You have probably looked up Nainital and ended up with the same three things on every blog: boating on Naini Lake, Snow View Point, and Mall Road. And yes, all three are worth your time. But every time that is all a blog covers, it short-changes you.
Things to do in Nainital go considerably beyond the standard list. This is a town at over 2,000 metres with dense deodar forests, genuine Himalayan viewpoints, a birdwatcher's village most tourists drive past, and a Kumaoni food culture that is genuinely worth knowing about before you arrive.
In this guide, you will read about the best things to do in Nainital for first-timers, the activities most travellers overlook, and the offbeat things to do in Nainital that make a second visit feel completely different from the first.
What Is so special about Nainital?
The name itself is the starting point. "Naini" comes from the Sanskrit word for eyes. According to local Kumaoni belief, Naini Lake formed at the spot where the eyes of Goddess Sati fell to earth, making the whole town a sacred site long before the British arrived and built their hill station over it. That history sits underneath everything you see here: the Victorian buildings, the temple at the lake's edge, and the way local life still revolves around the water.
Here are a few things about Nainital that most travellers never find out:
- Discovered by accident: A British sugar trader stumbled upon the lake in 1841 and wrote about it so enthusiastically that the British built an entire hill station around it within a decade.
- Seven hills, one bowl: The town sits inside a natural bowl formed by seven peaks. The lake fills the base, which is why arriving in Nainital feels like stepping into an amphitheatre.
- The Governor's mansion has 113 rooms: The Raj Bhavan above the town is a Gothic-style palace across 205 acres of pine forest. Parts of it are open to visitors.
- One of India's only high-altitude zoos: Nainital's altitude makes it one of the few places in India where snow leopards and red pandas can actually be kept in a zoo.
Best Things to Do in Nainital
Boating on Naini Lake
The lake is not just a backdrop. It is the centre of the town, crescent-shaped and ringed by forested ridges on all sides, and spending time out on the water is one of the best things to do in Nainital’s lake by some distance. There are two jetties, one at Mallital (upper end) and one at Tallital (lower end), and you can hire boats from both. Early mornings are the best time to go: the mist sits on the surface, the hills reflect cleanly in the water, and you will have the lake largely to yourself.
- Row boats and paddle boats from both Mallital and Tallital jetties; hired by the hour; slow enough to actually look at the surroundings
- Motor yachts is also available for larger groups who want a faster lap of the lake with less effort
- Dawn rowing before 8 AM: quietest time on the water with the best light for photographs
- Lakeside perimeter walk in the evening when the tourist rush clears; flat, easy, and genuinely pleasant
Trekking to Tiffin Top
Tiffin Top is a viewpoint named after Dorothy Kellett, a British artist who spent years painting in these hills. The trek up goes through dense deodar and oak forest, and the ridge at the top opens into one of the better panoramic views accessible on foot anywhere in Kumaon. On a clear day you can see the Nanda Devi and Trishul peaks, and the whole of Nainital town laid out below you. It is a genuinely good trek, not a touristy stroll with a snack stall at the end.
- Horse riding from Mallital if you would rather not walk up; horses are hired from the base of the path
- Land's End viewpoint just beyond Tiffin Top: the land drops away sharply here and you get an uninterrupted view of Khurpatal valley below
Naina Devi Temple
One of the 51 Shakti Peethas in India, Naina Devi Temple sits right on the northern bank of Naini Lake and is the spiritual anchor of the whole town. The original temple was destroyed in the 1880 Nainital landslide and subsequently rebuilt. The energy here is different from most tourist-facing temples: it is a genuine local pilgrimage site, active all year, and particularly alive during Nanda Ashtami when the festival runs for eight days, and the entire lake is lit up. This is among the things to do in Nainital that most visitors rush through but are worth spending proper time at.
- Morning aarti at dawn: the sound carries across the still lake, and the atmosphere is unlike anything the town offers later in the day
- Nanda Ashtami visit if your dates fall in August or September: processions, music, and a ceremonial immersion in the lake on the final day
Snow View Point and the Cable Car
Snow View Point sits above the town and offers a direct view of the Nanda Devi range without requiring any trekking, which is why it remains one of the best things to do in Nainital for first-timers. The aerial ropeway running from Mallital up to Snow View is one of Uttarakhand's oldest operating cable cars, and the ride itself, with Naini Lake shrinking below you as you climb, is worth the fare before you even reach the top.
