea. We head to safari after that.

Early morning Safari in chilling weather is even better. The guides have a lot of explanation about the forest trees and many interesting facts.

Langur gang!

Safari started on dot 6:30AM and went on till 8:30AM.

Wild Gaur/Bison

Breakfast is super hot and tasty.

Giridharshini-BR Hills:
After sumptuous breakfast headed to scenic drive to BR hills. The entire road route is scenic.

Our stay is in Giridharshini a homely small quite homestay in a small coffee estate. Friendly host and great room with a view. The window here is awesome!!

Do not miss nature walk from here, it's a 10minute walk to a forest bungalow. You are above the cloud!

We visited this place twice. Once in the evening once in the morning.

BR hills temple too is in a picturesque location.

Don't miss view from behind temple.

Day 3: Misty morning
We visited the view point again, till top any car can reach. Do try.

Stunning view from the view point BR hills

BR hills temple

After breakfast we left for bheemeswari. In bheemeshwari we stayed at Green peace home stay. Another peaceful scenic home stay amidst 100 acre pomegranate farm. Simple food, great location. They have a view point within campus. We visited it in the morning and in the evening. It gives real nice feel of the whole place. They have man made small pond. Refreshing swim in that we did.

Gnalu falls is 3KMs from here. Suppose to be stunning during season. We didn't try.

Day 4: Muthathi

Drive to Cauvery wild life sanctuary is 10KM. Spotted a pack of wild dog here. We reached Muthathi. It's a scenic place but spoilt but crowd :(.

Drive to the Muthathi is scenic don't miss it!

Returned to Bangalore with more love for Karnataka!
 

100 acre pomegranate farm - Green peace bheemeshwari!

Picturesque Maharastra - Diveagar, Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani

A chat shop we visit (regularly) has a lot of interesting captions about Mumbai. When we explored for some offbeat options in Maharashtra, we decided to land in Pune and check a few places around as we felt Mumbai would be too crowded during season of holidays. Next option is Pune!

A friend who had done Mahabaleswar during Dusherra holidays raved about it's beauty and the scenic drive. She also spoke about zoom car option in Pune airport. These two choices encouraged us to explore places around Pune. Here are the details:

Day 1: Landing and Zooming to Diveagar

Took the 5:30am flight to Pune from Bangalore. While we were near conveyor belt gave a call to zoom car guys. The vehicle arrived in 10 minutes. We spent exactly 10 mins at Zoom car center and we were on our own!

Nature's painting- Diveagar beach

Google offline maps works like a charm. We did a good 5 hours ride and reached our beautiful resort stay at "Panthastha Prangan Resorts". Road to reach Diveagar is bad. Some patches are real bad. So keep a good 5 hours to reach the place. We took a break at quick bite and had a great view of Mulshi dam. Dam looks beautiful.

There is nothing much to do in en route. A quick stop at quick bite and enjoyed the Mulshi view. Our destination is splendid.

Diveagar is a true offbeat place. It's a small village with couple of temples and breathtaking beaches. These beaches are extremely clean and safe. What differentiates this beach is the reflection as there is a huge difference in water levels throughout the day.

We visited the beach and returned.

Lunch and dinner at Panthastha prangan. Great clean food.

Day 2: Sun kisses sand

Started with excellent breakfast at Panthastha Prangan.

Sun kisses sand

Drove to vela beach. There was absolutely nobody. We didn't want to get into water in such a lonely place. Yet it's a stunning beach. We returned to Diveagar beach and played in water.

Absolute nobody beach - Velas beach

Had lunch and again returned to beach watched the beautiful sunset returned to room. On our way back we tried amazing kulfi's at a nice place.

Day 3: Heading to hills

Played the beach played in water. Visited the beautiful old roop narayan swamy temple and Golden ganesh temple. Returned to room and checked out.

