Let me take you on a refreshing staycation in Jim Corbett National Park today
“I would love to live
like a river flows….
carried by the surprise
of it’s own unfolding!!”
That quote by John O’Donohue best describes the thoughts racing in my mind as I sat on the bank of the Kosi river, overlooking the forests and hills beyond. With the sun shining on my face. And the ripples caressing my feet.
Jim Corbett National Park is one of the most popular national parks of India. It houses the highest number of Tigers in any single tiger reserve in India. And sprawls across a huge valley overlooking the Himalayan Mountain Ranges. The Kosi river flows through the heart of Jim Corbett National Park. It’s perfect geographical location and the efforts on preservation of the surrounding ecosphere has turned this park and it’s vicinity into a sort of heaven for nature lovers.
As the infrastructure has improved over the years, several beautiful resorts have emerged along the border of Jim Corbett National Park as well as inside the Jim Corbett National Park. Many of these are luxury resorts of Jim Corbett. That are loaded with facilities, fine food, great hospitality and wonderful views of the surrounding. Further more, many of these resorts in Jim Corbett are located very near to the river. As a result, they have an added advantage of breathtaking backdrop of the river and the mountains beyond it. As well as access to the river bed.
Thus on our own 6 days trip to Uttarakhand, when we decided to stay for one night in Jim Corbett National Park, we narrowed down on a river access luxury resort for a wonderful staycation experience. In this post, let me tell you about some of the resorts that we shortlisted. And our staycation experience with the resort we finally stayed at – Tarangi Resort Jim Corbett National Park.
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Luxury staycation resorts in Jim Corbett National Park
Here’s a list of staycation resorts and accommodations in Jim Corbett National Park that we browsed through when trying to zero down on one for our own trip. Most of of these resorts had great ambience, sprawling large campus, one or more on campus restaurants, and luxuriously appointed rooms and suites. Some of these were located near to the river and some others on the hills among dense greenery. All of them have strong reviews across the hotel booking platforms. Honestly, it was very difficult to zero down on one of these for our one night stay.
Since we were also going to stay in Bhimtal and later spend couple of days in Mussoorie during this trip. So, we decided to stay put in the plains in Jim Corbett National Park. As near to the river as possible. As, we have enjoyed several other staycations in the past. Like Radisson Blu Mahabalipuram, Taj Fisherman’s Cove Chennai and Lalit Bekal etc. Most of these, except for our workcation in Orchha, have been besides the sea or in the mountains. So, we definitely wanted to stay in a riverside resort. And one which could give us a direct access to the river bed was the star for us.
Also, we were very clear that we wanted to enjoy a slow day in the middle of our trip before embarking further to Mussoorie. Thus, this is how we finally zeroed down on Tarangi Resort for our staycation in Jim Corbett National Park.
Our experience of staycation at Tarangi Resort
We arrived at the resort around 12pm, from Bhimtal. Do read about our experience spending a day in Nainital and our stay in Bhimtal . Since Tarangi Resort is located right on the main road, there was no hassle or no bumpy ride experience while getting here. Something one has to consider while booking resorts deeper in Jim Corbett National Park.
There is an in campus parking available where we left our taxi. And then proceeded for check-in at the reception. Since it was not the peak tourist season, we immediately got our room allocated. And within 10 minutes, we arrived at our room.
Our room at Tarangi Resort
The room was large and sparkling clean. It had an attached balcony that overlooked the resort campus and the swimming pool. The washroom was also very well appointed.
There are other room options also available. Particularly attractive was the glamping kind of rooms which also had views of the river.
After quickly getting fresh, we headed for lunch. There are two restaurants on the campus of Tarangi Resort. And for our staycation in Jim Corbett National Park, we had opted for one meal along with breakfast. We decided to have dinner as the complimentary meal.
So, for lunch, we proceeded to the restaurant “Lord of the rings” at the entrance of the resort. This restaurant had a great chic vibe and ambience. And serves continental and Italian cuisines. We had a wonderful time enjoying our meal here.
After the meal, we strolled through the lawns of the property all the way to the backside for the river view.
River access from Tarangi Resort
There are stairs to lead all the way to the river bed. And in no time we were actually sitting near the river on the rocks, enjoying the stream stroke our foot as we sat there. Definitely, the river access was the highlight of our staycation in Jim Corbett National Park!!
As we sat there, we saw the sky change hues from late afternoon to evening. And tried our hands on photography as much as we could. But as usual, we didn’t seem to have enough of the mesmerising views of the river and the mountains beyond it.Finally, we had to pull ourselves apart and return back to the resort.
