What to Visit

Details

The day may or may not start with an early morning hike. Fueled by bananas, cookies and coffee, you will leave before dawn and hike up to the Syahi Devi temple to reach the vantage point just around sunrise. There can be nothing as beautiful as the sun rising over the Himalayas. When enjoyed with a hot cup of chai with some ginger in it, things become truly sublime.

This is followed by a sumptuous breakfast. Being away from towns and near a village, most of the produce would be locally sourced. In fact, you can source some of the produce yourself – milk from the local cowherd, honey from a home here, fruits from another home and vegetables from a third. You can also make your bird list on the walk.

You can then take your car or a car and drive around to the Katarmal Sun Temple – a 9th Century Sun Temple and one of the few in India. Your drive can then wind around the Binsar Sanctuary and also some of the places around Ranikhet.

If the evenings are nippy, bonfires would be made ready to roast some potatoes or to simply enjoy the sunsets in the valleys and the smoke rising out of the houses as the lights come on. Your days can also include some short hikes to the village with lunch in one of the village homes. They would also include tours of other villages around and some unique co-operatives and a lot more. There are just a ton of sightseeing opportunities for the intrepid traveller.