Panthastha Prangan is a great place to stay for the friendly staff, the concept of Eco friendly resort true to itself. There is hardly any plastic or wasting of light or water. Whoever has come up with the idea of the place... salute to you. There is passion noticeable in every design. We have to leave footwear outside dining area and rooms. There is a brass vessel given instead of buckets. The card is actually constructed(solid structure). Natural light and ventilation is well used. Noticed a huge rain water harvesting well structure too.

Checked out the beautiful Diveagar and headed to hills- Mahabaleswar. Roads again are average. Mobile signal is back. 

We tried to check Raigad fort en route to Mahabaleswar. The rope car waiting time was 3.5 hours. This fort is best avoided during holiday season.

The route is extremely scenic, roads too get better once we are closer to Mahabaleswar base.

Checked in to our place of stay mulberry Inn. It's in Mahabaleswar Panchgani route.

Had snacks/dinner at Garden restaurant. They made amazing corn bajji and onion bajji. A bad pizza. Decent strawberry and cream.

Mahabaleswar is full of strawberries. It looks beautiful! Buy and eat strawberries whenever you find it. It's extremely tasty!

Day 4: Point to Point view points, Car wouldn't start!

All food joints open pretty late and service is slow. If your restaurant offers breakfast please take it!

We had amazing idli and Dosa at Food studio restaurant. Extremely slow service due to heavy crowd. This place is the best food(Veg) we had. On non crowded times their service is real fast.

Yummy strawberries sales near lake

Boating at beautiful Venna lake. Boating get super crowded in the evening. Better to goto this place in the morning.

We headed to Kate's point after boating. There are multiple view points here. It gets real sunny by noon.

Kate's point has an interesting juice/shake center. The owner seem to be having photograph with every bollywood personality. He makes amazing juice/shake too. Must try at Kate's point.

Stunning view from Kate's point

Mahabaleswar gets super crowded during weekends. Google maps gets confused as the traffic police keep changing one way direction. Some real bad/mad drivers switch to the other lane in a long line of waiting traffic. Please don't do that. It's a beautiful hill station, avoid bad driving.

We had a quick lunch at Lingmala restaurant/veg grill restaurant. Home style very quick service with limited options. Good place to eat.

Shivsagar view point - Sunset is a treat to eyes

After a short break at room we went to Tapola road. This place is amazing. It's turly offbeat with no crowd, no traffic. Most scenic drive to reach this place which is bout 25KM from Mahabaleswar. Winding roads so keep a good one hour to drive to this place. We reached Shivsagar point. Most stunning view of valley and water body. This place gives a real high to anyone and everyone. During peak season it's better to stay at Tapola than at Mahabaleshwar. They have the best to offer. After watching a stunning sunset, we wanted to return home, just that our zoom car wouldn't start.

A family who visited the place helped push start the car. We slowly without turning off returned to room without getting doomed. BIG thanks to whomever we met there! No mobile signal without anyone we would have been stuck without help! Thank you Sir and your family! We forgot to take your number!

Push start and try starting in second gear!

As per Zoom car policy, in location with alternate vehicle, they would replace your car otherwise they would tow away, if you can fix it get it fixed thru local mechanic and upload bill. We didn't know any of it.

We called up the call center through borrowed phone(BSNL,Vodaphone, Idea alone works). Zoom car right away put us on conference call with technician. They asked us to try a few things but none of it worked. Zoom car then committed to send technician next day morning at 8:30AM. Which is good for us. Next morning they called and confirmed technician would come only by 10AM. But yes someone indeed turned up with all jump start stuff. But none of it worked. Another push start to workshop. And the problem was a relay which was fixed in about 30minutes next day . Happy to have vehicle back and actually impressed by Zoom car service!

They also asked if they wanted us some kind of compensation. We are more happy to have vehicle back.

Day 5: Strawberries everywhere, Car is back, Table land, View points!

Zoom car's authorized garage is near Mapro garden(Near Indian oil petrol pump). 

With impressive fixing of Zoom car we visited Mapro garden. The place has it's charm. Super crowded. Serves awesome pizza. Super fast service. Has a huge supermarket with free tasting of all chocolates. Has a very informative video in their auditorium about strawberries and chocolates. Do visit especially with kids.

