Nainital How to reach

How to Reach Nainital — Flights, Trains & Road Routes

How to reach Nainital by train, road or air, and the one leg no map warns you about.

Gaurav Joshi
Your Nainital Insider
Gaurav Joshi
Updated July 29, 2026
The short version

Almost everyone reaches Nainital the same way: train to Kathgodam, the railhead about 35 km below, then a taxi up the last 1.5 hours of hairpins. From Delhi it's a straightforward overnight by train or road. Flying only helps from far away, and even then you land at Pantnagar or Dehradun and drive in.

How to get here

The three ways in

Air, train or road, and when each one makes sense.

    From where

    Routes to Nainital

    The most popular origins, with the smartest way in from each.

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        Honest notes

        A few things to skip

          Good to know

          Getting to Nainital, answered

          Where to stay · via Booking.com

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            Gaurav Joshi
            Your Nainital Insider

            Gaurav Joshi

            Gaurav knows Nainital from moving through it every day - he runs deliveries across town, up every slope and down every lane most visitors never find. So he'll tell you the useful things: which "lake-view" room actually faces a wall, what's overrated, and what the booking sites leave out. Every stay guide here crosses his desk before it goes live - if it carries his name, a local has vouched for it.

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