By road
~68 km from Nainital
North India · Uttarakhand
Almora & Binsar, Uttarakhand
Kumaoni ridgetops facing Nanda Devi · ~68 km from Nainital
Getting there
By rail
Kathgodam, ~82-90 km
By air
Pantnagar Airport, ~115-127 km
Best time to visit
October to March for peaks, March-April for rhododendron bloom
Don't miss
Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary
Kasar Devi ridge
Jageshwar's deodar temple cluster
Things to do
Forest walks in Binsar
Village homestays
Temple-ridge rambles
Where to eat
Sources: wikimedia, Photo: Travelling Slacker from Mumbai, India · CC BY 2.0
What to pack
Serious warm layers, binoculars for the Himalayan panorama
A quieter corner
Zero Point in Binsar sanctuary at sunrise — a 300km Himalayan wall
About Almora & Binsar
- Hills
- Forest
Where it is
Almora is a hill town in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, spread along a saddle-shaped ridge, and the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary lies on the forested hills to its north, facing the Nanda Devi range.
History
Almora became the capital of the Chand kings of Kumaon in the 16th century, and Binsar was their summer capital. After a period of Gorkha rule, the British took Kumaon in 1815, and Almora later drew visitors such as Swami Vivekananda, who stayed in and around the town in the 1890s.
People
Almora's people speak Kumaoni and Hindi, and the town is a centre of Kumaoni culture, known for its Ramlila and aipan floor paintings. Village life around Binsar rests on terraced farming and, increasingly, homestays.
Known for
- Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary and Zero Point
- Views of Nanda Devi and the Himalaya
- Kasar Devi ridge
- The Jageshwar temple cluster
- Bal mithai, Almora's fudge-like sweet
Did you know?
In the mid-20th century the Kasar Devi ridge near Almora drew so many Western writers, artists and seekers that it became known as Crank's Ridge.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.