Almora Kausani Ranikhet Tour Package 4 Nights 5 Days

Jageshwar: Thirty-five kilometres out, a cluster of over a hundred stone temples built between roughly the 7th and 12th centuries, standing in thick deodar beside a stream. The scale is unexpected and the setting is the point - it is quiet in a way few major temple sites in India manage.

Kasar Devi: A ridge above Almora where Vivekananda meditated, and which drew writers and seekers from the 1960s onward.

Bright End Corner: A short drive on for the sunset line along the Himalaya.

• Top Places to Cover: Jageshwar Dham, Dandeshwar temple, Jageshwar Museum, Kasar Devi, Bright End Corner.
• Importance of Each Place: Jageshwar is one of the largest temple clusters in the western Himalaya and the architecture spans five centuries of Katyuri and Chand construction.
• Things to Know: Modest clothing at Jageshwar; shoes come off at the main complex. The site museum holds sculpture removed from the temples and is worth twenty minutes.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Overnight: Almora

The Drive: About 50 km west, climbing to a narrow ridge at 6,200 ft.

The View: Kausani looks out over a roughly 300 km sweep of the Himalaya - Nanda Devi, Trishul and Panchachuli all visible on a clear day.

Anasakti Ashram: Gandhi stayed here in 1929 and wrote his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. He called Kausani the Switzerland of India, and the ashram keeps his rooms as they were.

Afternoon: The Kausani tea estate on the slopes below the ridge.

• Top Places to Cover: Anasakti Ashram, Kausani ridge viewpoint, Kausani tea estate, Rudradhari falls.
• Importance of Each Place: Kausani is also the birthplace of Sumitranandan Pant, one of the major Hindi poets of the 20th century, and his home is now a small museum.
• Things to Know: The view is entirely weather-dependent. Ask for a north-facing room and confirm the direction before accepting it.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Overnight: Kausani

Before Anything Else: Sunrise from the ridge. This is why you stayed the night, and it is worth the alarm.

To Ranikhet: Roughly 60 km south. Ranikhet is a cantonment town and headquarters of the Kumaon Regiment, which is why it never grew the way Nainital did.

Jhula Devi: A temple hung with thousands of bells, each left by someone whose wish was granted.

Chaubatia: Apple and apricot orchards, and one of the highest golf courses in Asia.

• Top Places to Cover: Kausani sunrise point, Ranikhet, Jhula Devi temple, Chaubatia orchards, Ranikhet golf course.
• Importance of Each Place: Ranikhet has been an army town since 1869 and the cantonment restrictions are the reason its deodar forest is still intact.
• Things to Know: Photography is restricted in cantonment areas. The golf course is army-run and requires prior permission to play.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner | Overnight: Ranikhet

The Drive Back: Breakfast, then around 350 km and eight hours to Delhi.

• Top Places to Cover: Ranikhet, Haldwani, Delhi.
• Things to Know: Depart by 8 am. The Moradabad stretch slows badly in the evening.

Meals: Breakfast | Overnight: Journey ends