How to reach Nainital

From the airport

Pantnagar Airport (PGH), near Rudrapur, is about 65 to 70 km from Nainital. It has only a few flights, all IndiGo, from Delhi and, since July 2026, from the new Noida International Airport at Jewar, so check the current schedule before you plan around it. Taxis can be hired at the airport, but with so few arrivals it is sensible to pre-book one; the drive runs through Haldwani and Kathgodam and takes 2 to 2.5 hours.

If Pantnagar flights do not suit, fly to Delhi, roughly 300 km away, and continue by train to Kathgodam or by road. Bareilly Airport, about 130 to 140 km south of Nainital, has IndiGo flights from Bengaluru, Navi Mumbai, Delhi and Noida and can be the easier choice from southern or western India.

From the railway station

Kathgodam (KGM), the end of the line on the outskirts of Haldwani, is the railhead for Nainital, 35 km and 1 to 1.5 hours below the town. From Delhi the most useful trains are the Shatabdi from New Delhi, which leaves early and reaches Kathgodam in the late morning, and the overnight Ranikhet Express, which arrives early in the morning; the Uttarakhand Sampark Kranti also runs from Delhi, and the Bagh Express comes from Howrah via Lucknow and Bareilly. Check current timings before booking.

Shared and private taxis wait at Kathgodam station, while most buses to Nainital start from the Haldwani roadways bus station. If your train stops only at Haldwani (about 40 km from Nainital) or Lalkuan (about 56 km), shared taxis run from there too.

By road

Nainital sits in the outer Kumaon hills, and almost every journey climbs to it from Haldwani and Kathgodam at the edge of the plains. From Delhi the usual road runs east through Hapur, Moradabad and Rampur, then north past Rudrapur to Haldwani: about 300 to 310 km to Nainital in all, taking 7 to 8 hours, longer if you leave Delhi in rush-hour traffic. Most of the distance is on the plains; the slow part is the final climb.

From Kathgodam the road to Nainital (NH 109, formerly NH 87) climbs about 35 km through Ranibagh and Jeolikot on tight bends, gaining roughly 1,500 m; allow 1 to 1.5 hours. It enters town at Tallital, at the southern end of the lake. A second road comes up from Kaladhungi (about 35 km), the natural approach from Ramnagar and Corbett, and a third links Nainital with Bhowali, 11 km away, the junction for Almora, Ranikhet and the hills beyond.

On busy summer weekends and holidays the climb can be slow, and police have stopped vehicles without a hotel booking at parking areas on the approaches (the Rusi bypass on the Haldwani road and Narayan Nagar on the Kaladhungi road) and sent visitors on into town by shuttle.

By bus

Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (Uttarakhand Roadways) runs daily buses to Nainital from Delhi's Anand Vihar ISBT, including some AC and Volvo services, and private operators run AC and sleeper coaches on the same route; most overnight buses leave Delhi in the evening and reach Nainital early the next morning, and many more go from Delhi as far as Haldwani. Roadways buses also link Nainital with Dehradun, Haridwar, Lucknow, Agra and Bareilly. From the Haldwani roadways bus station, buses to Nainital leave roughly every half hour through the day and take about 1.5 to 2 hours. UTC seats can be booked on its own online booking site or at the bus station.

Local transfers

Buses and most shared taxis from Haldwani and Kathgodam arrive at Tallital, the southern end of the lake, where the roadways bus stand is. Mallital, the older northern end, is a pleasant walk along the Mall Road or a short ride in one of the municipal e-rickshaws that replaced the old cycle rickshaws. Buses towards Bhowali and Almora also leave from the Tallital bus stand. In May, June and October private cars are kept off the Mall Road in the evenings, so ask your hotel where a vehicle can drop you and whether it has parking. Aim to arrive in daylight.

Distances from major points

• Kathgodam railway station to Nainital: about 35 km
• Haldwani to Nainital: about 40 km
• Pantnagar Airport to Nainital: about 65 to 70 km
• Kaladhungi to Nainital: about 35 km
• Ramnagar to Nainital via Kaladhungi: about 65 km
• Nainital to Bhowali: about 11 km
• Nainital to Almora via Bhowali: about 63 to 64 km
• Bareilly to Nainital: about 130 to 140 km
• Delhi to Nainital via Moradabad and Haldwani: about 300 to 310 km

Good to know

Nainital is a lake town at about 2,084 m, built around Naini Lake between Tallital in the south and Mallital in the north, and it makes an easy first or last night on a Kumaon trip. Book rooms well ahead for May, June, October and long weekends, when the town is busiest; if you are driving, choose a hotel with parking and keep the booking confirmation to hand when you drive up at peak times. Summer days are mild, but winter nights can drop below freezing and the town gets snow in some years in December and January, so pack warm layers. The road from Kathgodam to Almora and Bageshwar, used for treks such as Pindari, Kafni and the Munsiyari treks to Nanda Devi East Base Camp and Milam, passes through Bhowali, 11 km from Nainital.

Safety

Keep some slack in your plans and avoid tight same-day links between a flight or train and a trek pickup. In the monsoon, from late June to September, heavy rain brings landslides and rockfall on the roads around Nainital, including the Haldwani and Bhowali roads, sometimes closing them for hours or longer. In December and January snow and ice can make the higher roads slippery. At about 2,084 m, altitude sickness is not usually a concern, but nights are cold for much of the year. Check road status locally before driving up, and avoid the hill section after dark.

Travel tips

• Plan buffer time for road delays, especially in monsoon and winter.
• Start early for long drives to avoid night stretches on mountain roads.
• Keep offline maps and cash as backup in low-network zones.
• If you are continuing to high altitude areas, acclimatize and hydrate well.