The Nanda Devi temple above Munsiyari with the Panchachuli peaks behind it, December 2012. Photo © Jaiambey, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
When snow really reaches the town, how cold the days and nights get, what happens to the road over Kalamuni, and what a room costs in December.
The short answer: Munsiyari stays open all winter and is the surest snow in Kumaon, but the snow is not always where or when people expect it. As far as dated reports show, the town, at 2,135 m, had its first settled snow of the winter on 31 January 2024, on 8 December 2024 and on 23 January 2026, so January and February are the safer months and December is a gamble. The ridge above the town gets far more than the bazaar does. Modelled figures put January days at about 13°C and nights at about minus 4°C. The road is the real price of the trip: 283 to 292 km from Haldwani and about ten hours without stops, with the last stretch over Kalamuni liable to shut for a day or more after snow. Allow four nights from Haldwani and six days from Delhi, and keep one of those days spare.
By Nandini Upreti, Contributor, Almora. About the author ↓
Most of this page holds good every year. The things below change from season to season, so they sit here with the day we checked them.
Winter 2026-27 so far
Snow here does not keep a calendar. The table sets out what the dated reports say, winter by winter. We have left out 2022-23 because we did not find enough dated reports to describe it fairly.
| Winter | First snow in the town | What fell | What happened to the road |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | 28 December 2021 | 3 inches in the bazaar, 1 foot at Kalamuni, 2 feet at Khaliya | Shut overnight, reopened to light vehicles by about 2 pm; some traffic sent round by Jauljibi |
| 2023-24 | 31 January 2024 | Half an inch in town on 5 February, against 2 feet at Kalamuni and 2.5 feet on Khaliya Top | No closure in the reports we found |
| 2024-25 | 8 to 9 December 2024 | 6 inches on 10 December; 1 to 2 inches at Kalamuni and Balati on 23 and 24 December | Shut between Eco Park and Kalamuni for three days from 27 February 2025 |
| 2025-26 | 23 January 2026 | 3 inches in town, 5 at Khaliya, 6 at Balati | Shut from Ratapani to Munsiyari, with visitors spending the night in their cars |
The opening date moves a long way: about seven weeks separate the early December fall of 2024 from the late January falls of 2024 and 2026. December 2023 brought snow only to the highest ground around Khaliya Top, and December 2025 stayed dry, so anyone who books Christmas in Munsiyari for the snow alone is taking a real chance.
A few hundred metres of height also change everything. A fall that leaves a dusting in the bazaar can bury the road a few kilometres away, and what settles in town often melts within a day or two. If you have come to stand in snow, expect to go up to Balati or Kalamuni for it once the road has been cleared. Snow also keeps coming long after the holiday crowd has left: Khaliya still had 3 inches of fresh snow on 20 March 2026, and the high ground above the town had its last fall that season on 29 April. Our guide to Uttarakhand in winter shows how this fits with the rest of the state, month by month.
We found no published monthly record from a weather station in the town, so these are modelled figures from the Open-Meteo archive at Munsiyari’s altitude, averaged over the three winters from November 2023 to March 2026. Treat them as a guide to the season and not as a forecast.
| Month | Average day | Average night |
|---|---|---|
| November | 16 to 17°C | about 1°C |
| December | about 14°C | about minus 2°C |
| January | about 13°C | about minus 4°C |
| February | about 13°C | about minus 5°C |
| March | about 17°C | about minus 1°C |
The averages hide the days that matter. A clear December afternoon on a sunny terrace can feel mild, and the same terrace is below freezing by the time you finish dinner. When snow comes, the day collapses too: after the fall of 28 December 2021 the town recorded a high of 4°C and a low of minus 3°C. The high valleys beyond it are far colder, with minus 5 to minus 19°C reported at Milam and in the Darma and Vyas valleys in December 2024.
For the temperature in Munsiyari today, use the live forecast on the snowfall tracker, because no page written in advance can tell you that. For packing, think in layers you can take off in the sun: a thermal layer, a fleece and a proper down or padded jacket, plus a woollen cap, gloves and thick socks for the evenings. Bring boots with a real grip. The lanes and temple paths ice over in the shade, and town shoes will have you on your back.
