The year 2022 is a revenge travel year with people making their holidays at every possible long or short weekend to complete their 2 years non travelling gaps. We are one of them with missing fun of family trip altogether. After a 3 years gap, we get able to travel together to my childhood dream destination- Nainital. To add a little adventure, we have added Jim Corbett Jeep Safari tour to it. Nainital located on foothills of Kumaon mountains is best gift of God blessed with natural splendour and enchanting views. Just name of it create a sensation of dreamy holiday inside everyone. (at least for the first time) while Jim Corbett is best for wildlife lovers with a jeep safari in dense woods spread in large area just 2 hours away from town of Nainital.
So, to begin with, it was a weekend plan just after Holi extended with one day leave on Monday. We started our journey on a beautiful Saturday morning by 9 am from our residence in Delhi hopping on a 7-seater car. The brief details about the trip are as given below:
Trip type: Family Trip
Approx. Expenses on Entire Trip: 40,000 INR inclusive stay, food, Activity charges, Jeep Safari, Private Car, Govt Taxes, Sightseeing
Duration: 3 Days 2 Nightsthe
Travel Company Name: Progressive Tour & Travels
As I personally love to travel more and more to explore the new attractions and best thing of any place, I had a new view of exploring Nainital that may differ from many travel authors. This article is completely my perspective about the most awaited trip of my life.
Nainital is most commonly known as hill station to get respite from scorching heat of Delhi. But the dramatic changes in nature have also changed the weather of Nainital in some perspective. We felt a little warm temperature in daytime that made our mood little off to travel in perfect weather, but evening is cooler that made our stroll on Mall Road enjoyable. Let’s start the day wise trip details of my family trip to Nainital & Jim Corbett National Park.
Day 1: Drive to Jim Corbett form Delhi
As I told earlier, we make our departure at 9 AM in the morning on Saturday leaving home after light breakfast. We take the route of Meerut expressway-Muradabad-Ramnagar from Delhi. We had a lunch break at Shiva Restaurant on Highway. We arrived at our pre-booked resort by 4 PM (near to Ramnagar). The resort was having nice ambience laden with ample of fruit trees.
We get freshen up and had tea, snacks and rest for half an hour. Afterwards, we came out of our rooms by approx. 5 PM to have sightseeing of local attractions of Jim Corbett.
1.1 Corbett Sightseeing Tour
At first, we headed to Garija Temple, as it gets close early by 6 PM. It is on Dhikala road and famous for sacred shrine of presiding deity Garjiya Devi. Moving further, we reached Hanuman Temple which is very famous attraction of Jim Corbett. Temple premises were very attractive and we are very lucky to join the evening aarti of Lord Hanuman by 7:30 PM.
Leaving temple premises, we proceed to adjacent food outlet-Dosa Factory, ( Great fond of South Indian Food). We ordered varieties of Dosa and enjoyed the evening. Returned back to resort and had a stroll in lawn, kids enjoyed swinging and then we gone to bed early as the next day was gonna to interesting with Jeep safari in Corbett Park.
Day 2: A Thrilling Jungle Safari and Head to City of Lakes
2.1 Open Jeep Safari in Jim Corbett
The Safari time was fixed for 6 am, so we get ready early in the morning with sips of tea and biscuits. A forest jeep came to pick all 6 of us & needless to say, feeling the fresh breeze of the surroundings in an open jeep was an unique experience, but we are not expecting the chilly wind, so we were ready in our summer outfits.
Being our first open jeep safari, we are shivering as the jeep proceeded for the Jim Corbett Park. Here are some tips after my experience for Jim Corbett Tour:
• Take a head cap or cover your hair to protect them from harsh wind and dust of forest.
• Have a wind chitter with your, especially for kids & elders.
• Keep a flask of tea and some snacks to have it a some stop inside the Jungle.
• Keep your eyes wide open to not miss the glimpse of any animal.
All safari jeeps are from forest department for which you have to do advance booking. There are six to seven zones in Jim corbett till date. Every zone has some restrictions and defined number if vehicles go inside with a valid ticket, your ID proof verification and a guide. The guide assisted us at entry gate of our entry Zone. It was approx. 28 Kms from our resort and took 30 minutes to reach. There were normal houses and village in the way of the forest route. My parents were quite fearful to have forest safari in open animal Kingdom but the driver and guide has taken good care of our fear with their experience and well-versed talk.
