Almora on its ridge in March 2024. The bazaar runs along the top, and the Kosi and Suyal valleys fall away on either side. Photo © Sachinbauriyan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The old town on its ridge, and the temples, sanctuary and rock paintings within a couple of hours of it, with road distances from the Almora bus stand and a plan for two or three days.
The short answer: Almora is an old hill town on a ridge at about 1,650 m, 88 km by road above Haldwani, and most of what people come for is either in the town itself or within an hour of it. In town are the Nanda Devi temple of the Chand kings, the long bazaar along the Mall Road and Bright End Corner for the sunset. Close by are Kasar Devi (7.5 km) and the Chitai Golu Devta temple (6.8 km), each an easy morning. Further out are Katarmal Sun Temple (17 km), the Lakhudiyar rock paintings (14 km), Jageshwar Dham (34 km) and Binsar sanctuary (45 km to the rest house by Zero Point). Two full days cover the town, Kasar Devi, Chitai and Katarmal; a third day adds Jageshwar or a night in Binsar. Every distance here is the Google Maps road figure from the Almora Roadways bus stand, read on 29 October 2026.
By Nandini Upreti, Contributor, Almora. About the author ↓
Almora runs along a ridge between the Kosi valley on one side and the Suyal on the other, and the town still feels like the capital it once was. The Chand kings moved their seat here from Champawat in the 16th century, the Gorkhas held it for about 25 years after them, and the British took it in 1815. The result is an old bazaar on the spine of the ridge, temples the kings built, a cantonment, and a string of colonial-era houses on the slopes. It is also the headquarters of Almora district, which is why the Roadways bus stand, the hospital and the government offices are all here.
The town is about 1,650 m up. That is lower than Nainital, so it is milder in winter and warmer in May, but on a clear morning the view of the snow peaks from the ridge is wider than anything Nainital offers. Most visitors come up from Haldwani or Kathgodam, often stopping at Kainchi Dham on the way, which lies on the same road 45 km before Almora.
One practical point shapes every plan below. Almora's sights are spread out in different directions, east towards Chitai and Jageshwar, north-east towards Kasar Devi and Binsar, west towards Katarmal, so the day goes better if you group places by road rather than by fame.
| Place | Road distance | Google Maps time | Which way |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bright End Corner | 2.2 km | 6 min | West end of the Mall Road |
| Chitai Golu Devta temple | 6.8 km | 18 min | East, on the Jageshwar and Pithoragarh road |
| Kasar Devi temple | 7.5 km | 21 min | North-east, on the Binsar road |
| Lakhudiyar rock paintings | 13.9 km | 33 min | East, beside the Suyal |
| Katarmal Sun Temple | 16.9 km | 40 min | West, across the Kosi |
| Jageshwar Dham | 34.0 km | 1 hr 17 min | East, past Chitai |
| Kainchi Dham | 44.9 km | 1 hr 32 min | South-west, back towards Bhowali |
| Binsar, KMVN rest house near Zero Point | 45.3 km | about 2 hr | North-east, past Kasar Devi |
Source: Google Maps, driving, from the Uttarakhand Roadways bus stand on the Mall Road, read late on 28 October and early on 29 October 2026 with no traffic. By day, and with the bazaar busy, allow more time. The Almora district site gives Chitai as about 8 km and Katarmal as about 17 km from Almora.
Start in the middle of the ridge. The Nanda Devi temple was built by the Chand kings, and the goddess sits in the antechamber of a Shiva temple, as the district describes it. Every year around September the town fills for the Nanda Devi Mela, a five-day fair that the district says has been held here for more than 400 years. If your dates fall in that week, book a room early and expect the bazaar to be packed.
The old bazaar runs along the top of the ridge above the Mall Road, a narrow street of shops, temples and old wooden-fronted houses. This is where Almora's sweets come from: bal mithai, a brown fudge rolled in white sugar balls, and singori, a khoya sweet wrapped in a leaf. Most visitors take a box of one or the other home.
Bright End Corner, 2.2 km along the Mall Road at the western end of the ridge, is where Almora goes to watch the sun set over the Kosi valley, and on clear mornings to see the peaks. The Ramakrishna Kutir stands beside it. It is a short walk or a six-minute drive from the bus stand, which makes it the easy first evening after the drive up.
7.5 km from the bus stand, about 20 minutes, on the road to Binsar.
Kasar Devi is a small temple on a rocky ridge north-east of town, and it is the place most people mean when they say they want to see Almora. The district dates the temple structure to the 2nd century CE. Swami Vivekananda came here in the 1890s, and in the 20th century the ridge drew a line of Western seekers and writers, among them Sunyata, the Danish-born Alfred Sorensen, and the Buddhist scholar Lama Anagarika Govinda. The stretch just beyond the village became known as Crank’s Ridge, and in the 1960s and 1970s it was a stop on the hippie trail. Today the ridge is lined with guesthouses and cafes, and it is one of the best places near Almora to stay a few quiet nights.
You will read online that NASA has found Kasar Devi to sit on a Van Allen belt, or on a special magnetic field. We could find no NASA statement saying so. The Van Allen belts are shells of charged particles that surround the whole Earth at heights of roughly 1,000 km and more, so no single hilltop sits on them. People come to Kasar Devi for the quiet and the view, and those are real enough.
6.8 km from the bus stand, about 20 minutes, on the road east to Jageshwar and Pithoragarh.
