My experience in Nainital honestly started going downhill from the first night itself.
We reached at night, ate food from a Shiva Restaurant takeaway, and headed to our hotel which was uphill near Raj Bhavan in Mallital. The hotel staff had clearly misled us by saying Naini Lake and Mall Road were “just 500 metres away,” when in reality it felt closer to 2 km uphill. Walking there with family after a long journey was exhausting.
Later we went to Mall Road and the atmosphere was disappointing. Too many drunk people around at night. The next day I urgently needed a scooty just to help drop my family members uphill because walking every time was hectic. A rental guy opposite Dilli Darbar charged us ₹1200 for a scooty. Everywhere felt like people were trying to extract money — hotels, taxi drivers, bike rentals, everyone acting like tourists are easy targets.
I don’t want to judge the whole city based on a few bad people because I still met 2-3 genuinely nice locals near Naini Lake who were helpful and respectful. But overall, the experience felt very unpleasant.
The worst part happened while going from Kainchi side toward Hanumangarhi in our Urbania. A group of drivers stopped our vehicle midway and claimed there was “no entry” for big vehicles. Then they started demanding ₹1600, later reducing it to ₹1300. While this argument was happening, another traveller vehicle casually went upward beside us. When I questioned them, one guy suddenly claimed that vehicle had “special permission” or some “neta connection.”
Then literally 2-3 more traveller vehicles passed normally and their lie got exposed on the spot.
At Hanumangarhi, I asked one of the traveller drivers how he entered. He openly told us: “If there’s no police checkpoint stopping you, don’t trust these middlemen claiming there’s no permission. Many are just trying to scam tourists.”
That moment honestly ruined the image of the place for me. Nainital is beautiful naturally, but the aggressive tourist exploitation by some locals and drivers seriously needs attention.