HimLocal
Sign in
HimLocal
Bhulla Tal, a small green lake with a wooden footbridge, pine trees and cottages on the slope behind in evening light
1 / 3
Photo: Priyambada Nath · CC BY 2.0
ArticleVerified 2026-10-23

Weekend getaways from Delhi — hill towns in Uttarakhand and Himachal, by distance, with a plan for each

Weekend trips from Delhi to the hills by road distance: Rishikesh, Mussoorie, Lansdowne, Nainital, Kasauli, Shimla, Tirthan, Kasol and Manali, each with a plan.

A weekend in the hills from Delhi comes down to distance. Below are the hill towns we cover within reach of a Saturday and Sunday, sorted by road distance from Delhi. Each has a two-day plan you can copy to your trips. Distances are free-flow routing over OpenStreetMap; the traffic out of Delhi usually adds hours, so leave before dawn.

Photos: Snehrashmi (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Shrey.ashi (CC BY 4.0) — via Wikimedia Commons, resized.

Under 250 km

  • [Haridwar](/destinations/haridwar), about 217 km — the Ganga at Har Ki Pauri, the hill temples and Kankhal. Plan: two days in Haridwar.
  • [Paonta Sahib](/destinations/paonta-sahib-himachal-pradesh), about 236 km — the gurdwaras on the Yamuna and Renuka Lake. Plan: two days in Paonta Sahib.
  • [Rishikesh](/destinations/rishikesh), about 241 km — the bridges, the ghats and Neelkanth Mahadev. Plan: two days in Rishikesh.
  • [Mussoorie](/destinations/mussoorie), about 250 km — Landour, George Everest's house and Kempty Falls. Plan: two days in Mussoorie.

Lansdowne to Tehri: about 258 to 314 km

  • [Lansdowne](/destinations/lansdowne), about 258 km — a quiet army town, Bhulla Tal and the forest temple of Tarkeshwar Mahadev. Plan: a Lansdowne weekend.
  • [Nahan](/destinations/nahan), about 261 km — Nahan Fort, Rani Tal and Trilokpur. Plan: two days in Nahan.
  • [Nainital](/destinations/nainital), about 280 km — the lakes and Kainchi Dham. Plan: two days in Nainital, or the lakes circuit in a day.
  • [Kasauli](/destinations/kasauli), about 303 km — Monkey Point, Dagshai and Barog. Plan: two days in Kasauli.
  • [Tehri](/destinations/tehri), about 314 km — the lake, then Kanatal and Dhanaulti on the high road. Plan: Tehri in two days.

Mukteshwar to Narkanda: about 334 to 426 km

  • [Mukteshwar](/destinations/mukteshwar), about 334 km — the ridge, Ramgarh's orchards and Bhimtal. Plan: two days from Mukteshwar.
  • [Almora](/destinations/almora), about 365 km — Katarmal, Kasar Devi and Jageshwar. Plan: two days in Almora.
  • [Shimla](/destinations/shimla), about 367 km — the Ridge and Kufri. Plan: two days in Shimla.
  • [Chail](/destinations/chail), about 367 km — the palace and the stream at Sadhupul. Plan: two days in Chail.
  • Kasauli and Chail together: a two-night weekend that takes in both towns. Plan: the Kasauli and Chail weekend.
  • [Narkanda](/destinations/narkanda), about 426 km — Hatu Peak and the apple belt at Kotgarh. Plan: two days around Narkanda.

For a side-by-side look at the Himachal towns, with measured road times from both Delhi and Chandigarh, read Himachal weekend trips from Delhi and Chandigarh.

Overnight-bus weekends

These are too far to drive there and back in two days, so the plans use an overnight bus each way, Friday night to Sunday night.

Choosing

Under 250 km gives you the most time in the hills. For quiet, Lansdowne and Mukteshwar are the calm picks; for a river, Rishikesh; for lakes, Nainital and Tehri. For snow in winter, read where to see snow in Himachal or copy Shimla in snow, with Kufri and Narkanda, and check each town's best-time guide before you go.