We headed to table land after Mapro garden. This is place is a huge plateau on top of hill. We hired a horse cart to do a round here. Extremely scenic place with a cave(restaurant). Super crowded.

We visited Harrison folly this is much more scenic than table land.

Sydney point yet another beautiful place. We sat down watched stunning sunset. Sydney point is being developed now with a path to view point. This point has best view of all the panchgani/mahabaleswar hills.

We returned to Food studio and had super amazing sizzler. This place has too many options for food.

Day 6: Chilling at Arthur's seat!

Based on trip advisor we wanted to trek to Guregar natural reserve. We reached the place around 8AM but the gates were closed. This has amazing reviews but no one mentioned about the timing.

We headed to Arthur's seat and this worked out very well for us. This place is extremely beautiful. Lot of views and view points. Must visit especially before crowd kicks in and shops open. Feels like heaven.

We had masala maggi and bhel for breakfast. Both were super awesome!

Returned to room checked out and headed to Pune.

Spent a small amount of time at Velocity theme park. Go carting is expensive here(700rs for four rounds).

Bought amazing strawberries!

Had simple superb food at Kamat en route.

We had couple of hours to spend. Headed to famous Pune's Okayama friendship garden. Beautiful garden with stunning landscape. Do visit if you are around Pune.

Returned Zoom car near airport and returned airport and home with loads of great memories, experiences, tastes and fun!! Maharashtra rocks! The valley has amazing formations and beaches have a different feel!!

Points to remember:

• Airtel rarely works in any of the places we visited. Mahabaleswar is slightly better, Diveager zero signal. Overall mobile reach itself is very less in these places. Carry a BSNL sim.
• Days are warm even in the month of December.
• Sunscreen near beach
• Vegetarian food is available in plenty
• Avoid long weekends anywhere near Mahabaleswar, everything is 3x, traffic, waiting, cost of strawberry. Plan during February is the recommendation.
•  In Mahabaleswar, Panchgani target every view point before 9AM(before shops open). It is magical around that time!

Visit to heaven again... Goa.. Freedom, fun and freaking out...

Towards beginning of November 2016 it stuck we hadn't planned our winter vacation.  No time to search or book so Goa was decided without much of confusion. We have done a Goa trip about 8 years ago and that place had the magic, freedom for any traveller. I have never seen a place so traveller friendly. Now into details..

Hotel bookings: booking.com

Flight: Indigo. We left on Sunday early morning flight and returned the next Saturday evening(Christmas eve). Found that flight combination much cheaper than other dates.

Day 1:  Landed at Goa, Dona Paula, Miramar

Place of stay: Hawaii comforts at Dona paula.

Landed at Goa airport and took prepaid taxi to Dona paula. Non AC costs: Rs. 875.

We reached Hawaii comfort by 9:30 AM much earlier than check-in time(Check-in time: 13:00hrs). They were happy to hold the luggage and also helped us with a two wheeler rental Rs. 400 a day. We are on our own instantaneously.

The location of Hawaii comforts is scenic and convenient. There is a small Hawaai beach within 50 meters from the hotel. Clean beach with nobody there.

We took the bike and did a free boat transfer to the other side. Its a fun ride with bike on boat. Do try!

Beautiful Reis magos fort

We reached Reis magos fort. This is an offbeat place recently renovated. It has lot of paintings and lot of historical facts put up. Do visit this place.

We returned back to MG road and had lunch at navtara vegetarian restuarant. Awesome food at a very reasonable rates.

We also visited the broadway bookshop largest bookshop in Goa. Nice place to spend sometime. Pick up some good read for your trip.

Sunset time reached Dona Paula view point. Beautiful place. Sunday evenings are super crowded, problem is the road is a narrow one way. So leave your vehicle far off and walk or avoid during weekends. Domino's serves hot pizzas directly for Rs.100. Interesting. Place has a good view. Traffic is a pain.

Evening we visited Meeramar beach. Soft sand clean beach. Do not miss the street foods in the night. Awesome chats(Esp. Sev puri, Pav bhaji..)

