Almora is the cultural capital of Kumaon, a bazaar town stretched along a horseshoe ridge, known for its bal mithai, its copperware lanes and a light that has drawn painters and writers uphill for a century. Most visitors, though, end up a few kilometres above town, on the Kasar Devi ridge.
Kasar Devi is the main draw. The hilltop temple, where Swami Vivekananda meditated in 1890, sits on a ridge nicknamed Crank's Ridge that later pulled in Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary and a generation of seekers whose cafés and guesthouses still line the road. The village works as a base rather than a single sight: mornings at the temple, afternoons in cafés facing the snows, evenings walking the pine forest.
There is plenty to do beyond the temple. Rent a cycle and ride out toward Balta in search of a quiet waterfall, spend a day in Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary a short cab ride away, where the walk to Zero Point opens a 300-kilometre sweep of the high Himalaya from Kesar Devi to Nanda Devi, or walk down into Almora for the market. Short, easy trails around town give ridge views and deodar forest without committing to a multi-day trek.
Almora is lovely year round, but October and November and again March and April give the clearest mountain views and the best walking weather. Getting there is simple: the town is well connected by road from Kathgodam, the nearest railhead, about three hours below.