Nainital is a town of about 42,000 in the Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand, built around a pear-shaped lake at roughly 2,000 metres in a bowl of seven hills. NAINI LAKE IS THE TOWN: everything faces it, the two roads along its shore are called the Mall and the Thandi Sadak, and the whole place exists because a British sugar merchant found it in 1841.
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What Is Here
THE LAKE AT NIGHT IS THE BEST VERSION OF NAINITAL, which is the image at the top of this post: the town's lights on the water, the hills black above them, and the boats tied up. By day the lake is busy with rowing boats and pedal boats and is cheerfully chaotic.
THE MALL IS PEDESTRIANISED IN THE EVENINGS and the promenade along it is the town's single activity: everybody walks it, eats on it and shops on it between about six and nine.
The boats are the second image, and hiring one for half an hour is the thing to do: the lake looks completely different from the middle of it.
THE NAINA DEVI TEMPLE IS AT THE NORTH END and is a Shakti Peetha, one of the places associated with the goddess, which is why Nainital is a pilgrimage town as well as a resort. Nainital means the lake of the eye.
SNOW VIEW AND TIFFIN TOP ARE THE VIEWPOINTS. Snow View at 2,270 metres is reached by a cable car and on a clear morning shows Nanda Devi and Trishul; Tiffin Top, also called Dorothy's Seat, is a walk or a pony ride up through oak forest. Naina Peak at 2,615 metres is the highest and the quietest.
The lakes around it are the day trips: Bhimtal, Sattal, Naukuchiatal and Khurpatal, all lower, warmer and far less crowded, which is where people go to escape the town they came to.
When to Go
March to June and September to November. October and November give the clearest mountain views by a wide margin.
APRIL TO JUNE IS PEAK SEASON AND NAINITAL IS VERY BUSY INDEED, because it is the hill station nearest Delhi: the Mall is shoulder to shoulder and prices double. Weekends are worse than weekdays.
Avoid the monsoon, July to mid September. Heavy rain, no views, and LANDSLIDES CLOSE THE HILL ROADS, which is the standing Uttarakhand problem.
December to February is cold, often snowy and beautifully quiet, with nights well below freezing and many hotels unheated.
Getting There
By train to Kathgodam, 35km away and the nearest railhead, with the overnight Ranikhet Express from Delhi, then about an hour and a half by road.
By road from Delhi, roughly seven to eight hours for 300km.
By air, Pantnagar has limited services; Delhi is the practical airport.
The last stretch from Kathgodam climbs steeply in continuous curves, and shared jeeps and taxis run it constantly.
Is Nainital Safe for Women?
Nainital is a long-established family resort and is among the easier Indian hill stations. The FCDO does publish advised-against areas for India, and being precise about them matters more than a general warning. It advises against all travel to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, except air travel to and movement within the city of Jammu, and against all travel within 10km of the India-Pakistan border, where the Wagah-Attari crossing is closed. It advises against all but essential travel to the state of Manipur, including Imphal. None of that is anywhere near this destination, and it is worth knowing which parts of a very large country the warnings actually describe.
THE ROADS ARE THE PRINCIPAL RISK IN UTTARAKHAND. Road accidents are the commonest serious incident for visitors in this state by a wide margin: travel in daylight, refuse a driver who has come overnight from Delhi and is continuing up the hill, and say something if the speed is wrong.
BOAT SAFETY IS THE LOCAL ISSUE AND IT IS WORTH INSISTING ON. Life jackets are available and are not always offered, the lake is deep and cold, and overloading happens at busy times. Ask for a jacket, decline an overloaded boat, and do not get into one after dark.
The lakeside railings are intermittent and the Mall is crowded enough in season that people spill into the road.
Monkeys are numerous along the Mall and at the viewpoints and are bold around food.
Nights are cold in every month and many hotels have no heating.
The Nainital Packing List
A 2,000 metre lake bowl: mild bright days, cold nights, unheated rooms.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women suits a lake town at this altitude because the swing is large and predictable: 22C in the sun on the Mall, 6C two hours after dusk beside water, in a room with no heater. One wool layer covers both and covers your shoulders for the Naina Devi temple. A heavyweight merino base layer from November to March.
A Columbia Powder Lite insulated hooded jacket for the evenings and the cable car, and a Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket.
Waterproof hiking shoes with Darn Tough merino socks: the Mall is paved and the walks to Tiffin Top and Naina Peak are dirt, root and stone.
A rechargeable headlamp, because power cuts are routine in the hills.
