Winding Roads & Never Ending TalesFamily trips, wrong turns and the places we still talk about.
The Road to Munsiyari: Baijnath, Birthi Falls and Panchachuli
The attraction of Munsiyari was simple for us: the mountains, Panchachuli and a place far from our usual city routine. Reaching it was the part that needed more respect. This was not just a drive to be finished before the holiday could begin; Baijnath, Birthi Falls and the changing views were part of the journey too. Then came the stretches without a shop or a phone signal, and our comfortable calculation from Google Maps began to feel rather optimistic. Pahadon mein aaram se, a lesson we were still learning.
We drove from Kausani via Baijnath and Birthi Falls. Beautiful journey, but tiring in places.
In this article
A note on this archive story
From the travel archive, first published 20 May 2017. This is our experience at the time, not a current price or booking guide. Check opening hours, access, fares and services before making your own plans.
Where this mountain road fits in our trip
Munsiyari was the deeper-Himalayan leg of our Kumaon family journey. This page is the drive into it, not the whole holiday: the earlier hills, the stay itself and the return route have their own chapters. That distinction matters when estimating how many days to allow.
Before this drive: Ranikhet and Kausani
Before this drive we had spent time in Corbett, Ranikhet and Kausani. The first part has those stops and how we planned the route.
Here: Baijnath, Birthi and the road to Munsiyari
There were narrow stretches and a long spell without a phone signal or shops. By the time we found tea, we really needed the stop.
Next: staying in Munsiyari
Once we reached Munsiyari, the weather changed. We saw the peaks, then spent more time at the hotel than we had expected.
Then: Chaukori, Binsar and Bhimtal
The return took us through Chaukori and Binsar towards Bhimtal. We were not in the mood for another difficult road by then.
What I would keep in mind: The practical lesson is to budget energy as well as distance. I would not use our old driving times as a promise for another season or family.
What was the drive to Munsiyari like?
For us it was beautiful but tiring, with narrow stretches and a long period without phone signal or shops. Our route included Baijnath and Birthi Falls. Discuss current road conditions and the exact route with your driver before departure.
THE PLANNING
The journey of Uttaranchal is like a journey of exploring yourself(Read part 1 here)We started with Corbett and then after Kausani and Ranikhet our final target was Munsiyari. The morning sun waked us up with best of mood and some resilience as well because today we were about to leave city life and head towards the first offbeat destination on our bucket list the grand Munsiyari. If you would search for Munsiyari you might not find enough information about this place and I guess that is what makes the journey to this hamlet worth. Google maps said 6.5 hours to be precise to reach this place. The plan was to start early so that we can reach before dawn. So after a good breakfast of puri sabzi, omelet and Tea we embarked on the most awaited leg of our journey.
BREAKPOINT:Baijnath temple
Our first stop was though only around 17 Km from our place names as Baijnath temple or rather group of temples beautifully carved from stones housing Lord Shiva and Parvati on the banks of Gomati River. Being early morning we reached there in no time but the real challenge was to find a place to park.
Somehow we did manage to find a Taxi stand few meters ahead of the entrance and then started down the well-laid path to this place. There was very less water at this time but one could very well imagine how magnificent it would look during rain. Inside the premise of the temple, you are welcomed by a series of temples each with their own deity sitting blissfully overlooking a large pond.
The pond is full of fishes and for few rupees, you can buy food for them and then see them jump up and down to eat it. The priest was very nice in explaining about the temple history and allowed us to explore the place at our own pace. My daughter was given a hand full of sweets that are served as prasadam here.
One more thing to be noticed about this place was cleanliness in-spite of all the people visiting this place.
We had a smooth drive till we reached Bageshwar, from where there is a fork in the road and one goes right towards the Bagnath temple and the one going left was going to be our journey towards Munsiyari. This is an important point as you will come to know in coming paragraph. Initially, we thought of visiting the temple right away, for those unaware this temple is famous Shiva temple and resides at the convergence of river Gomati and Sarayu. But as we wanted to rush to Munsiyari we thought of visiting this place while coming down. So we took the left and through narrow bylanes of the town kept on proceeding at a slow pace. There were times when we had to come in full reverse so that the upcoming vehicles could pass. Anyway, soon the city limits vanished and were replaced by something so awesome that we actually had to park to take it all in. Until this point, the journey was either through cities or tree covered mountains but the roads that lie ahead were all painted in white ( No Snow ) more like what we see in Ladakh on one side and a steep valley on the other with a mountain stream flowing through it. The locals said this is not a river but more of an outlet of Melting Glaciers. The setting was mesmerizing and we were just wondering how this beauty would have been quadrupled when more water will be flowing through them.