These are Google Maps figures, read on 5 November 2026, with no allowance for stops. On these roads, in winter, add at least an hour or two.
| From | Distance to Munsiyari | Google Maps time |
|---|---|---|
| Haldwani bus stand | 283 to 292 km | 9 hr 42 min to 10 hr 32 min |
| Kathgodam station | 283 km | 9 hr 30 min |
| Almora | 195 km | 6 hr 43 min |
| Chaukori | 96 km | 3 hr 29 min |
| Thal | 70 km | 2 hr 36 min |
| Pithoragarh | 128 km | 3 hr 48 min |
| Tanakpur station | 274 km | 7 hr 42 min |
| Delhi, India Gate | 586 to 606 km | 13 hr 14 min to 14 hr 45 min |
You can drive this in a single day, but we would not, because it puts the worst of the road at the end of the day. The road climbs over Kalamuni about 15 km before the town, and shaded bends up there hold ice long after the sun has reached everything else. Split the trip with a night at Chaukori, which is 196 to 201 km and just under seven hours from Haldwani. Leave Chaukori at nine and you reach Kalamuni around noon, which is when the road is at its best. Our Haldwani to Almora guide covers the first part of the drive.
Snow is what closes this road, and it has done so in most recent winters. On 23 January 2026 it shut across a 19 km stretch between Ratapani and the town, and visitors spent the night in their cars. The next day about 20 tourist vehicles were still stuck near Kalamuni under about a foot of snow, and part of the road was still uncleared on 27 January. A smaller fall can clear far more quickly: in December 2021 machines had it open to light vehicles by about 2 pm the next day.
When Kalamuni shuts, traffic goes round by Madkot and Jauljibi, up the lower road along the Gori Ganga. It was used in both 2021 and 2026, and it is worth knowing before you need it. Jauljibi to Munsiyari is 66 km, about two hours, and the whole way from Haldwani by Jauljibi comes to about 314 km and ten hours by Google Maps.
Before you set off, check the forecast and the closed-road list. The tracker brings them together each morning, and our guide to driving in Uttarakhand in winter covers snow chains, black ice and what to do at a police barrier. If snow is forecast for the day you plan to cross Kalamuni, wait a day.
The cheapest way is the KMOU bus, which restarted in early 2025. When it did, it left Haldwani at 5 am daily, ran by Seraghat, Berinag, Thal and Nachni, reached Munsiyari in the evening and cost Rs 640. It leaves Munsiyari again at 5 am. That timing catches out anyone coming by train, because the overnight Ranikhet Express from Delhi reaches Kathgodam at about 05:05, after the bus has gone. Take the train a day earlier and sleep in Haldwani, or go on by taxi or shared jeep. Our guide to the Delhi to Kathgodam train has the three daily trains and what fog does to them.
We could not find a through bus from Delhi. Travel guides say the usual way is to change at Haldwani, Almora or Pithoragarh. On the map, Tanakpur is the nearest railway station by a few kilometres, but Kathgodam is the one with the three daily Delhi trains.
A taxi is the comfortable choice, and in snow a local driver earns the fare by knowing which bends hold ice. At the Haldwani rates we checked in May 2026, Rs 14 to Rs 16 a km for a sedan, the 570 km there and back comes to about Rs 8,000 to Rs 9,100, plus Rs 300 to Rs 400 for each night the driver is away, before tolls and parking and any driving around Munsiyari. Our Haldwani cab guide has more on fares and operators.
The nearest airstrip is Naini Saini at Pithoragarh, three to four hours from Munsiyari by road. We did not confirm any plane service there this winter. Pantnagar, near Haldwani, is the usual airport, and it leaves you the whole road still to drive.
The helicopter turns ten hours into about 35 minutes, and it is the one part of this trip that snow on Kalamuni does not touch. Heritage Aviation’s timetable lists flight 4H501 from Haldwani’s Gaulapar heliport at 7:00, returning from Munsiyari at 7:35. It also lists Pithoragarh to Munsiyari at 10:50 and back at 11:05.
