A misty December morning on a grassland in Jim Corbett National Park, 2015. Photo © Abhijeetdpathak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Which Corbett zones are open from November to February, how the safaris run when mornings are foggy and cold, how warm the days get in December and January, and how early to book for Christmas and New Year.
The short answer: Jim Corbett in December is open, busy and good. All the Ramnagar-side zones run in winter: Jhirna, Dhela and Garjiya all year, Bijrani from 15 October, and Dhikala and Durga Devi from 15 November. Days are mild, around 20°C at Ramnagar in December and 19°C in January, but nights drop to 7 to 9°C and an open jeep at dawn feels far colder, often in fog. The catch is demand: Dhikala’s forest rest houses were already booked to 21 December when bookings for this season opened, and every zone fills over Christmas and New Year, so book the day the window opens. Ramnagar is 54 km and a little over an hour from Haldwani by the Kaladhungi road, which makes a night in Haldwani and an early drive easy.
By Deepa Pant, Contributor, Haldwani. About the author ↓
The rest of this page holds good every winter. The dates below change each year, so they sit here with the day we checked them.
Winter 2026-27 at Corbett
Corbett’s winter runs from November, when the last of the monsoon has gone and the bigger zones reopen, to February, when the days are warming again. These are the four months in one table. The temperatures are three-year averages from a weather model for Ramnagar, at about 345 m, not a thermometer at the gate, so treat them as a guide.
| Month | Zones open on the Ramnagar side | Day / night | What it is like |
|---|---|---|---|
| November | Jhirna, Dhela, Garjiya, Bijrani; Dhikala and Durga Devi from the 15th | 25°C / 13°C | Clear days, and the big zones reopening |
| December | All six | 20°C / 9°C | Cold, foggy mornings; Christmas and New Year sell out |
| January | All six | 19°C / 7°C | The coldest month, with fog on many mornings |
| February | All six | 24°C / 10°C | Warmer days and the end of the fog |
For the rest of the year, from the hot months to the monsoon closures, see our Jim Corbett National Park guide.
Winter is the one season when every zone on the Ramnagar side is open at once. Jhirna, Dhela and Garjiya run all year. Bijrani opens on 15 October and Dhikala and Durga Devi on 15 November, and all three then stay open until summer. The two zones on the Kotdwar side, Sonanadi and Pakhro, also open on 15 November, but they are a different trip from Kumaon. The zone and its gate are not always the same name: Bijrani is entered at Amdanda, Jhirna and Dhela share the Dhela gate, and Dhikala is reached through Dhangari gate, 18 km from Ramnagar on the Ranikhet road.
Dhikala is the zone most people want, and in winter it is also the hardest to get. There is no jeep safari into Dhikala: you go in by the shared canter on a day trip, or you book a night in one of its forest rest houses, which have about 30 rooms and 12 dormitory beds between them. Bookings open 45 days ahead, and for this season the first windows sold out within days. If Dhikala is full, any of the other five zones on the Ramnagar side can be booked for a jeep safari on its own. Our guide to booking a Corbett safari has the permits, fees and booking windows zone by zone.
Each jeep safari lasts about four hours, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The reserve does not publish separate winter times; the shifts given by its director in November 2025 were 6 to 10 in the morning and 2:30 to 6:30 in the afternoon. In practice the gates follow the light, which comes later and goes earlier in December and January, so ask your driver the evening before what time to be at the gate, and expect to leave Ramnagar in the dark for a morning drive. If you are booking on the day, online booking closes at 6:30 am for the morning safari and 4 pm for the afternoon one.
The Dhikala canter boards at 6:00 am at Ramnagar or 6:30 am at Dhangari gate for the morning trip, and at 11:30 am at Ramnagar or noon at Dhangari for the afternoon one. It leaves on time, and a missed canter cannot be rescheduled. Phones may not be used inside the core zones, so bring a camera if you want pictures.
The days are pleasant and the nights are not. Averaged over the last three winters, Ramnagar reaches about 20°C by day in December and 19°C in January, with nights around 9°C and 7°C, and the coldest nights in those winters touched 4°C in December and 2°C in January. Fog is the bigger factor. Dense fog settles over the plains around Ramnagar and Pantnagar on many December and January mornings; on 28 December 2025 Pantnagar did not get above 13°C all day, and in January 2026 it recorded 1.8°C. On a foggy morning you may see little until the sun burns through.