Not linked and worth packing: A SCARF for the temple and the lake wind; A WARM HAT for the viewpoints in any month; A WATER PURIFICATION METHOD; MOTION SICKNESS TABLETS for the road up from Kathgodam, which is two hours of curves; and CASH, though ATMs exist in town. Book accommodation ahead between April and June.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Nainital
Emergency numbers: 112 is the single national emergency number and works from any phone. 100 reaches police directly, 108 ambulance and 101 fire. 1091 is the national women's helpline and 1098 the child helpline.
Boat safety is the local issue and it is worth insisting on: life jackets are available but not always offered, the lake is deep and cold, and overloading happens at busy times. Ask for a jacket, decline an overloaded boat, and do not go out after dark. ROAD ACCIDENTS ARE THE COMMONEST SERIOUS INCIDENT for visitors in Uttarakhand: travel in daylight and refuse a driver who has come overnight from Delhi. THE MONSOON, July to mid September, brings landslides that close the hill roads. APRIL TO JUNE IS VERY CROWDED and prices double. MONKEYS ARE BOLD along the Mall and at the viewpoints. NIGHTS ARE COLD IN EVERY MONTH and many hotels are unheated. Tap water is not drinkable.
US State Department travel advisory: the India advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/india, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: the B D Pande government hospital in Nainital handles routine and emergency care, with Haldwani about two hours away for anything serious and Delhi seven. Dial 108 for an ambulance. Insurance covering road evacuation is sensible in this state. Healthcare in the large Indian cities is genuinely good in the private hospitals and variable in the public ones, and the private sector expects payment or a direct insurance guarantee up front. Carry insurance with a high medical limit and repatriation cover, and carry proof of it. The commonest problem by far is not dramatic: it is stomach upset, so drink sealed bottled or filtered water, and be more careful with raw salad and cut fruit than with hot food cooked in front of you.
Official health authority: the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. covers the Uttarakhand state health service
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in New Delhi.
Official tourism authority: Incredible India, the Ministry of Tourism's official site. publishes the cable car and boating arrangements, the viewpoint access and monsoon road status for the Kumaon hills
Takeaways
October and November for clear peaks. April to June for crowds.
Ask for a life jacket and refuse an overloaded boat.
Walk the Mall in the evening. That is the town.
Escape to Sattal or Naukuchiatal for a day. Far quieter.
Solo women safety assessment: Nainital is one of the easier Indian hill stations for a woman travelling alone, mostly because of how thoroughly domesticated it is: this is a family resort that has been receiving Indian holidaymakers for a century and a half, the Mall is pedestrianised and packed with couples and grandparents in the evening, and the hotels are used to single travellers of every kind. Dress covered as anywhere in Uttarakhand and the attention is minimal. 112 IS THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY NUMBER, with 100 for police, 108 for an ambulance and 1091 the national women's helpline, and there is a government hospital in town. THE FCDO'S INDIAN PROHIBITIONS DO NOT REACH UTTARAKHAND. THE RISKS HERE ARE THE ROAD, THE WATER AND THE COLD, in that order. The road first, because it is where visitors are actually hurt in this state: the climb from Kathgodam is two hours of continuous curves shared with buses, and the accidents happen to tired drivers, so travel in daylight and never accept a driver who has come overnight from Delhi and is carrying on up the hill. THE WATER SECOND, AND THIS ONE IS SPECIFIC TO NAINITAL: the lake is deep, cold and the centre of the entire town's recreation, boats are hired casually by the hundred, life jackets exist but are not always offered, and boats are sometimes overloaded at peak times. Ask for a jacket, count the people in the boat, and do not go out at night. None of that is a reason to skip the lake, which is the best thing here. THE COLD THIRD, and it is the most commonly underpacked: at 2,000 metres the nights are cold in every month and properly below freezing from December to February, in hotels that frequently have no heating at all, so the warm layer is for sleeping as much as for the viewpoints. Monkeys along the Mall are a genuine nuisance rather than a danger: carry no visible food.
Reading On
Nainital is Kumaon and the hill towns run along the same ridges. The Almora packing list covers the cultural capital of Kumaon and the Mussoorie packing list and Dehradun packing list Garhwal to the west, with the Chopta packing list for the high meadows and the Rishikesh packing list and Haridwar packing list for the Ganges. West, the Shimla packing list, Dalhousie packing list, Kasauli packing list and Manali packing list cover Himachal. East, the Darjeeling packing list and Gangtok packing list cover the eastern hills, with the Delhi packing list for the capital. For the country the India travel guide for women and the India packing list carry the transport and the practical material in full. For why wool suits a bright day and a freezing unheated night, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
