My First Jimny Trip to the mountains…
Trip start : 4675 km
Trip End : 6184 km
AC : off 90% of the trip. Driver window rolled down in mountain roads…
pls note below write up is based on my firsthand experience & not for promotion.
23/12/2023 : Day 1 - We started at 6:30 AM from our place in Gurgaon. Jimny can easily take 3 bags. we had one cabin size bag & two
bag 60 ltr packs, photography bag, laptop bag, tripod,a tent & inflatable matress, tyre inflator, tyre puncture kit, blankets & lots of snacks etc for emergency.
Day 1 : GMVN Khirsu.
Day 1 was mostly driving. we took the Delhi meerut highway NE3, then along haridwar-rishikesh-devprayag-srinagar-khirsu.
Srinagar to Khirsu is narrow but well paved mountain road with villages enroute.
Route:
We were held up in haridwar traffic jam for about 1.5 hrs.
You can also try the alternate route from Khatauli-najibabad-kothdwar-pauri-khirsu. This route is more scenic.
Stay : Booked Delux hut at GMVN in advance. Stay is basic with hot water gyeser facility. Hot water enough to take one quick shower.
Bathroom is big.Highlight of the bathroom is the jet spray. no need to touch cold water 
Food : We ordered Paneer Butter Masala, Dal tadka , Tawa Roti (chapati) & Rice. food is basic & mild so you need to tell how you want your Dal Tadka… double tadka/mirchi etc.
Day 2 : Tapovan Inn Joshimath
24/12/2023 : Started from GMVN Khirsu at about 9:30 AM. Took the Rudraprayag-KarnaPrayag-Pipalkoti-Joshimath-Tapovan route. There was a fair at Pipalkoti due to which
the traffic was moving slowly. Rest of the route was clear. We went at lesiurely pace & reached at Tapovan around 5:30 pm. The main reason for tapovan stay was the Auli chair lift
closes at 4:00 pm & we were not sure if we can make it in time. Another reson was we were contamplating Niti drive early in the morning on 25th.
Stay : This property is Just 1 year old. its right on the highway with proper parking. Rooms are well decorated, Bed is comfortable & bathroom is very clean. They provide a room heater.
Except for the limited gyeser for hot water shower you can compare the room/hotel with a 4/5 star room.
Food : Our Dinner & Breakfast was included in the stay. They cooked Dal, Rice, Mutter Paneer, Tandoori Roti & Pineapple Halwa for dinner. other than that we ordered
Chienese & pakora during the stay. food is good. nothing to complain & no adverse after effects ;-).
Day 3:
25/12/2023 : We packed up for Auli for our 2 night stay at GMVN Cloud end Auli. (GMVN Cloud end is the part of cliff top resort, now taken over by GMVN). the name of the
GMVN wooden huts is the Nanda Devi eco tourist resort. pls don’t confuse while booking.
One of the guest’s driver at tapovan left his car keys & everyone was helphing him open the door. locals gathered & one of them was a policeman & soon me & the policeman started
dicsussing Jimny :-). He advised us to drop one night at Auli & visit Niti Village instead. since we had already done auli six years back & there was not much snow in auli we decided
to visit Niti village & started our drive towards Niti at 10:30 am.
The road towards Niti is good with lots of construction happening. some patches are still unpaved. The views along this route are unparalleled. You can see Dronagiri & other snow cladded peaks.
one gets Ladkah vibes along this route. There is a milaitry check post near Malari where you need to deposit your ID card & register visitor details. Most of the villages are empty as the residents move out of the villages to avoid harsh winters. Plenty of black ice patches on road to try your Jimny. The highlights are a few frozen waterfalls along the roads & the Mahadev temple. Don’t miss the Mahadev temple even if you have to walk a bit. The trek (round trip) to the temple is 60-90 min for an average unhealthy person :-). for locals its a piece of cake. The temple has frozen waterfall & last few steps can be slippery. We started our return journey from Niti by 3:45 PM & it was dark by the time we reached tapovan. there was a room available at the same hotel so we decided to stay at the same place.
Stay : There are few homestays along the route but we didn’t enquired as we didn’t had plans to stay. The homestays in Malari & Niti were closed.
Food : There are few Tea/Maggie/Paratha joints along the route.
Network : Jio & BSNL works. locals recommend Jio sim. no network for airtel folks.
Washrooms : There are few dry washroom facilities setup along the route to Niti.
Day 4:
26/12/2023 : Day 3 was at slow pace since we just had to reach Auli. it was a 20 km drive from Tapovan to Ski resort parking. Not much snow in auli so the roads
were clear with a very few patches of black ice towards the top. In the ski resort parking Jimny was showered with praise & lots for questions for the proud owner 
Many cabbies are waiting for a commercial version of Jimny.
