❄️
Winter Travel
Uttarakhand in winter: where it snows
Where snow actually fell in the last three winters, November to February month by month, and how to get there.
Read the guide
A guide to help you choose between staying in Haldwani and staying in Nainital, with the rates side by side, the distances and travel times, and the 7 best hotels in Haldwani for a trip built around Nainital.
The short answer: Nainital is about 40 km from Haldwani, roughly 1 hour 20 minutes by car on NH 109 through Kathgodam and Jyolikot, or about 46 km if you go through Bhimtal and Bhowali. Many people stay in Haldwani because the rooms cost less: Rs 1,800 to 3,500 for a mid-range double, against Rs 4,500 to 9,000 in Nainital in peak season. Staying in Haldwani also keeps you close to Kathgodam Junction for early-morning trains, lets you add a day trip to Jim Corbett or Bhimtal without first coming down from a hill station, and gives you mild plains weather, with daytime highs of roughly 20 to 30 degrees from October to February while Nainital drops below 5 degrees at night. It works best for a stay of 1 to 2 nights built around a single day trip to Nainital.
Comparing on price? The Nainital couple hotel price list gives the rates up the hill season by season, and those are the numbers the choice between the plains and Nainital really depends on.
By Meghna Bora, Contributor, Nainital. About the author ↓
The obvious assumption is that if Nainital is where you are going, you book a hotel in Nainital. In practice, though, more and more travellers from Delhi, Lucknow and Bareilly check into Haldwani instead. They drive up to Naini Lake for the day, come back down to the plains by evening, and never pay hill-station prices at all. If you are still deciding how to get to Kumaon at all, our Delhi to Nainital guide compares the train, the Volvo, driving and the flight to Pantnagar.
This is neither a trick nor a compromise. It is a practical calculation that makes sense in some situations and falls apart in others. This guide sets out exactly when staying in Haldwani is the better option, when Nainital is, and which seven hotels in Haldwani work best if you decide to stay in the plains.
For a wider view of what Haldwani offers tourists, start with Best Hotels in Haldwani for Tourists. For getting between the two towns, the Haldwani to Nainital Distance, Cab, Bus and Train Guide covers every way of making the trip.
The difference is large. In Nainital's peak months (April to June, Diwali, and Christmas to New Year), a standard double room in a decent hotel on Mall Road costs Rs 4,500 to 9,000 a night. A room of the same standard in Haldwani costs Rs 1,800 to 3,500. Even after adding Rs 1,500 for a return taxi to Nainital, you save Rs 1,200 to 4,000 a night. For a family taking two rooms for two nights, that saving covers the whole budget for the Nainital cab and lunch.
Kathgodam Junction is on the southern edge of Haldwani. If your train home (the Shatabdi Express, Ranikhet Express or Uttaranchal Sampark Kranti) leaves between 5 AM and 7 AM, staying in Nainital means driving down the hill in the dark at 4 AM. From a hotel in Haldwani the station is 3 to 8 km away, a drive of 10 to 20 minutes on flat roads. Hotel Maplewood Premier even offers a free pickup from Kathgodam and has a set routine for 5 AM departures, with a packed breakfast.
Haldwani is a real city of 2.5 lakh people, with a life of its own. Many visitors combine a day trip to Nainital with seeing relatives in and around Haldwani and Kathgodam. Staying in the plains keeps you close to both, with Nainital for sightseeing and the family home for dinner. A hotel in Nainital adds an extra hour of travel each way to every family visit.
