Village Way Tour Package

Duration:: 04 Nights / 05 Days
Places Covered: Rishikesh - Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary - Saryu Valley - Rishikesh


Village Ways takes you to the region of Kumaon, in the State of Uttarakhand, a day's drive north-east of Delhi. Here begin the hills and then the mountains that make the Himalayas.

With Tibet to the north and Nepal to the east, Uttarakhand has been forged out of the historic regions of Garhwal and to Kumaon.

And at the heart of the Kumaon hills, overlooked by the great peaks of Nanda Devi, Trisul and Panchachuli, lies the wooded Binsar wildlife sanctuary.

Community & Tourism

Through Village Ways we are developing a sustainable form of tourism that builds on local resources, which will not only benefit the tourists but also provide demonstrable, practical and positive economic and social uplift for the participating communities and will raise their awareness of environmental and social issues.

A new model for responsible tourism
A team, from India and UK, combining rural tourism experts, rural development specialists and local communities has launched two innovative responsible tourism projects in India, called Village Ways. The projects are based in the wooded Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary and the Saryu Valley, both in the ancient Kumaon, part of the state of Uttarakhand (formerly Uttaranchal), just south of the Tibetan border. It has funded the creation of authentic guest houses in a series of mountain villages and trained hill villagers to set up and manage walking holidays.

Sustaining mountain village communities
The villagers love their hills, but they were being driven out by lack of economic opportunity: their deep knowledge of Kumaon and their traditional skills were in danger of being gradually wasted and so lost. The result of this initiative will mean that villagers no longer have to leave their villages and migrate to towns for employment, and local traditions and social structure will be safeguarded.

Village partnerships and participation
Village Ways enabled the formation of responsible tourism committees in each village and is providing training for committee members in tourism business skills and environmental awareness as well as practical training including health and safety, catering and guiding. These committees have constructed and equipped the village guest houses financed by grants and loans from Village Ways.

Encouraging environmental actions
The houses have been built in traditional style, by local craftsmen using traditional materials. Walls are made of stone with mud mortar and minimal cement has been used. They are simple, comfortable houses that give a flavour of the way people live in the villages. The amenities include modern toilet and shower rooms, but importantly incorporate the use of energy saving technology with solar powered water heaters and lighting in each room. The Village Ways venture will assist in raising local environmental awareness.

Fostering cultural interaction
Visitors to the villages of the Binsar Sanctuary and the Saryu Valley will find that daily life is still very much ruled by tradition, despite the encroaching proximity of the modern world; whether coming from elsewhere in India or from another part of the world, you will interact with the villagers and have time to appreciate village daily life at first hand.