The high tea that we enjoyed during our staycation in Jim Corbett National Park
After returning from the river bed, we proceeded to the complimentary high tea experience in our resort. The high tea was one of the best we have had during any of our staycations so far. Quiet comparable to the one we had at Taj Fisherman’s Cove few months back.
It included tea, coffee, cookies, Indian Savoury snacks, pakodas and vegetarian kebabs etc. And they even offered complimentary milk for my kid alongside all of these!!
Post high tea, we spent some time sitting in the lawn. Enjoying the warmth of the sun as it set beyond the horizon. As the day turned into night, the air became crisp and colder. And we returned to our room. Just to cozy up for sometime before dinner.
Our complimentary dinner & breakfast during our staycation in Jim Corbett National Park
Around 8:00pm, we went for a complimentary dinner in our resort in Jim Corbett. The dinner spread was wholesome with Indian, Continental, Italian and Chinese cuisines as well as a decent spread of sweets. We thoroughly enjoyed the same.Post this, we took one final round of stroll around the resort campus before calling it a day and retiring to bed.
Next day morning, we went to the riverbed once again. And spent some time in the resort lawn in morning sun. Before proceeding for breakfast. Once again, the breakfast spread was very nice, with a lot of live counter choices as well as tea and coffee.
Overall, this was one of the few staycations where we didn’t do much activity. It was a welcome break in the middle of our trip. Where we had a very relaxing day in between the other days filled with sighseeing and activities. Although, if you want to enjoy more activities, there were many on offer in the resort campus. And I am sure other similar resorts in Jim Corbett National Park must be having similar set of activities.
Activities on offer at Tarangi Resort
- Nature Walk
- Painting activity for kids
- Indoor Games
- Outdoor games like badminton and cricket
- Swimming pool
- Yoga
Overall it was a very nice relaxing and pampering experience that we had for a day! I am definitely tempted to add more staycation days to my future trips instead of keeping every day loaded with activity.
Safari at Jim Corbett National Park
Most of us visitors head for safari in Jim Corbett National Park. Did we go for a safari in Jim Corbett National Park? No. Because the season when we visited here, the core zone was not open. Which meant the chances of tiger sighting was bleak. We already had a wonderful tiger sighting experience in Bandhavgarh National Park during our MP Road Trip. And we are sure we will have many more in future. So, we decided to skip this one. Is a tiger safari in Jim Corbett National Park worth it? Definitely yes, if you are doing it in the right season and in the right zone. We did our own complete research on tiger safari in Jim Corbett National Park before concluding that we wanted to skip it this time. I will put all that information in the next post for you.
General information on visiting Jim Corbett National Park
Jim Corbett National Park is one of the oldest national parks of India. It was named after “Jim Corbett” – the person attributed to killing the maneater tiger which caused over 500 casualties across India and Nepal. The river Kosi flows through the center of the Jim Corbett National Park, nurturing the dense forest of the park which make for the natural habitat of the highest number of tigers in one single park. Apart from tigers, there are several other species of flora and fauna in Jim Corbett National Park including elephants, jackle, leopard, monkeys, apes etc.
How to reach Jim Corbett National Park
Jim Corbett National Park is well connected with most of the major cities of Uttarakhand, New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh via roadways. One can self drive, hire a taxi or take a bus to Jim Corbett National Park (Ramgarh District) from New Delhi, Lucknow, Nainital, Dehradun, Kathgodam, Almora, Kausani, Ranikhet, Kanpur and Moradabad. If you live in a nearby town or city, then you can easily visit Jim Corbett National Park over a weekend getaway from New Delhi for example. It takes just 4 hours to take a road trip from New Delhi to Jim Corbett National Park. And it took us just 2.5 hours to take a road trip from our stay in Bhimtal to Jim Corbett National Park.
What is the best time to visit Corbett National Park
Both summer and winter months make for good time to visit Jim Corbett National Park. Post monsoon winter season from October to March is best to enjoy the mild to severe cold climate in the region. However, the main safari zones open up from November onwards. And remain open until the advent of monsoon in May – June. However, peak summer months of March and April see soaring high temperatures. The day temperature touches 40 degrees in these months. However, if you can bear the heat, this time is best to site animals in the safari. As most of the animals tend to flock to outer areas and even the river beds in search of water owing to the heat in these months.
Otherwise, you can always enjoy a staycation in Jim Corbett National Park like ours all through the year!!
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