- Cable car ride from Mallital to Snow View Point: the aerial view of Naini Lake from mid-air is one of the stronger photographs of the visit
- Binoculars on rent at the top for closer views of Himalayan peaks; genuinely useful on clear winter mornings when the snow is visible
- Ridge walk around Snow View Point for quieter views away from the cable car crowd
Mall Road and Local Food
Mall Road is the colonial-era promenade running along the edge of Naini Lake, and it is where the whole town comes to eat, shop, and walk in the evenings. The architecture is old, the lake is right beside you, and the food is the real reason to slow down here. The best things to do in Nainital on Mall Road are honestly culinary.
- Bal Mithai: the signature sweet of the Kumaon hills; brown and dense like a soft toffee, covered in white sugar balls; sold at almost every sweet shop
- Singori: khoya wrapped in a cone made of maalu leaf and eaten fresh before the leaf dries; one of those things you cannot really replicate outside the region
- Aloo ke Gutke: spiced fried potatoes cooked with local Pahadi masala; a simple breakfast dish that is hard to stop eating
- Local woollens and carved wood souvenirs: handmade candles and wooden items are among the better buys; skip the mass-produced miniatures and head towards the older shops behind the main promenade
Eco Cave Gardens
The Eco Cave Gardens are a network of interconnected natural caves, each shaped and named after a local animal: bear, leopard, bat, flying fox, and panther. They are genuinely narrow and low-ceilinged, requiring actual crouching and some crawling, which makes the visit feel like more of a physical experience than a standard garden walkthrough. Things to do in Nainital with children do not get much better than this.
- The bat cave passage is very popular: carry a small torch if you want to be comfortable inside
- Musical fountain show in the evenings at the garden: a short, low-key display that works well as a wind-down activity for families
What Are the Offbeat Things to Do in Nainital?
Sattal: The Seven-Lake Circuit
Most visitors to Nainital never get to Sattal, and it shows how underrated it remains. Seven interconnected freshwater lakes sit inside dense oak, pine, and rhododendron forest, and the whole circuit has a stillness that the main town rarely offers. Sattal is also one of the finest birdwatching spots in Kumaon, with over 200 bird species recorded in the surrounding forest. The offbeat things to do in the Nainital circuit start here.
- Boating on Sattal’s lakes: the lakes are smaller than Naini, but the forested banks come right down to the water's edge, which makes the experience more immersive
- Dawn birdwatching: early mornings in the forest around Sattal are extraordinarily active with bird calls; go before 8 AM
- Overnight forest camping: several operators run camps near the lakes with bonfires and basic but comfortable setups
Pangot: The Birder's Village
Pangot is a small forest village above Nainital, and almost no one on a standard itinerary bothers with it. That is a mistake. The Kilbury Bird Sanctuary covers the surrounding forest, and over 300 bird species have been recorded here, including the Koklass pheasant, Kalij pheasant, and various woodpeckers that do not come near the lake. A dawn walk through the oak and deodar forest here is a completely different Nainital experience from anything available in the main town.
- Dawn birdwatching walks with a local guide from the village: most activity happens between 6 AM and 9 AM, and a guide is genuinely worth hiring
- Forest photography walks through the rhododendron and oak cover: winter mornings offer the clearest light and the most bird activity close to the path
Khurpatal: The Lake Most Tourists Miss
Khurpatal is a quiet, relatively unknown lake just below the Tiffin Top ridge and partially visible from Land's End viewpoint. Unlike Naini Lake, there are no boats for hire, no food stalls, and no crowd. It is the kind of place you go to sit beside still water surrounded by pine forest and not do much of anything, which turns out to be exactly what some people need after two days in the bustle of the main town. Among the offbeat things to do in Nainital, this is the most restful.
- Fishing with local permission at permitted points: slow, unhurried, and a good half-morning activity for those who enjoy it
- Photography from the ridge above: the lake shot from Land's End with the valley beyond it is one of the more unique photographs from the whole Nainital area
Plan Your Nainital Holiday with Holiday Tribe
Nainital is the kind of hill station that rewards a bit more time than most people give it. Three days cover the main things to do in Nainital, including the lake, Tiffin Top, Snow View, the temple, and Mall Road. Four days lets you add a full circuit to Sattal or Pangot. Five days gives you the unhurried version, with Khurpatal, a proper morning at Sattal, and enough time on Mall Road to actually eat everything on that food list.
At Holiday Tribe, we build Uttarakhand holidays both ways. If you want a curated Nainital package with the itinerary already planned around the best things to do in Nainital across 3 to 5 days, we have those ready. If you want something built around your specific group, travel dates, and pace, our advisors plan that from scratch. Tell us what you are looking for, and we will take it from there.
