Almora skyline at sunset along its Kumaon ridge, the destination 87 km from Haldwani via Bhowali, Garampani and Khairna on NH109. Photo by ArmouredCyborg, via Wikimedia Commons.
87 km, 3 hours via Bhowali, Garampani and Khairna on NH109. The route in order, the 2026 cab fares, the bus and shared-sumo options, and where to stay for a real Almora trip.
The short answer: Almora is 87 km from Haldwani via NH109 through Bhowali, Garampani and Khairna, a 3-hour drive on a quiet weekday morning. Sedan cab Rs 3,200 to Rs 3,800 one-way, Innova Rs 4,200 to Rs 4,800. Same-day round trip with a 4-hour Almora halt runs Rs 5,200 to Rs 6,800 for a sedan. Most travellers stay in Almora for 2 to 3 nights and use Haldwani only for the train arrival, since Almora rewards an unhurried stay. The Bhowali bazaar choke is the single biggest variable on the route, easing before 9 AM and after 7 PM. For broader context on the corridor, see our Haldwani travel guide pillar.
The single sensible drive from Haldwani to Almora runs north on NH109 through Kathgodam, past the Bhimtal turn-off, into Bhowali, down through Garampani along the Kosi River to Khairna, and then up the switchback climb to Almora ridge. Total 87 km, total drive time 2 hr 50 min on a quiet weekday morning. This is the same NH109 corridor that carries the Haldwani to Mukteshwar route guide and the Haldwani to Nainital route up to Bhowali; the three trips split fork at Bhowali.
Kilometre 0 to 5: Haldwani to Kathgodam. Standard city road through Kaladhungi Chauraha and Rampur Road, signal stops and the Kathgodam railway crossing. Allow 15 minutes if you leave between 7 and 8 AM, or 25 minutes after 9 AM. A Shatabdi pull-in at Kathgodam can stall the crossing by 5 to 8 minutes.
Kilometre 5 to 22: Kathgodam to Bhimtal turn-off. NH109 climbs gently through Ranibagh and Choti Mukhani. Two-lane, well-surfaced. Drive time 25 minutes. The Bhimtal junction is the alternate-route decision point; right fork stays on NH109 to Bhowali, left fork goes 9 km to Bhimtal lake.
Kilometre 22 to 33: Bhimtal turn-off to Bhowali. The road tightens into the foothills. Drive time 20 to 25 minutes. The Garhwal Mess and the Bhowali Highway Cafe sit at the 28 km mark for chai and aloo paratha.
Kilometre 33 to 35: Bhowali bazaar. The single largest delay on the route. Bhowali bazaar is a 2 km strip of fruit market and shops where the road narrows to single lane and parked trucks slow the flow. Pre-9 AM you clear Bhowali in 6 minutes; between 10 AM and 6 PM the same stretch takes 18 to 25 minutes. Keep left at the Bhowali fork for the Almora direction (the right fork goes to Mukteshwar). The Kainchi Dham ashram of Neem Karoli Baba sits 17 km past Bhowali on this same Almora road, worth a short halt; for full details see the Kainchi Dham guide.
Kilometre 35 to 60: Bhowali to Khairna via Garampani. The fastest leg on the whole route. The road descends from Bhowali ridge to the Kosi River bed at Garampani (44 km), then follows the river north through a poplar-and-pine valley to Khairna (60 km), where the Suyal stream meets the Kosi. Average speed 40 km per hour. Drive time 40 to 45 minutes. Garampani has 5 or 6 dhabas with riverside seating; the Mahesh Dhaba is the local pick for aloo ke gutke and madua roti.
Kilometre 60 to 87: Khairna to Almora. The climb proper. The road leaves the Kosi at the Khairna bridge and switchbacks up 1,000 vertical metres through forest to the Almora ridge at 1,651 m. Drive time 55 minutes, average speed 28 km per hour. The last 4 km enter the Almora bypass; ask the driver to drop you near the LR Sah Road junction for the bazaar and the Mall Road end, not at the bypass roundabout which leaves you 2 km from anything.
Of the 87 km between Haldwani and Almora, the 2 km strip through Bhowali bazaar drives the trip variance more than weather, more than weekend traffic, more than anything else. The bazaar runs along NH109 with no bypass open as of mid-2026, the fruit market spills onto the carriageway from 9 AM, parked tempos and unloading trucks knock the flow down to single lane, and the cross-traffic from the Mukteshwar fork adds friction.