Day 2:  Vagator beach, Bean me up

Day 2 started with yummy breakfast at Hawaii comforts. They have a large spread with corn flakes,bread, fruits, Aloo paratha, pav bhaji, Strawberry milkshake, tea ,coffee. This place has the most friendly staff(most of them are differently abled, a salute for that) and well talented chef.

Vagator beach

We did a good long drive to Vagator beach. Vagator beach has a very different feel. Rocks, shacks sun and sand.

The waves were there and comparatively calm beach.

View of Vagator beach from top

After a nice bath and swim in water we went to this amazing place called bean me up. It's close to vagator beach. This is a vegan place. Totally amazing!

They make everything under the sky, vegan. Totally organic local produce and fresh. Try the pita bread hummus.. pasta, lasngya. Mind blowing.. Even fresh lemon soda with a tinge of honey/jaggery.. This place is not just an eat out.. it's an experience do try!!

Evening we watched sunset at Meeramar beach. Take the small cut before the main beach to watch sunset. Local do some walking and playing there. Its lot less crowded than main beach to watch sunset.

We did the night cruise in mondovi river. It costs rs.300 per head. It takes an hour. If you don't like party music dancing can skip this. It's noisy crowded and boring.

Day 3: Hawaai beach, Palolem here we come

After a lot of nagging from our little one to check out the closest beach we tried the tiny hawaii beach next to hotel. It was a pleasant surprise! Nice calm beach with absolutely no one. Shells everywhere.. beautiful.

The hotel helps us with a nice taxi to Palolem for Rs.2000. Nice new ertiga came. It's a good 1.5hrs drive we reached Palolem. Our 4 night stay here was at Castle house. Decent place with a neat pool. Staffs weren't too friendly beaches are bit far from here.

Immediately took bike on rent. 250rs a day honda dio. We took it from Seema bike rental opposite to Palolem guest house. Very friendly owner called Sanjay.

We headed to the beautiful Palolem beach had lunch at pure vegetarian hotel called Shri Ganesh near beach. Good jeera rice, paratha and sandwiches.

Evening we went to Palolem to watch beautiful sunset. Palolem carries a lot of calmness. When north Goa is about partying.. South is more of calm beaches.

All the shacks serve awesome tea during sunset.. order and enjoy sunset. Tea costs about Rs.50 a day.

Dinner at Magic italy near palolem beach. This place is 17 years old and authentic awesome pizza. Do try their vegetable pizza and Garlic parsley pizzas. Mind blowing!

We booked boat ride to islands and dolphin watching for Rs. 1300 for the next day.

Day 4: Hi dolphins, butterfly beach, honeymoon beach

Castle house has very basic breakfast. Not at all impressive. Poori channa/aloo upma bread egg. Next day pav bhaji poha. Next day again poori, tasteless.

We reached around 8:30AM for the boat ride. December is the best time to watch dolphins. We spotted about 12 dolphins. Beautiful view.

Beauty isn't it?

Butterfly beach a beach in shape of butterfly, beautiful small beach. It's high tide time so not so flat. Moved on honeymoon beach and had a nice swim for 30 mins.

These are tiny beaches looks beautiful. Entire boat ride is about 1.5hrs. Good fun activity to do.

Lunch we wanted something light. Headed to NH and found a nice Udupi hotel. Limited menu ,awesome taste. Masala dosa tastes yummy. Pooris too. Costs very less. You would find a lot of westerners here. Food is an universal language isn't it? Do try out if you are bored of eating all fancy things.

Galgibagh beach. Walk on water!

Sunset at beautiful Galgibagh beach. Galgibagh beach is little far from palolem. Very less crowd no shacks foods.. Peaceful flat beach. Has a life guard too.

On our way back near patnam beach we tried home resturant. Over priced but authentic italian. Nice setup but average food.

Day 5: Cabo de Rama - Fort time, Maggie, Agonda

Woke up for a long drive to Cabo de Rama. A fort with stunning view of beach. Has a beach with rocks. Has a church inside too.

