Best Time to Visit Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand is an year-round destination, depending upon where you decide to go. Many of the region’s most popular attractions lie within the cool hills of the terai, and visiting them even at the height of summer isn’t a problem- it never gets too hot. Summer would be the best time to visit Uttarakhand as temperatures are pleasant and the air bracing especially in the hills.{para] Winter is significantly colder than in many other parts of India, and there can be heavy snowfall in some places. Fine, if you’re keen on skiing or making snowmen, or simply love sub-zero temperatures, but not otherwise.

Note that hill stations like Mussoorie and Nainital are immensely popular with India’s plains-dwelling urban middle class, and they descend on these cities in droves during the summer. If you prefer a bit of solitude, avoid coming here between May and July. Also stay away during the monsoons, when heavy rainfalls can cause dangerous landslides.

The monsoons come down hard in Uttarakhand and it rains incessantly during July and August amking it damp and very wet.In the hills there maybe landslides so it may be best to avoid the monsoon months. Post the monsoons the weather is again very good, so you may time your visit from September to November too.

The International Yoga Week is held annually at Rishikesh in February and is very well attended, so if you are a yoga enthusiast be there!

Climate

Uttarakhand's diversity in terms of altitude means a corresponding diversity of climate. And the range of temperatures is very wide indeed, all the way from tropical to perpetually sub-zero. Low lying areas, known as the Bhabhar plains (at the foothills of the Himalayas) fall within the warm tropical zone, and the higher you go, the lower the temperature goes- ranging, with increasing altitude, from sub-tropical, through warm temperate, temperate and alpine to glacial and perpetually frozen. Average temperatures range in summer from 30ºC in the plains to 14 or 15ºC in the mountains (snowbound regions are sub-zero throughout). Winter temperatures in the plains average 10 or 11ºC, and fall well below freezing higher up.

Most of Uttarakhand is affected by the south-west monsoon in the summer months, and snowfall occurs in the mountainous zones.