Clear-window times. Before 9 AM and after 7 PM, Bhowali is a 6-minute pass-through. Leaving Haldwani at 7:30 AM lands you at Bhowali by 8:20 AM with the bazaar still empty.
Avoid times. Saturday and Sunday between 11 AM and 5 PM. Friday evening from 5 PM to 8 PM as Delhi weekenders pull through. Tuesday morning when the weekly fruit auction runs at the wholesale yard, adding farmer truck movement.
The 5-minute halt that saves time. If you have already cleared Bhowali by 9 AM and your bladder agrees, push 11 km past Bhowali to Garampani and stop at a Kosi-side dhaba instead. Bhowali parking is a hassle. Garampani parking is easy.
Cab pricing on this route runs on three pricing models. Each gives a different answer for the same trip.
Local taxi-union rate (Haldwani city stands). Sedan one-way Rs 3,200 to Rs 3,500; Innova one-way Rs 4,200 to Rs 4,500. This is what you pay at the Mangal Padav stand and the Roadways bus stand cab desk at Tikonia. The driver may add Rs 400 to Rs 600 for night-driving (after 7 PM return) and another Rs 200 if you ask for a Kainchi Dham halt.
Kathgodam Junction pre-paid counter. Sedan one-way Rs 3,500 to Rs 3,800; Innova one-way Rs 4,500 to Rs 4,800. The Rs 400 to Rs 600 premium over the city rate buys you a counter receipt and a driver assigned to your platform within 15 minutes of train arrival. Worth it off the Ranikhet Express or the Shatabdi when you do not want to walk to the cab stand.
OTA cab platforms (MakeMyTrip, Savaari, Goibibo). Sedan one-way Rs 3,800 to Rs 4,600; Innova one-way Rs 4,800 to Rs 5,800. OTA listings price 15 to 25 percent above the local rate because of platform commission. Worth it if you need a digital invoice for company reimbursement, otherwise skip.
Round-trip rates (same day with 4-hour wait at Almora). Sedan Rs 5,200 to Rs 6,800; Innova Rs 6,800 to Rs 7,800. The right rate is roughly 1.6x the one-way rate, not 2x; the driver counts the wait as half-fare time. If a driver quotes 2x, negotiate. A 2-day round trip with one Almora night and a 9 AM next-day return runs Rs 7,500 to Rs 9,000 for a sedan, including a Rs 400 to Rs 600 driver-night allowance.
For the full Haldwani cab market and the five operators worth saving in your phone, see the cab service guide.
None of these add more than 30 minutes to the trip, and each turns a transit drive into a route worth driving.
Bhimtal lake viewpoint (kilometre 22, 10-minute halt). At the Bhimtal turn-off, drop 1.5 km down the left fork to the highway viewpoint above the lake. You get the whole Bhimtal water from above without the bazaar drive. For the full day-trip option, see the Bhimtal day trip piece.
Kainchi Dham (kilometre 50, 20 to 40 minutes). The Neem Karoli Baba ashram sits 17 km past Bhowali on the Almora road, at the Kosi River level. Open 7 AM to 6 PM, with a midday closing on some days. Park at the lower lot, walk in. Quiet weekday mornings give you the right experience; weekends are crowded.
Garampani Kosi River dhaba stop (kilometre 44, 15 minutes). Pull over at one of the Kosi-side dhabas for chai, aloo paratha or the local madua roti with bhang ki chutney. The Mahesh Dhaba is the seasoned pick; Annapurna Dhaba runs a cleaner kitchen. Both have rough riverside seating.
Khairna confluence (kilometre 60, 10 minutes). Where the Kosi and Suyal meet, just before the bridge that turns the road uphill. There is a small Khairna market with a Devi temple and a paani-puri cart that runs through the evening. Useful as the last leg-stretch before the 27 km Almora climb.
At the 22 km Bhimtal turn-off you can leave NH109 left, drive 9 km to Bhimtal, loop east around the Sattal cluster of seven lakes, and rejoin the Almora road near Kainchi Dham past Bhowali. This alternate adds 14 km (total 101 km) and 40 minutes (total 3 hr 30 min) but skips the Bhowali bazaar choke entirely.
When to pick the alternate. Saturday and Sunday between 11 AM and 5 PM, when Bhowali bazaar adds 20 to 25 minutes to the standard route. The bypass nets out roughly even on time but the drive is calmer. Also useful if you want a Bhimtal-Sattal-Kainchi cluster of stops on the same drive day.