On the way back we went to a small house/ snack place with adithya icecream. A very friendly host made awesome maggie with vegetables and juices. After refuelling ourselves reach Agonda beach.

Yummy maggie at a small snack shop near Cabo de Rama

South beaches each of them have their own flavor. Agonda is fun and freaky. With waves large and small coming your way, safe and fun beach.

Yummy Food at Sandy feet, Agonda

A very friendly shack owner of Sandy feet offered the umberella for free. Awesome host with great food music and comfortable seating arrangement. We spent from 11 AM to 6 PM there. Till chai. Try out this place. Once you settle on their cozy seats you would never feel like leaving the place.

Cozy seating at Sandy feet

After breathtaking sunset at Agonda we returned to room.

Day 6: Patnem and Palolem

We spent entire day swimming at Patnem and Palolem. Spent first half at Patnem beach. Just swimming and enjoying the beautiful beach.

After an awesome lunch at Magic Italy we went to Palolem beach, watched sunset and swim again.

Day 7: Bye bye.. 

Morning, last swim at Palolem beach.

Taxi to airport from Palolem cost us Rs 1500/-. We took a break at Madgao for lunch and some cashew purchase. Cashew shops are a sight to watch.

Reached Goa airport and returned Bangalore.

Right after we landed on the Bangalore airport we had a nice view of the Bangalore bringing back fond memories of the many sunsets in our trip!

Goa- Sun, Sand, Food, Sunset, bike rides!

Useful Info:

1. Most restaurants accept only cash. Better to be prepared.

2.  Good idea to carry lots of waterproof sunscreen.

3. You may avoid buying packaged water as hotels allow us to fill water bottles to carry around use.

4. Don't worry if your stay doesn't include breakfast, many places are open for breakfast.

5. December is a peak season and nearing Christmas the room rates in a lot of hotels become double.

6. A very good idea to hire a two wheeler to roam around. Local folks very helpful with routes and plenty of sign boards if google maps not work well.

7. Kayaking is available in Palolem. Lots of people trying it during the sunset. It's extremely flat and safe.

8. December weather is awesome with nights and early mornings having a pleasant cold breeze. A thin jacket would help in case you plan to rent a two wheeler.

Have fun, have a nice trip! Go with an open mind, Goa has something for everyone!!

Astonishing Uttrakand!

This winter vacation was a different one. We chose cold colder vacation. Covered beautiful places at Uttrakand,India.

Day 1: Bangalore to Delhi

Evening flight to Delhi - Indigo airlines. Better to book late afternoon or evening flights to and from Delhi during December as fog/poor visibility can delay or cancel the morning flights. 

We had made our booking at Hotel Ajanta at Arakashan Road for two reasons: 1. This hotel had free airport pick up 2. It's closer to NDLS from where we had train to Haldwani(6AM). Hotel worked out pretty well, the airport pick up was waiting right at the exit and they confirmed the pick up before we left Bangalore itself. It took about 30 minutes to reach the hotel from Airport at night 11PM. 

Day 2: NDLS to Haldwani

We didn't want to do too much road travel. Chose the NDLS-KGM SHATABDI express. Note: Reach NDLS sooner than schedule there is baggage scanning. Keep some time to walk as platforms are pretty far.

One of best new trains is this Shatabdi express. Courteous staff, good hot food. Chai on demand. Didn't feel any strain of travel at all.

We had a taxi booked for entire trip, we had asked that taxi to pick us up from Haldwani as well. From Haldwani to Ramnagar(Jim corbett National park) it takes about 1.5 hrs. 

At Corbett we had our booking at Sarapduli FRH. Sarapduli is a smaller Dhikala. It comes 15KMS before Dhikala. Nice place. Sarapduli doesn't have canteen, so one has to carry all the essentials and cook is available, who would cook and serve. We can buy all of it at Ramnagar before entering Dhikuli forest gate.

