The Complete Uttarakhand Travel Guide

Uttarakhand is two mountain states wearing one name, and most disappointing trips come from treating it as one. Getting there also changed in 2026: the Delhi–Dehradun Expressway opened end to end on 14 April, which has reshaped how a Delhi NCR family should plan the drive. Here is how to plan a private Uttarakhand tour around what the state actually does well.

Places to visit

Kumaon — the gentler half.

• Nainital — the lake, the Mall, and cool air a short drive from the plains. Busy in May and June.
• Jim Corbett — India’s oldest national park, and the strongest single reason to bring children to Uttarakhand.
• Ranikhet, Almora and Mukteshwar — quieter ridge towns with long Himalayan views and very little to do, which is the point.

Garhwal — the dramatic half.

• Mussoorie — the classic hill station, 35 km above Dehradun, and the easiest mountain air to reach from Delhi.
• Rishikesh and Haridwar — the Ganga, the evening aarti, yoga, and white water in season.
• Auli — meadows in summer, skiing from January to March, reached by road from Joshimath.
• The Char Dham — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. A separate kind of journey; see our Char Dham packages.

Top things to do

• Safari at Corbett. Jhirna, Dhela and Garjia run year-round; Dhikala opens around mid-November and closes around mid-June.
• The Ganga Aarti at Rishikesh or Haridwar — the one evening nobody regrets.
• Ski at Auli, January to March. The National Skiing Championship was held there in February 2026.
• Walk the Valley of Flowers, open 1 June to 31 October in 2026, reached on foot from Ghangaria.
• White-water rafting at Rishikesh, in season only — the season runs 1 September to 30 June.

Itineraries

Getting there

By road, and this is what changed. The Delhi–Dehradun Expressway opened along its full length on 14 April 2026 — roughly 210 km, including a 12 km elevated stretch over Rajaji National Park. You will see “2.5 hours” quoted everywhere. That is the launch figure, and at the 100 km/h car limit with no stops it is a floor rather than an average. Plan on three and a half to four hours door to door, which is still a transformation on the six hours it used to take. There is no fuel, food or charging on the expressway itself, so fill up before you join it.

By air. Dehradun (Jolly Grant) is the main gateway, with nonstop flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and others. Pantnagar serves Kumaon but has only two routes, both to Delhi and Noida’s Jewar airport.

By train. Vande Bharat 22457/22458 runs Anand Vihar to Dehradun in about 4 hours 45 minutes, six days a week — not on Thursdays. For Nainital the railhead is Kathgodam, best served by the Shatabdi. For Corbett, trains to Ramnagar leave from Old Delhi, not New Delhi.

Full detail is in our how to reach Uttarakhand guide.

Best time

March to June for hill stations and wildlife, October and November for the clearest mountain views, January to March for snow at Auli. Avoid July and August. Those two months carry the bulk of the year’s rain — Dehradun’s July and August alone bring over 1,300 mm on IMD 1991–2020 normals — and Garhwal roads close on district orders at short notice. See best time to visit Uttarakhand.

Rules that catch people out

• No mobile phones inside Corbett. Enforced from 5 February 2026 under a Supreme Court order. Phones are handed in at the gate. Cameras are allowed — bring a real one.
• Mussoorie requires free online registration, in place since 1 August 2025, on the Uttarakhand government tourist portal. It records your vehicle number and issues a QR code.
• Nainital’s Mall Road became a no-horn zone on 1 August 2026, enforced by CCTV.
• Char Dham registration is mandatory and checked at barriers. It is free, and the only official portal is the Uttarakhand government one.
• The Joshimath–Auli ropeway has been closed since January 2023. Auli is reached by road from Joshimath, 16 km. Treat any operator still selling the ropeway with caution.