When to stick to NH109. Any weekday morning before 9 AM, when Bhowali clears in 6 minutes and the standard route is genuinely faster. Also if you have a Roadways bus booking or a pre-paid Kathgodam cab; both run only on NH109.
Uttarakhand Roadways bus from Tikonia. Five to seven daily services out of the Haldwani Roadways bus stand at Tikonia Chauraha. The 05:30 AM first service is the smartest catch in season; you reach Almora by 9:45 AM with the morning light still good for the Bright End Corner walk. The other reliable services run around 07:00, 09:30, 11:30, 14:00 and 16:30, with an 18:00 last service added on summer weekends. Fare Rs 220 to Rs 280 one-way. Buses are non-AC ordinary or semi-deluxe; the seats are firm and the Bhowali halt runs 10 minutes. The afternoon service after 16:30 reaches Almora well after sunset and is best avoided for first-time travellers on this road.
Shared sumos from Kathgodam. The shared-sumo stand at Kathgodam, 50 metres from the railway station gate, runs Tata Sumos to Almora through the day. Fare Rs 220 a seat, departure when the 8 or 10 seats fill, which on a busy morning is every 25 minutes. Faster than the bus because the sumo skips the Bhowali halt, and cheaper than a private cab. The trade-off is leg space (none) and the company of strangers. Useful for solo travellers and back-packers.
Booking the bus. Walk-up tickets at the Tikonia counter work on weekdays. Friday and Saturday in peak season, book the previous evening; the 05:30 and 07:00 buses fill by 9 PM the day before. The Uttarakhand Roadways app accepts UPI for advance bookings but seat selection is unreliable.
The honest answer for a 2 to 3 day Kumaon trip with Almora as the centrepiece is to stay in Almora. The town runs along a 4 km ridge with the Nanda Devi temple, the Mall Road bazaar, the Bright End Corner sunset point, the GIC ridge morning viewpoint, the Chitai Golu temple bell forest 7 km out, and the Kasar Devi ridge 8 km out. None of that is reachable on a same-day trip from Haldwani.
Almora stays. Three reliable bands. Budget at Rs 1,400 to Rs 2,400 covers the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) tourist rest house at Holiday Home and the small Mall Road inns like Hotel Shikhar. Mid-range at Rs 3,200 to Rs 5,500 covers the Imperial Heights, Bansal Hotel and Ananda Tree House on the Kasar Devi side. Premium at Rs 6,500 to Rs 12,000 covers the Kasar Rainforest Retreat and the Imperial Heights ridge-view suites. Book peak weeks (April to June, October) 3 weeks in advance.
Haldwani as a bookend. If your train pulls into Kathgodam late at night or your flight back leaves Pantnagar early next morning, a Haldwani night at the arrival or departure end makes sense. For the right rate band on a one-night bookend, see the budget hotels in Haldwani roundup. For families combining the Almora trip with a Corbett or Bhimtal extension, the tourist hotels pillar covers the full Haldwani map by neighbourhood.
One real-world combination that works: arrive Kathgodam on the Ranikhet Express at 5 AM, breakfast at a Haldwani hotel by 7:30 AM, leave for Almora by 9 AM, two nights at Almora, drive back to Haldwani the morning of departure with a Kainchi Dham halt, board the evening Shatabdi at Kathgodam by 3:35 PM. The Haldwani hotel handles the dawn arrival and the dawn departure; Almora handles the trip itself.
April to June. The headline season for Almora. Daytime 20 to 28 degrees C, nights 12 to 17 degrees C. Clear mornings, occasional afternoon cloud cover, peak viewing weather for the Trishul-Nanda Devi-Panchachuli range from the Bright End Corner. Hotel rates run a 25 to 30 percent peak premium. Book early.
July to mid-September. Monsoon. Daily rain, the Khairna-to-Almora switchbacks wet to a slippery sheen, mist rolls in by 3 PM and obscures the peaks. Drive time stretches to 3 hr 45 min. Skip unless you want a green-and-misty mountain feel and are not optimising for Himalayan views. The Kosi at Garampani runs full and loud, which is its own pleasure.
Mid-September to early November. Post-monsoon. The cleanest air of the year, mountain views at peak clarity, daytime 18 to 25 degrees C. The second-best season and the right pick for travellers who want fewer crowds. Hotel rates run a 15 percent shoulder premium.