We did shop at Ramnagar. Bought atta(wheat) flour, rice, Rajma, curd,milk, masala,oil, tea powder, salt,sugar. Some vegetables. Filtered water as well. All these were packed and loaded on our jeep. The jeep journey from Dhikuli(after Ramnagar) till FRH itself is a safari.

Jim corbett national park is a serene forest. There are rivers Ram ganga and Kosi flowing everywhere. Tall trees and very many birds. We spotted barking deers, Monkeys, Samba deers, many birds on this day.

We are given strict instructions to return to FRH before 5:30PM, after dropping bags at FRH we did a short trip to watch tower and came back.

Sarapduli has power only till 7:30PM. After that a solar powered lantern is provided. Bathroom and room is basic and neat. It gets cold in the night.

Day 3: Jim corbett National park - Dhikala

We woke up had nice tea and headed to our safari. Forest in the morning looks at it's best. Sunlight trying to enter through leaves. We spotted some more deers, peacock,langoon monkeys, birds.

We went to high bank from there one gets complete view of the river. High bank as name suggests is at a elevation providing better view of entire river.

We reached Dhikala and had breakfast at canteen. There is canteen and there is a restaurant at Dhikala. Dhikala is another FRH and it's beautiful. Complete river view from FRH itself. This is much bigger FRH and there is  a lot of open space to walk around and enjoy! We couldn't get a booking here!

After breakfast headed to river bank. Spotted enourmous number of spotted deer groups! Many many birds. We also saw a Jackal. He was swift! Amazing!!

Afternoon we had booked for elephant safari. This is one must do at Dhikala/Corbett. One really gets a feel of entering forest like an animal. Elephant's height gives a huge advantage and in a forest like corbett where grasses are so dense and tall, this gives a massive view.

While returning to Sarapduli, we spotted a group of elephants.

Day 4: Bye bye Jim corbett and hi to Nainital

Morning we spotted some fresh pug marks of the big guy(Tiger). But chasing/waiting didn't help. We didn't spot a tiger but we did saw a group of wildbore, massive sambar deer family. Jim corbett is an unique forest experience.

Helpful inputs:

1. During peak season booking Jim corbett without agent or connections is impossible.

2. All the rates in website is not what they would charge you. The place is so corrupt. Influence or money alone works.

3. Everyone expects tip

4. The guides/jeep drivers are not so knowledgeable as they claim to be. Ask them to slow down when you spot something. They argue but don't give in.

5. Tiger spotting seem to be happening here pretty frequently but accept what nature provides you.

6. Bargain hard or at least try :).

All of the above shouldn't stop you from visiting this place. Chose a off season, book yourself and go.

We were dropped back at Dhikuli at around 11 AM. Our taxi was waiting. We headed to for Nanital. On the way, we went to beautiful Corbett water fall. This water fall has entry fee of Rs.50 per person and Rs.100 for car. Well worth it.

At this time of writing Jim corbett museum is closed for renovation.

We reached the beautiful lake city at around 4 PM. We had booked our stay at Lakeview homestay. This place is right on mall road. Convenient location, but one has to climb stairs(like 100) to reach room. The caretaker is a very helpful guy. Rooms are spacious. Has a small kitchen. Loved the place. The room overlooks naini lake.

Evening we did boating and walked on the mall road.Boating is a must do at Naini lake. It gets real cold in the night. Among all the places we visited this winter, Nainital is the coldest. We had to use room heater.

Day 5: Nainital - Hi Himalayas!

Based on internet advise, we went to himalaya darshan viewpoint before 10:30 AM and yes it's captivating. Snow capped himlayas is visible clearly before noon. On way back stop over for Naini view. Entire lake is visible from this point.

Visited cave garden. This is a unique fun activity at Nainital. There are so many caves: Tiger cave, panther cave, porcupine cave, bat cave. It's easy and fun to do. Inside the cave is reasonably lit.

We took rope car and went to to snow view point. This place is poorly maintained nothing much to do. Once an old amusement park, now all broken. Still if you go with kids there are couple of rides which would interest them. This place also has a good view of Himalayas. Target and go before 10:30AM.