An open jeep at 6 am in that air is properly cold, far colder than the number suggests, because you are moving. Wear layers you can take off as the day warms: a thermal top, a fleece, a windproof jacket, a cap that covers your ears, gloves and a scarf, and take a blanket if your driver does not carry one. Muted colours are better than bright ones in the forest. By the afternoon safari a light jacket is usually enough until the sun goes.
No month promises a tiger, and winter is no exception. The animals most visitors see are deer, wild boar and langurs, with elephants in some zones. Winter also brings the birds: migrant ducks and other waterbirds come in from November, and the waterbird count at the Kosi barrage in Ramnagar on 18 January 2026 found 486 ruddy shelducks, more than the year before. The Ramganga reservoir below Dhikala is the other place to look for them.
Christmas to New Year is the busiest week of the Corbett winter, and the pattern is the same each year. In December 2024 every zone’s night stays and day safaris were full, the forest rest houses were packed until 5 January, and about 70 per cent of the more than 350 resorts around the park were booked from 25 December to 1 January. In December 2025 Dhikala’s rooms for Indian visitors were full for the whole month and the foreign quota until 18 January. If you want a safari over New Year, book on the day the booking window opens for your date, which is 45 days ahead, and book the resort before the safari.
Inside the reserve, New Year is quiet by rule: on a night stay there is no alcohol, no non-vegetarian food, no firecrackers and no driving after dark. Outside it, the resorts hold parties, but within 500 m of the reserve there is to be no open-air DJ after 10 pm, with noise held to 50 decibels by day and 40 at night, and the reserve has been acting against resorts that play loud music late or shine strong lights towards the forest; in July 2026 one resort near the park was sealed after a raid. So if a package promises a late DJ night, ask the resort how it plans to hold one. New Year packages are sold by the resorts themselves; compare what each includes, how many safaris and meals, rather than the headline price. Our guide to staying in Haldwani for a Corbett trip covers the option of a cheaper room an hour away.
Ramnagar, the town at the main gates, is 54 km and about an hour and ten minutes from the Haldwani bus stand by the Kaladhungi road, 58.7 km from Kathgodam station and 67.2 km from Nainital, by Google Maps on 30 October 2026. From Ramnagar it is 18 km to Dhangari gate for Dhikala and 27.5 km to the Durga Devi gate. In winter the drive from Haldwani is easy in daylight, but fog on the plains can slow it before sunrise, so for a morning safari it is safer to sleep in Ramnagar, or to leave Haldwani by about 4:30 am and allow extra time. From Delhi it is 235 km to Ramnagar, about five hours by road, and two daily trains carry coaches through to Ramnagar itself: the Corbett Park Link, which leaves Delhi at 22:05 with the Ranikhet Express and reaches Ramnagar at 04:15, and the Sampark Kranti coaches, which leave at 16:00 and arrive around 21:00. In fog season both can run late. Our Jim Corbett National Park guide has the trains, the bases and the rest of the park, and our Uttarakhand in winter guide has the hill towns to add before or after.
Yes. In December all six zones on the Ramnagar side are open: Jhirna, Dhela and Garjiya all year, Bijrani from 15 October, and Dhikala and Durga Devi from 15 November. It is one of the busiest months, and the week from Christmas to New Year sells out.
Jhirna, Dhela, Garjiya, Bijrani, Dhikala and Durga Devi on the Ramnagar side, and Sonanadi and Pakhro on the Kotdwar side. Dhikala has no jeep safari: you go in by the shared canter or with a night in one of its forest rest houses.
Each jeep safari lasts about four hours, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The reserve gave the shifts as 6 to 10 am and 2:30 to 6:30 pm in November 2025, but the gates follow the light in winter, so check the reporting time with your driver the evening before. The Dhikala canter boards at 6:00 am and 11:30 am at Ramnagar.
Days at Ramnagar average about 20°C and nights about 9°C in December, from three winters of modelled weather data, and the coldest nights reached about 4°C. Foggy mornings in an open jeep feel much colder, so wear layers, gloves and a cap.
Yes. In December 2024 every zone’s safaris and night stays were full, the forest rest houses were packed until 5 January, and about 70 per cent of the more than 350 resorts in the area were booked from 25 December to 1 January. Book safaris on the day the window opens, 45 days ahead, and the resort before that.