Took the chair lift to GMVN Cloud end & enjoyed the moon rise over the mountains & full view of the majestic
Nanda Devi peak. rest of the evening was family time.
Stay : Rooms are big with a sofa, chairs & centre table. we got corner room so plenty of sunlight. Bathroom is huge & clean. Hot water gyeser is big enough for a generous shower.
The whole facility runs on a diesel generator so power cut happens only if they run out of diesel.
Food : there are plenty of paratha & maggie shops nearby. at the GMVN facility we tried pakora, tea, sandwich & hot choclate. There was veg/non veg options for dinner. we had
soups/salads/dal/rice/chapati & paneer at the dining room.
Day 5:
27/12/2023 : After breakfast at Auli we took the chairlift back to the parking lot. we spotted our Jimny while coming down in the chair lift. Again saw a lot of cusriosity around Jimny in the parking lot. we started from Auli towards Chopta via Gopeshwar chopta route. this route is scenic though narrow. plenty of cars & local vehicles along this route. it was a leasiurly drive to our stay at Chopta Resort.
Stay : one can classify it as luxury resort with wifi facility, unlimited hot water between 7:00 to 10:00 AM though the water force is less. The Bukhari in the room kepp it warm throughout the night. The wooden smell in the room keeps the room fresh. Almost all the resorts & camps in chopta are off the highway so one has to climb up or down. parking is by the road side.
Food : Dinner & Breakfast was included in the stay. Vegetrian food like Dal/Roti/Mixed veg/Paneer/Rice/salads/Paratha/Upma/sandwich/tea/coffee etc was served in dinner & breakfast.
Day 6:
28/12/2023 : Local visit to chopta. we took the trail to Tungnath temple & walked about a kilometer till the food joints. we had already started late & many people reported slippery trail
ahead. we saw a couple of people with broken leng being taken on the stretchers so, we decided to have family time & photo sessions at the open area near the food joints. the viewof the mountain range in the backdrop makes it an excellent location for photo shoots. plenty of sunlight here so few of them were even taking a nap in the sun. retured to the resort in the evening after a garam garam samosa & jalebi
Day 7:
29/12/2023 : Started from chopta resort towards kalagarh tiger reserve at around 10:30 AM. again black ice at few places from chopta to rudraprayag but no problems for Jimny owners.
Took a lunch break at samrat hotel near rudra prayag. we had lunch at this place 6 years back & liked the food very much so we decided to try the same menu again. Their Paneer butter masala & the dal tadka never dissappoints. The best lunch of our entire trip ! while waiting for food at samrat i booked La Harmitage resort in the kalagarh tiger reserve since i already had Mudiyapani forest rest house booked for 30th dec & wanted to stay as close as possible to the Vatanvasa entry gate. We reached dugadda by 7:30 PM. At dugadda we stopped all the vegetables & grocery items needed for our stay in the forest rest house on 30th. The 25 km night drive inside the tiger reserve from dugadda to La Harmitage was the highlight of the day. During the night the drive reminds of all the horror series like quile ka rahayasa that we watched in our childhood…Parked Jimny at the designated parking & the hotel gypsy took some extreme off road to the hotel. i insisted on taking my Jimny but the guys said you can try it during the day light.
Stay : La Harmitage stay was comfortable. rooms are big with nice big balconies. its deep into the kalagarh tiger reserve so its pretty quite. again hot water geyeser but i will say you will run out of hot water during the shower.
Food : Again our Dinner & Breakfast was included. They cooked Chicken curry, paneer butter masala, dal tadka, flower sabzi, rice & roti for dinner & bread omlette/sandwich/paratha/fresh fruits/juice/poha/daliya tea/coffee for breakfast. try their poha, its different & tasty. I will say Food & quantity is really good here & they take very good care at the restaurant.
Day 8:
30/12/2023 : After breakfast started towards forest rest house mudiyapani at about 11:45 AM. Reached mudiyapani FRH by 12:30. since rest house room wasn’t ready the caretaker Mr Amar asked us take a lisurely drive towards Rathuadab village. it was again a peaceful drive inside the jungle. came back from the drive & our jungle safari was ready at vatanvasa gate. After the safari we stayed at the mudiyapani FRH. handed over the grocery & vegetables to Mr Amar who cooked us a delicious dinner at night. The FRH is protected by electic fence to protect it from wild elephants. you can take your Jimny all the way to this FRH.
Day 9:
31/12/2023 : Went for a morning safari at 6:45 & retured at FRH at 10:30 am. after breakfast started towards Gurgaon at 11:45 AM. took the kothdwar-najibabad-khautali-meerut-delhi highway & reached Gurgaon by 8:30 PM. The Najibabad-khautali route has lots of pot holes but jimny just glides over them.