Golu Devta is the god of justice in Kumaon, and Chitai is his best-known temple. The district describes him as a form of Shiva as Gaur Bhairav. What you notice first is the bells: thousands of them, of every size, hung along the paths and roofs by people whose prayers were answered. Many also leave written petitions, some on stamp paper, asking the god to settle a dispute. It takes under an hour, and because it sits on the Jageshwar road it fits naturally at the start or end of a Jageshwar day.
There is a second well-known Golu Devta temple at Ghorakhal, just above Bhowali, which we describe in our guide to places to visit near Kainchi Dham.
16.9 km from the bus stand, about 40 minutes, west across the Kosi.
Katarmal is the only sun temple in Kumaon, a group of stone shrines around a large main temple facing east over the Kosi valley. It is usually dated to the 9th century and to the Katyuri kings. After the old idol was stolen, the temple’s carved wooden doors and panels were taken to the National Museum in New Delhi for safekeeping, and they are still there. The district’s page describes a walk of almost 3 km up from the Kosi side; Google Maps now routes cars close to the temple, so ask in Almora how far the road goes before you set off, and wear shoes you can climb steps in.
34 km from the bus stand, about 1 hour 15 minutes, east past Chitai.
Jageshwar is a valley of stone temples under tall deodars beside the Jata Ganga stream. The district counts 124 temples, large and small, all dedicated to Shiva, and the Archaeological Survey of India looks after the group and runs a small site museum beside it. It is the most important pilgrimage in this part of Kumaon, and in the month of Shravan, in July and August, it is very crowded.
Jageshwar works as a day from Almora, with Chitai on the way, or as a night of its own if you want to be at the temples when they open. Many pilgrims combine it with Kainchi Dham; from Kainchi it is about 80 km through Almora, so that pairing needs a night in Almora or Jageshwar. Our guide to Kainchi Dham from Haldwani covers the first half of that trip.
45 km to the KMVN rest house near Zero Point, about 2 hours, north-east past Kasar Devi.
Binsar was once the summer seat of the Chand kings and has been a wildlife sanctuary since 1988. It is a forest of oak and rhododendron on a high ridge, and its reason for fame is Zero Point, a lookout at the top with a long view of the snow range on a clear day. There is a gate with an entry fee, a walk of about 2 km from the rest house area to Zero Point, and a handful of places to sleep inside, including a KMVN rest house. We found no official list of the current gate fees, so carry cash.
Binsar is better as a night than as a day trip: the drive from Almora takes about two hours, and the best light at Zero Point is early in the morning. Binsar had snow on 23 January 2026, as did Jageshwar; our page on where to see snow in Uttarakhand has the record for recent winters. Note that the Binsar Mahadev temple near Ranikhet is a different place, about an hour west of Almora.
13.9 km from the bus stand, about 35 minutes, east beside the Suyal.
Lakhudiyar is a rock shelter above the Suyal river with prehistoric paintings in black, red and white: rows of human figures, animals and wavy lines. It is small and easy to miss, and that is part of its appeal. Allow half an hour, and go in daylight, as the shelter is a short climb from the road.
Almora rewards two or three nights. Group the places by road:
A day trip from Haldwani is possible but tiring: about three hours each way leaves time only for the town and one of Chitai or Kasar Devi. If you have one day, a better plan is Kainchi Dham in the morning and Almora by afternoon, with a night here.
The clearest views of the snow peaks come in October and November, and again on bright days after winter rain. March and April bring rhododendron in bloom at Binsar and on the ridges. May and June are warm by day and hazier, and this is when the town is busiest. From July to September the monsoon brings landslides on the hill roads, including the climb from Khairna; check road status before you set out, for example on our Kumaon landslide detector. Winter is cold but usually clear, with snow some years on the higher ridges around Binsar, Kasar Devi and Jageshwar rather than in the town itself; our Uttarakhand in winter guide covers the cold months.
The nearest railway station is Kathgodam, and the drive from there takes about three hours. On 29 October Google Maps gave 88.1 km and 2 hr 52 min from the Haldwani Roadways bus stand by the Bhimtal road, and 93 km and about 3 hours by NH 109 through Bhowali. Our Haldwani to Almora guide, written earlier in the year, gives 87 km for the Bhowali road; both routes join beyond Bhowali and climb from Khairna to the ridge. From Kathgodam the figure was 82.5 km by the Bhimtal road. Kainchi Dham is on the way, 44.9 km before Almora.
Cab fares, the road stage by stage and the stops worth making are in the Haldwani to Almora guide.
Where you sleep depends on what you came for:
Yes, if you give it two or three nights. The old town and bazaar, the Nanda Devi temple and the sunset at Bright End Corner fill an evening, and within an hour are Kasar Devi, the Chitai Golu Devta temple, Katarmal Sun Temple and Jageshwar Dham. As a rushed day trip from Haldwani it disappoints, because most of the day goes on the road.
Two full days cover the town, Kasar Devi, Chitai and Katarmal. A third day adds Jageshwar Dham, 34 km east, or a night in Binsar sanctuary for the dawn view from Zero Point.
Stay in Almora town if you are travelling by bus and want the bazaar and day trips in every direction. Stay on the Kasar Devi ridge, 7.5 km and about 20 minutes away, for quiet, views and a slower stay. Many people split their nights between the two.
Not often in the town itself, which is about 1,650 m up. The higher ridges around Binsar, Kasar Devi and Jageshwar get snow in some winters; Binsar and Jageshwar had snow on 23 January 2026.
About 88 km by road. On 29 October 2026 Google Maps gave 88.1 km and 2 hours 52 minutes from the Haldwani Roadways bus stand by the Bhimtal road, and 93 km by NH 109 through Bhowali. Allow three hours or more by day.