This is the reason people most often overlook. From October to February, Haldwani is a pleasant 15 to 28 degrees by day and 5 to 12 degrees at night. Nainital, at 2,084 metres, gets close to freezing, and many budget hotels on Mall Road have no central heating. If your visit to Nainital is a single day of sightseeing rather than a week away, you spend one cold day at the lake and come back to a warm room in the plains.
| Factor | Haldwani | Nainital |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-range double (peak) | Rs 1,800 to 3,500 | Rs 4,500 to 9,000 |
| Mid-range double (off-season) | Rs 1,500 to 2,800 | Rs 2,800 to 5,000 |
| Distance to Naini Lake | 38 km (1 hr 10 min) | 0 to 2 km (walk) |
| Kathgodam station | 3 to 8 km (10 to 20 min) | 38 km (1 hr 10 min) |
| One-way taxi to Nainital | Rs 1,200 to 1,800 | N/A |
| Winter night temp (Dec to Jan) | 5 to 10°C | -2 to 4°C |
This list is not ranked by overall quality. Each hotel is here because it suits what a day-tripper to Nainital needs: help with early starts, a cab desk you can rely on, and a comfortable place to come back to after a day in the hills.
After a full day walking Mall Road and Tiffin Top, nothing in Haldwani helps you recover like the rooftop pool here. The hotel is on the Nainital Road stretch, 3 km from Kathgodam, and its cab desk books transfers straight to Nainital. The kitchen stays open past 10 PM, which matters when you get back from the hills late. It suits couples or small groups who want to build a rest day after Nainital into the trip. Full review.
The best choice for families with an early train. It offers free pickup from Kathgodam, family suites that sleep two adults and two children, and a well-tried routine for 5 AM departures, with hot tea and a packed breakfast. The front desk knows the cab routes to Nainital and will book a driver the night before. The hotel is 1.8 km from Kathgodam Junction. Full review.
The upmarket choice when budget matters less but the logistics still have to work. Check-in runs to 11 PM, which helps if your train from Delhi arrives at 10:30 PM, the spa is welcome after a tiring day in the hills, and the restaurant is the best in Haldwani. It is not the cheapest place to stay in the plains, but it is the one that feels least like a compromise. Full review.
A resort-style hotel with a pool and garden, set a little back from the main road. It suits couples who want a quiet evening after a day trip to Nainital, and its grounds are the most photogenic of any hotel in Haldwani. It is less suited to early-morning trains, because it is further from Kathgodam than the hotels along the highway.
A boutique hotel in the quiet Bamori Malli area, away from the noise of the highway. The Wi-Fi is fast and there is a calm place to work if you are combining remote work with a visit to Nainital. It is a 15-minute auto ride from the main taxi stand on Nainital Road, so allow for that when you plan your morning start.
The budget choice and, at just 800 metres, the closest hotel to Kathgodam Junction. The rooms are basic but clean. Its real advantage is the café next door, which opens at 5 AM, early enough for a start before dawn. If your whole plan is to arrive by train, sleep, get up early, take a taxi to Nainital, come back and catch the train home, Castle Inn is the most efficient place to stay in town.
The cheapest hotel on this list, on Rampur Road. The rooms are basic with no frills, but the low rate leaves as much of your budget as possible for the day in Nainital. It suits solo backpackers, or friends sharing costs, who plan to spend very little time in the room.
A day trip to Nainital from Haldwani works best if you set off early. This is the timetable that suits most people:
The main road, NH 109 through Kathgodam and Jyolikot, is about 40 km and takes about 1 hour 20 minutes in light traffic. The road through Bhimtal and Bhowali is about 46 km and 15 to 20 minutes slower, but it takes you past Bhimtal, with Sattal close by, if you want a second stop. Both roads are paved and open all year, apart from landslides in the monsoon.
Shared cabs from the Haldwani taxi stand to Nainital cost Rs 250 to 350 a seat. A private taxi costs Rs 1,200 to 1,800 one way, or Rs 2,000 to 2,800 for a full-day round trip with waiting. Most hotels in Haldwani will book the cab for you the night before. For every route in detail, see the Haldwani to Nainital distance and transport guide.
Staying in Haldwani makes most sense at these times of year.
From October to February, Nainital drops below 5 degrees at night, many budget hotels have no proper heating, and although the lake is beautiful, the town shuts early. Haldwani stays at a comfortable 15 to 25 degrees during the day and its restaurants stay open late, so you can spend a full day in Nainital in a warm jacket and be back in a heated room in the plains by evening.