BREAKPOINT: MUNSIYARI
Luckily the roads have been recently laid under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojana and were in excellent condition for most of the parts except some stretches. The road though is circuitous and one need to be very watchful as with the sheer drop on one side there is literally zero margin for error. Due to which a mere 150 Km turned into 6-hour drive.
The excitement of initial view soon turned into concern as even though we were traveling continuously it felt the landscapes were not changing at all as we could not find anyone or anything else on this stretch. Believe it or not, there was no Phone Signal, no village, no other car, not even street animals in every direction your eyes can see.
It was eerie feeling as if you are moving through some Ghost time. Our worst fear was if at all anything happens here what will we do. Our driver blabbered jokingly that this is going to be his last trip for Munsiyari. The roads at places were so narrow we could have seen the valley down from car window even without popping our heads out. That was strictly not a sight for people with heart problems.
Only good thing was my daughter sleeping merrily through the journey and we didn't have to worry about stopping. Although we wanted to take a break we kept on pushing as we wanted this ghost ride to be over soon. Nature at its best and at its worst all at the same time.
Finally, we found a small water stream coming from the mountain and decided to cool our heels there. Some splashing of water of our face and clicking snaps for the memory of it, we were again back on the road. Suddenly we saw a small shop in distance and we all were feeling the same which the Hero of MARS movie would have felt seeing his team members back after getting stranded on the planet.
Finally, a shop! We were exhausted by then and very happy to get out of the car. Ordered biscuits and tea. The tea was bad, honestly, but after that long empty stretch we were just glad to have somewhere to stop.
While talking, the shopkeeper told us there was another route through Chaukori. Longer, but according to him the more usual one. Remember that fork we had passed earlier? Now it made sense. We were quite happy to consider a different way back. Check the actual route and current conditions with your driver before setting off; our old map timing did not tell us much about how this drive would feel.
BREAKPOINT: BIRTHI FALLS
Illuminated about the prospect that going down will be via a different route we enquired him about our first destination, the Famous Birthi Falls that falls from 400 feet above the ground. With lush green surroundings blooming in various colours( Oh yeah we were back to Green mountains), it makes for an ideal place to sit and enjoy tea and lunch. In fact, that was exactly what we did, just at the bottom of fall is a small and only shop that serves Tea and snacks. There is a lovely black dog here who is very playful and will go with you on the short trek to the base of Birthi falls. There is also a small Shiva temple in the middle of the falling water which takes the form of a stream while coming down and you can ask the shopkeeper to help you reach that place through the mountains. The tea here was excellent and coupled with Maggi in the slightly chilling weather outside was reminding me of the Himalayas Trek I did in Kasauli a few years back.
Glimpse of Himalaya: The town of Munisyari is around 35 Km from here but due to road condition, it will take you around 1 hour to reach. The journey this side was going smooth when suddenly after one blind turn we came face to face with our most elusive love which called us to this remote location. There it was in full snowy glory and standing tall among other mountains the beautiful Panchachuli Peak. Without even telling Piyush, our very friendly driver from Rajasthan to stop he had already found a place to park and was more excited than us at the sight. There are times when words feel insignificant and your own existence seems surreal. This was the moment for sure we all just kept on looking, soaking in the heavenly abode of Lord Shiva, too engrossed to even say anything. Don't calm yourself even if tears of joy falls out of your eyes.
The world as I knew would never remain the same for me after this. We slowly retraced back to our car and zoomed to our place of stay Milam Inn. Not being on main tourist map the place only has limited accommodation and Milam Inn is rated best on trip advisor. We parked in front of the hotel and after initial check-in was taken downstairs to our rooms.
And wow what a view we had from there, the rooms were made of wood and have an adjoining garden area in front overlooking the Himalayas. We just dumped our luggage inside the room and settled in lawn with hot vegetable pakoras and tea. The weather suddenly turned very cold as the sun was setting and the mist was increasing.
We still stayed out till the visibility became zero and then dozed off dreaming all about the place.
Next morning we got up to see the sunrise but the clouds and mist that came last night refused to leave and we missed the view. So the plan for today was to cover the following places in their respective order although the real way to enjoy places like Munsiyari is to trek and enjoy the surroundings.
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