The fare has climbed steadily. It was Rs 3,625 when the service began and went to Rs 4,200 and then Rs 5,250 from October 2025, the figure reported in February 2026. Pithoragarh to Munsiyari was Rs 2,625 at the same time. The weight rules are stricter than most people expect, and in winter clothes they matter: the operator carries passengers of up to 75 kg, or heavier ones if the group’s average stays within that, with 5 kg of luggage each. Excess weight costs Rs 100 a kg where it can be carried at all, and anyone who understates their weight can be refused boarding.
Do not build a tight plan around it. The timetable carries no date and does not say which days it flies in winter, and a small helicopter over these valleys needs a clear sky. Keep a spare day and a road plan, and confirm directly with the operator before you book anything that depends on it.
Munsiyari has plenty of rooms for a town its size, most of them small hotels and homestays. The rates below were shown online on 5 November 2026 for one night for two people, on the dates in the table. They are the lowest price shown on that day, not a promise, and they can change. The KMVN figures come from its own booking page and include meals, so they are not a like-for-like match with the room-only rates around them. Properties run in order of their Google rating, and none of them pays to be listed here.
| Property | Google rating (reviews) | 19 December | 31 December |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naina Homestay, Camps and Cottages | 4.9 (308) | Rs 1,000 | Rs 1,000 |
| Dhana Homestay | 4.9 (74) | Rs 2,205 | Rs 2,835 |
| Shiva Homestay | 4.9 (62) | Rs 1,604 | Not shown |
| Cedar Wave | 4.7 (80) | Rs 4,036 | Rs 4,033 |
| Mount Kailash Homestay | 4.5 (81) | Rs 1,294 | Rs 1,291 |
| KMVN Tourist Rest House (with meals) | 4.2 (858) | Rs 3,200 | Rs 3,700 |
| Munsyari The Roof Top | 4.2 (55) | Rs 1,395 | Rs 1,395 |
| Vijay Mount View Resort | 4.1 (496) | Rs 2,361 | Rs 2,361 |
| Milam Inn | 4.1 (765) | Rs 2,653 | Rs 2,756 |
New Year adds little here. Most of these rates barely moved between the two dates, although some small places did rise: Dhana Homestay by about 29 percent, and one homestay outside the table from Rs 2,520 to Rs 4,200. The KMVN rest house on the Thal road adds a flat Rs 500 a room for New Year. Its doubles, sold on a meal plan, ran from Rs 3,200 to Rs 4,000 on 19 December and from Rs 3,700 to Rs 4,500 on 31 December. Its four-bed room was Rs 5,500 on 19 December, while on 31 December it was listed at Rs 6,000 with none available. We stopped short of the payment page, so ask whether tax is extra and which meals the plan covers.
Before you pay, check two things on the map. Search results for Munsiyari take in places well outside the town: Green Mountain Homestay, for example, shows up with the Munsiyari listings but is 32 km away, down towards Birthi. And a place with “camps” in its name may be offering a tent, so ask for a room in writing.
Then ask about the cold, because a good rating earned in May says little about January. One guest’s December 2024 review of a Munsiyari hotel complained of no heater and no extra quilts. Ask whether a room heater is provided and what it costs, what happens to it when the power goes, when there is hot water, how many blankets come with the room, and whether a car can reach the door after snow.
Winter here is about the view and the quiet more than a list of sights. On a clear morning the Panchachuli peaks fill the eastern sky, and the air is at its sharpest in the months when the snow line comes down.
The Nanda Devi temple sits on a ridge 2.9 km from the centre and is the classic place to watch them. The Tribal Heritage Museum, 2.7 km away at Nanasen, is one man’s work: Dr Sher Singh Pangtey set it up to keep a record of the life of the Bhotia families of these valleys. Listings disagree on its hours, 9 or 10 am to 5 pm, and on its weekly closing day, so ask at your hotel first. Darkot, 9.3 km away, is known for its hand-woven woollens. Birthi Falls, 31.5 km and a little over an hour back along the road, is best stopped at on the way in.