We are travelling in Phato Zone, which is a new zone inaugurated in January 2022 by PM Narendra Modi. The zone is specially made with many water points to attract wildlife and enhance the visitors delight. We encountered some animals as Sambar Deer, Cheetal, Peacock, Monkeys and many more during our first hour of drive. Suddenly the driver slows down the jeep and we witness the tiger walking just in parallel of our jeep. We were stun and quite frightened but, in few seconds, the tiger vanished into dense woods of Jungle. This makes our trip incredible and memorable. It was just point of time that we had that glimpse as many other jeeps even not witnessed even a deer. The open wildlife not assure to see all the animals. Without any expectation, you should enjoy the dense vegetation and forest safari of Jim Corbett.
Afterwards, we had 10 minutes stop at refreshment zone bounded by electric wires. There was first tree house of Jim Corbett where you can spend a night and have 360-degree view of Jungle. As the safari ended after 2 hours, we head back to resort via same route. Enjoying little breakfast, we said goodbye to Corbett and head towards City Of Lake: Nainital.
2.2 Visit To Corbett Falls
While on our way to Nainital, we visited Corbett Falls which is a beautiful fall with white surf beauty. The ticket price is 100 INR per person with car ticket too. Form entry gate it was 2 km s inside, so we took our car inside and spend 15-20 minutes near the fall and clicked some nice pictures.
2.3 Arrival to Nainital City
It took approx. 2 hours to arrive Nainital’s sightseeing hub. The driver parked the car and we visited some key sights as Lovers’ point, echo point, Waterfall and proceed to our pre booked hotel near Nainital High Court. After some relaxation and refreshment, we were ready to enjoy the views of lake city. We drove towards Bhimtal & nearby Naukuchiatal. Our excitement get little down as there was nothing much to explore at Bhimtal. A pristine view was there for photography, but besides boating or kayaking, there was not a single thing there.
We just spend 10 minutes, clicked some pics and headed to Naukuchiatal. This place is just for adventure lovers who want to do paragliding or kayaking. Well, it was a nice afternoon and we came back to Naini Lake. We bought tickets (Per boat-280 INR) and enjoyed the cool breeze while 15 minutes pedal boating in sheer current of Naini Lake.
The lake surrounded by lush greenery is amazing for boating experience. Afterwards, we had a stroll on famous Mall Road, enjoying street snacks as chana chat, sweet corn, ice cream, Kulhad wali chai and maggi.
2.4 Boating in Naini Lake, Naina Devi Temple & Mall Road
The key attraction of Nainital is Aerial ropeway that remains open from 10 AM to 5 PM. You can take tickets in advance form ticket counter. Strolling the Mall Road, we reached Bada Bazar, where we get indulge in some shopping. Our next stop was Naina Devi Temple, where we do the prayers and return back to hotel after dinner.
Day 3: Nainital Sightseeing and Return back to Delhi
On the 3rd day of trip, we left our hotel after keeping luggage in car. We made our choice to walk as Mall Road remains very congested.
3.1 Aerial Ropeway Ride & Snow View Point
Kids were very excited for ropeway ride, so we proceed to ticket counter with a waiting period of more than 1 hour. Ticket counter get opened on 10:30 AM that annoys us a little bit. We got the first ticket and hop on ropeway cabin to have scenic drive to Himalaya’s view point. Just in 4 minutes, we were at another end to spend 1 beautiful hour.
There was kids’ zone, Himalaya’s view point & Snow View Point from where snow-cladded mountains as Nanda Devi, Trishul and Nanda Kot are clearly visible shining with golden rays of Sun. After a lovely 50-55 minutes, we ride back in the cabin car & came back.
We had lunch at Mall road and then proceeded to Eco Cave Gardens which was lying on our route back to Delhi.
3.2 Eco Cave Gardens
A most fascinating place for kids but quite tough for elder age people, Eco Cave Gardens has lovely surroundings with six popular caves. Tiger Cave, Panther cave, Porcupine cave, Bat’s cave, Fox cave are five in which we entered and have adventure exit form them.
For the first time I experience ziplining. It was for 4 seconds but so exciting. For kids, this is a great place to must visit. You can enjoy the complete garden within 1-2 hours.
This was our last stop in Nainital, after which head back to Delhi saying goodbye to mountains.
A quick Tip to future Travellers
This was a complete customized trip as per our preferences. The routes, accommodations, Trip planning are done by us. With some changes, you can enhance the hill station tour like visit to Mukteshwar or Ranikhet.
Hope you like my experience of summer escape to Nainital filed with fun & adventure. Stay connected for next travel experience or you can share your trip experiences at info@indianholidaytrip.com to get publish as an article.