December to February. Winter. Daytime 10 to 16 degrees C, nights 1 to 6 degrees C with occasional sub-zero readings on the Kasar Devi ridge. The road remains motorable; light snow on the Khairna-to-Almora climb in late December and January can close the route for 1 to 2 days per snow event. Hotel rates run base, no premium. The pick for travellers who want a cold-weather mountain trip and own the warm clothing.
For a fuller seasonal lens on the corridor, see the best time to visit Haldwani guide.
Motion sickness. The Khairna-to-Almora climb has 60 to 70 hairpin turns over 27 km. Anyone prone to motion sickness should take a tablet 45 minutes before leaving Khairna. Sit in the front passenger seat. Avoid a heavy breakfast; chai and a banana hold better than aloo paratha through hairpins.
Fuel. Fill up in Haldwani. The next reliable petrol pump is at Bhowali (33 km mark), then Khairna (60 km), then Almora. Sedan-fuel consumption on the Bhowali-to-Almora stretch runs 9 to 11 km per litre because of the climb.
Cell signal. Jio holds through most of the route. Airtel drops between Garampani and Khairna in two short patches of 1 to 2 km each. The Khairna-to-Almora climb has good coverage on both networks. Save offline maps before leaving Haldwani regardless, since signal can dip in the deeper forest sections.
ATM. Carry cash from Haldwani. Bhowali has two ATMs (SBI and PNB) that work most days. Khairna has a single SBI ATM that runs out of cash on weekends. Almora bazaar has 7 to 8 working ATMs but the Mall Road end is the most reliable; the KMVN end runs dry on Sundays. Cash is needed for dhaba meals, parking and small shrines.
Driver night-stay. For a 2-night Almora trip with the same driver, agree the night-stay before leaving. Most Almora budget hotels offer a basic driver room; the KMVN provides a Rs 250 dorm bed. Add Rs 400 to Rs 600 per driver-night to the trip total.
The Haldwani travel cluster covers the corridor stops, the cab market and the bookend stays in detail.
Almora is 87 km from Haldwani by road via NH109 through Bhowali, Garampani and Khairna. The straight-line distance is 53 km. Drive time on a quiet weekday morning is 2 hr 50 min; weekend afternoons stretch the trip to 3 hr 15 min because of the Bhowali bazaar choke. The route climbs from 424 m at Haldwani to 1,651 m at Almora, a 1,227 m vertical gain.
One-way cab fare in 2026 runs Rs 3,200 to Rs 3,800 for a sedan and Rs 4,200 to Rs 4,800 for an Innova. Same-day round trip with a 4-hour halt at Almora runs Rs 5,200 to Rs 6,800 for a sedan and Rs 6,800 to Rs 7,800 for an Innova. Pre-paid Kathgodam cabs price Rs 400 to Rs 600 above the local taxi-union rate. OTA apps price 15 to 25 percent above the local rate.
Drive time is 2 hr 50 min on a quiet weekday morning, rising to 3 hr 15 min on weekend afternoons. Haldwani to Bhowali is 33 km in 50 minutes. Bhowali to Khairna is 27 km in 45 minutes through Garampani along the Kosi River. Khairna to Almora is 27 km in 55 minutes on switchback mountain road, the slowest leg.
Stay in Almora. The town rewards an unhurried 2 to 3 night visit; the Nanda Devi temple, Bright End Corner sunset, Kasar Devi ridge walk, Chitai Golu temple and the morning Himalayan view need at least two full days. Use Haldwani only for the train arrival or departure ends. For a bookend stay see the budget hotels in Haldwani roundup.
The standard NH109 route through Kathgodam, Bhimtal turn-off, Bhowali, Garampani and Khairna is the best route. It is 87 km and 2 hr 50 min on a quiet weekday morning, and it is the route every cab driver, Roadways bus and local takes. The alternate Bhimtal-Sattal route at the 22 km junction adds 14 km and 40 minutes but skips Bhowali bazaar, useful on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Uttarakhand Roadways runs five to seven daily buses from the Haldwani Roadways stand at Tikonia to Almora, starting with a 05:30 AM service. Fare Rs 220 to Rs 280, journey 4 hr to 5 hr including Bhowali and Khairna halts. The first three services fill on Friday and Saturday in season; book the previous evening at the Tikonia counter. Shared sumos from the Kathgodam stand run Rs 220 a seat and leave when full.