In the wedding season (November to February), it helps you dodge the crowds. Haldwani is one of the main wedding towns in Kumaon, and its hotels fill up at weekends, though rooms free up on weekdays. If you are in the region for a family wedding and adding a day in Nainital, staying in Haldwani keeps you close to the venue and still gets you to the lake in 70 minutes. Our wedding venues guide covers the venues in town.
On long weekends from April to June, Nainital's peak season means rooms at Rs 6,000 to 9,000 and gridlock on Mall Road. If all you want is a single day at the lake rather than several days in the mountains, staying in Haldwani halves what you spend on rooms and spares you the three-hour crawl through evening traffic back to a hotel in Nainital.
For the months themselves, Nainital in November covers the quiet second half of the month and the Diwali rush, and Uttarakhand in winter explains why a snow day from Haldwani usually means Mukteshwar or the peaks above Nainital rather than the lake itself. For Christmas and New Year week, when staying in the plains means driving into the police traffic plan every day, see Nainital in December. Haldwani is a particularly good base for a day trip to see snow, and our guide to Nainital snowfall explains how to time it.
On 6 October 2026, after a weekend that brought more than 50,000 people to Kainchi Dham in a day, Kumaon Commissioner Deepak Rawat chaired a crowd-management meeting in Nainital. He asked visitors to book rooms before they come and said bookings may be checked at busy times. Some national reports went further, saying entry to Nainital and Kainchi Dham at peak periods could be limited to people with confirmed bookings.
No such rule has been issued. The concrete proposal is registration and a daily limit of 20,000 to 25,000 for Kainchi Dham, and it still needs state government approval.
If you are staying in Haldwani, nothing changes for now. On a peak weekend, keep your Haldwani hotel booking on your phone. It is not yet clear whether a booking in the plains would count if checks ever start, and we will update this page as soon as an order is issued.
To be fair, staying in Haldwani has clear limits, and in these cases you should book a hotel in Nainital instead.
Staying in Haldwani is a practical choice, not one that suits everyone. Use it when the costs and timings work, and stay up the hill when the experience calls for it.
For more on what Haldwani offers visitors besides a base for Nainital, see the Haldwani Travel Guide and the Uttarakhand visitors' guide to Haldwani hotels.
More of our Haldwani hotel guides for tourists on their way into the Kumaon hills.
Where snow actually fell in the last three winters, November to February month by month, and how to get there.
Read the guideOnly six places in Nainital carry OYO's couple tag, and two of those are for day stays only. Here is what that means if you book up the hill instead of down here.
Read the Nainital OYO guideSeven hotels along the highway towards the hills, with each one's distance from Kathgodam and the price range at every level.
Read the Nainital Road guideEvery route explained: Kaladhungi or Bhowali, a shared cab or a private taxi, bus timings and the rail link to Kathgodam.
Read the distance guideStay in Haldwani if you want lower rates (Rs 1,800 to 3,500, against Rs 4,500 to 9,000 in Nainital in peak season), need to be near Kathgodam for an early train, or are visiting between October and February, when the plains are pleasant and the hills are freezing. Stay in Nainital if you want to walk to the lake, see the sun rise over the ridges, or have more than two nights to spend on the hill station itself.
Nainital is about 40 km from Haldwani on NH 109 through Kathgodam and Jyolikot, about 1 hour 20 minutes by car in light traffic (Google Maps, 14 October 2026). The road through Bhimtal and Bhowali is about 46 km. Shared cabs from Haldwani cost Rs 250 to 350 a seat, and a private taxi costs Rs 1,200 to 1,800 one way.
Yes, by a wide margin. A mid-range double room in Haldwani costs Rs 1,800 to 3,500 a night all year round. The same standard in Nainital costs Rs 4,500 to 9,000 in peak season (April to June, Diwali week, and Christmas to New Year). Even in Nainital's off-season (July to September), a decent room rarely costs less than Rs 2,800.
Twelve hotels we recommend across every part of Haldwani, with full reviews, distances and booking tips.