Places to visit

All destinations →
A cluster of ancient grey stone temple towers on a paved terrace under a blue sky with a few white clouds at Baijnath
The Baijnath temples — the Katyuri stone shrines on the Gomati near Kausani
Kausani
The white shikhara spire of Vajreshwari Devi Temple rising over the courtyard in Kangra
Vajreshwari Devi Temple, Kangra
Dharamshala
The long white palace building with a red-brown upper storey and small windows on a rocky rise under a blue sky
Stok Palace — the royal summer home across the Indus
Leh
The Tirthan seen from the slope above Gushaini
Sharchi
Banjar
A Bengal tiger walking towards the camera along a sandy forest track beside tall grass
Jim Corbett National Park — India's first national park
Ramnagar
Vasudhara Falls dropping in a white stream down a sheer grey cliff against a blue sky
Vasudhara Falls — the walk from Mana
Badrinath
A stream falling into a green pool inside a narrow rock gorge at Robber's Cave
Robber's Cave (Guchhupani) — a stream through a gorge near Dehradun
Dehradun
The welcome gate over the valley road at Larji
Aut
Banjar
All stories →
A worker walks a steel member of the Chenab Bridge arch high above the misty gorge, in 2016
Chenab Rail Bridge — take away a pier and the train still runs
The Chenab Rail Bridge in Jammu and Kashmir stands 359 m above the river. Railways says it stays open at 30 km/h even if one pier or trestle is removed.
Skiers climbing a snow slope at Narkanda below a line of fir trees
Skiing in Himachal — Solang, Narkanda and Kufri, and when the snow holds
Where to ski in Himachal: Solang above Manali, Narkanda and Kufri above Shimla, the state institute's courses, and the January–February snow.
Two white ice stupas on the brown valley floor near Phyang in Ladakh, bare mountains behind
Ice stupas — how Ladakh grows its own glacier for spring
Ladakh's ice stupas freeze winter stream water into cones of ice that melt slowly into spring, when fields need water and streams run low. How they work.
The Dhauladhar range rising behind the Triund campsite above McLeod Ganj
Treks in Himachal by length and month — an hour's walk to a five-day crossing
Himachal treks by how long they take and which months they open: short walks, Triund in a day, Kheerganga overnight, Bhrigu, Beas Kund and Sar Pass.
A tall thin waterfall on a forested hillside along the path between Gaurikund and Kedarnath
Things to do near Kedarnath — the temple, the lake and the valley below
Things to do near Kedarnath: the temple, the walk from Gaurikund, Chorabari Tal, Bhairavnath, and the temples of Triyuginarayan, Guptakashi and Ukhimath.
The carved wooden front of the temple at Bhekhli above Kullu
The temples of the Kullu valley — stone, wood and a god who rules a district
The Kullu valley's temples in one place: Raghunath in the town, the stone temple at Bajaura, the ridge shrine at Bijli Mahadev and the carved wood at Bhekhli.

Destinations to explore

All destinations →
A deep, steep-sided green valley filled with low grey cloud seen from the Mawkdok Dympep viewpoint near Cherrapunji
Cherrapunji
4 itineraries · 3 places
The green Ganges flowing between forested hills at Rishikesh, with buildings on the left bank
Rishikesh
3 itineraries · 4 places
Namgyal Monastery, the Dalai Lama's temple complex in McLeod Ganj
Dharamshala
7 itineraries · 15 places
Dalhousie hill station across its five hills
Dalhousie
4 itineraries · 5 places
The green Uhl valley at Barot with the reservoir, fields and forested slopes under a blue sky
Barot
1 itineraries · 1 places
Two shikara boats on calm Dal Lake with snow-covered mountains rising behind the far shore
Srinagar
4 itineraries · 12 places

Today on HimLocal

Been here?Help the next traveller — our team checks every contribution.

Questions people ask

What is the closest hill trip to Delhi for a weekend?

Of the places we cover, Haridwar and Rishikesh, at about 217 km and 241 km by road, Paonta Sahib at about 236 km, then Mussoorie and Lansdowne at about 250 km and 258 km. These are free-flow distances on OpenStreetMap; traffic leaving Delhi often adds hours, so start before dawn.

Can you do Manali or Kasol in a weekend from Delhi?

Only with overnight buses both ways, which is how our Kasol, Tirthan and Manali weekend plans work: leave Delhi on Friday night, have two days in the valley, and ride back on Sunday night. Manali is about 513 km and Kasol about 494 km by road, too far for a drive there and back in two days.

What is the best weekend trip from Delhi in Uttarakhand?

It depends on what you want. Rishikesh has the river and the ghats, Mussoorie and Landour the views and old bungalows, Lansdowne quiet forest, and Nainital its lakes. Each has a two-day plan you can copy below, with road times measured from the town and the season to go in.