Khaliya Top is the big winter walk and the one that needs respect. The path starts at Balati, about 8 km from town, and climbs about 6 km through forest to a meadow at around 3,500 m. On 5 February 2026 a group of tourists lost the path there and police brought them down late at night through two and a half to three feet of snow. Take a local guide, start early and turn back by early afternoon. Our page on winter treks in Uttarakhand has more. The treks to Milam and Ralam are not winter trips, and since May 2026 Pithoragarh district has required trekkers on its high routes to register by email in advance.
From Haldwani, four nights is about right: one at Chaukori on the way in, two or three in Munsiyari, and the long drive home in a single day or split again. That gives you one spare day for weather, and on this road you may need it.
From Delhi, allow about six days door to door. Take the overnight Ranikhet Express, drive from Kathgodam to Chaukori the day you arrive, and carry on the same way from there.
For two people from Haldwani, four nights in rooms at Rs 1,300 to Rs 2,700 comes to Rs 5,200 to Rs 10,800. With the taxi and driver’s allowance worked out above, that makes about Rs 14,400 to Rs 21,500 before food, tolls and parking. By bus at the 2025 fare, the road costs Rs 1,280 a person there and back. By helicopter at the last reported fare, it costs Rs 10,500 a person.
Is it worth it? If you want the Panchachuli peaks without the crowds and can spare the days, we think so. If you have a long weekend, it is the wrong trip, because you will spend most of it in the car. Our page on where to see snow in Uttarakhand ranks closer places by how often snow has actually come, and our Uttarakhand in winter guide has the wider choice of winter trips.
We could not find a notice saying the KMOU bus is keeping its 2025 timing or fare this winter, or a timetable that says which days the helicopter flies from November to March. We found no monthly temperature record from a station in the town, which is why the table above is modelled. We could not confirm scheduled flights at Naini Saini this winter.
The distances here are from Google Maps, the room rates are what was shown online on the day, and the snow record comes from dated local news reports and official road lists. Nobody from this site telephoned a hotel or the operator for this page. If you have been to Munsiyari this winter and something has changed, please tell us.
Some years it does. Snow reached the town on 8 December 2024 and on 28 December 2021, but December 2023 brought it only to the highest ground around Khaliya Top, and December 2025 stayed dry. If snow is the main reason for going, January and February are safer.
Modelled figures averaged over the last three winters put January days at about 13°C and nights at about minus 4°C. It gets colder after snow: the town recorded a high of 4°C and a low of minus 3°C after the fall of 28 December 2021. Ask about a room heater when you book.
Yes. People live there all year and hotels take guests through the winter. The road is the uncertain part, because snow can shut it over Kalamuni for one to three days, as it did on 23 January 2026. Traffic is then sent round by Madkot and Jauljibi, so keep a spare day in your plan.
January and February are the safest. In the last three winters the town’s first settled snow came on 31 January, 8 December and 23 January, and the ridge held deep snow in February, with about two and a half feet at Khaliya in both February 2024 and February 2026. March and April can still bring falls on the high ground.
Yes. Heritage Aviation’s timetable lists a 7:00 flight from Haldwani’s Gaulapar heliport that takes about 35 minutes, and the last fare we could find reported, in February 2026, was Rs 5,250 one way. It covers a passenger of up to 75 kg with 5 kg of luggage. The timetable does not give winter flying days, so confirm before you plan around it.
From Haldwani, plan four nights, with one at Chaukori on the way in and at least two in Munsiyari. From Delhi, plan about six days door to door. The drive from Haldwani takes about ten hours without stops, so a shorter trip leaves little time in the town and no room for a closed road.
On the map it is Tanakpur, 274 km away by Google Maps, with Kathgodam close behind at 283 km. Most travellers from Delhi use Kathgodam because of its three daily Delhi trains. The drive from either station takes most of a day.