Rope car ride is fun and view through rope car glass windows is nice. But rope car needs more maintenance. The glasses can be cleaned for better view.

Nanital zoo

This is most underrated place in entire Nainital. Well landscaped with nice healthy animal collections. For animal lovers this is the don't miss place. We absolutely loved it.

Nainital zoo can be reached through their pick up and drop service only as the roads are too steep and narrow to navigate. They charge rs.30 per person for two way. A Sumo/tavera keeps doing this round trips.

Don't miss leopard, tiger, bear and massive Samba deers. Birds are also unique and beautiful. View from zoo is amazing too.

Day 6: Bye Nainital! Hi Almora, Binsar

Left Nainital and saw Hanuman gadi on the way. This place has a beautiful hanuman temple. Not too far from Naninital(< 5KMs).

We left for Binsar through Almora. Binsar has a beautiful bird santurary and a view point called zero point. Zero point requires a simple trek of 2KM one way. Zero point view point is strategically located at a place from where there is nothing between you and Himalayas. Take a guide if you are little scared to adventure it alone. Road is well laid so we did it without guide. Safe place. Plan in the morning so that you have a chance to see some birds and also would get a better view.

We stayed at Hotel Shivalik at Almora. We were given himalaya facing room. They have great room service as well. Comfortable clean rooms with a great view.

Day 7: Ancient Jageshwar and Lal Bazzar

We went to the ancient temple Jageshwar. This temple is from 9AD and it's one of the Jyothir linga. Beautiful temple set in a natural backdrop. There are 150 temples here I suppose. There is a archaeological museum opposite to temple do visit this place as well. Nice sculptures recovered from site are placed here. Keep a close watch on all tall trees while travelling to Jageshwar, many interesting birds can be spotted.

Have food at this "Welcome shop" at Jageshwar. Hot parathas made in seconds. Also try hot sweet lime/orange juice. Kind staff and tasty basic food.

Returned back to Almora and watched Mindblowing sunset from the room.

Night we went to Lal Bazzar. Awesome market. Prices are reasonable unique stuff. Almora is full of sweet shops. It is the sweetest hill station in 

 Kumaun. Try Bal mittai and another milk sweet covered in leaf.

Had dinner at Bansal cafe at Lal bazzar. They make great samosas and aloo tikkis. It just melts!

Sunset from Almora

Day 8: Pack and back in our favorite shatabdi express.

We left Almora at 8:30 bought some Bal mittai for home and headed to Katgodam. Enroute we touched Bimtal and Naukuchiatal. Both the places are beautiful. Plan sometime at these places. Paragliding is a happening thing at Naukuchiatal. They charge around 1.5k per person. We didn't have time to try. Looks beautiful. 

Beautiful Bhimtal

Beware of blanket hoax at Bhimtal and Naukuchiatal. This is all fraud. They would take 2k/5k from you. you are too far to come chasing them. Check the bills no one bought after 2011. Very convincing salesperson they have. So beware and don't fall for the trap.

After good food in train our favorite satabdi express dropped us back at Delhi at 9PM. We had made our booking at Krishna deluxe at Arakashan road close to NDLS. We took an auto and paid Rs.50 to reach the hotel. WE had made our booking through makemytrip and got confirmation mail and SMS. But hotel front desk said we have no rooms and we have to sort it out with makemytrip. We were bugged so asked them to put us somewhere. They put us at baba inn at same road little interior. On peak seasons better to call up hotel and get confirmation. Don't blindly trust the makemytrip confirmation SMS and all. 

Day 9: India gate and Sattar market

Headed to India gate at around 9 AM. There was march past. Had breakfast at Saravanabhavan at connaught place. Checked out room left luggage at front desk. Headed to Sattar market right down the Arakashan road. Took motorized rickshaw they take Rs.10 per person. Sattar market is massive, cheap and good. But everything is available at big numbers. We found very few shops who sell items as single piece. Others start at dozen or two. Fun it is!

Booked a ola and reached airport. It costs about 300rs.

Cold fun and adventurous trip ended with fond memories!