Families · Weekends · from Delhi
Family weekends in Jim Corbett
Two nights out of Delhi with a safari in the middle.
We pick the resort around which zone is open on your dates, not the other way round.
Why Corbett
The one real forest you can reach before lunch
Leave Delhi early and you are checking in by the afternoon, with an evening safari still possible. There is no flight, no transfer and no airport at either end, which is why Corbett works for a two-night weekend when almost nothing else does.
It is also a working tiger reserve rather than a hill station with a zoo attached, and that difference is the whole point of the drive.
What goes wrong is nearly always the same thing: the family books a resort first and finds out afterwards that the nearest gate is shut for the season, or ninety minutes away. We do it in the other order.
Zone
The zone decides the trip, and most sites will not tell you
Corbett is not one park. Dhikala, Bijrani, Jhirna, Dhela, Durga Devi and Sitabani are separate zones with separate gates and separate permits, and the core zones close for the monsoon.
Book a monsoon weekend beside a core-zone gate and you have driven five hours to a closed gate. It happens constantly, and the agent who sold it does not refund.
We check which zone is open on your dates before we recommend where you sleep. That is the whole reason the shortlist changes with the month.
What we sort out before you book
- Which zones are open on your dates, checked on the portal
- A resort on the right side for that zone, so the drive is twenty minutes and not ninety
- Permits booked in your own names — you will see your names on them
- Whether the room genuinely takes two adults and two children
- Whether there is a wedding on site that weekend
Where a trip with children actually works
All resorts →Chosen on what is actually there for a child — a play area, a pool, an evening that is not only dinner — rather than on how the suite photographs.
Dhela
Aahana Resort & Spa
13 acres near the Dhela and Jhirna gates, with the Ramganga close by.
Premium · 5-star equivalent- Jacuzzi
- Kids' play area
- Private pool
Ramnagar & around
Corbett Machaan Resort
36 cottages at Teda, 10 km from Bijrani gate, and no televisions.
Luxury · 4-star equivalent- Conference hall
- Kids' play area
- Private pool
Ramnagar & around
Corbett The Baagh Spa & Resort
Himalayan views from the rooms at Patkot, with a heated pool.
Premium · 5-star equivalent- Conference hall
- Gym
- Kids' play area
Dhikuli
Infinity Resorts Corbett
62 rooms on 22 acres on the Kosi, built around a 28-year-old round house.
Luxury · 4-star equivalent- Banquet lawn
- Conference hall
- Kids' play area
Dhela
The Golden Tusk
Ten acres on the Dhela river, with private-pool and hot-tub villas.
Premium · 5-star equivalent- Banquet lawn
- Bar
- Conference hall
Sitabani
Vow Resort & Spa
Sixty-eight rooms near the Sitabani side, with the widest interconnecting-room choice we carry.
Deluxe · 3-star equivalent- Banquet lawn
- Bar
- Conference hall
When to come
The months, honestly
- Nov – FebCold mornings, bonfires, the best sightings of the year. Busiest too, so ask early.
- Mar – AprWarm, dry and comfortable, with the water thinning so animals move to it. The best weather-to-value stretch of the year.
- May – Jun38°C and above by afternoon. Sightings are excellent, comfort is not — take a property with a pool and rest at noon.
- Jul – OctMonsoon. The core zones close and the southern gates stay open, so stay on that side. Green, quiet, and the river at its best.
Reopening dates are set by the Forest Department each year and we do not print one until it is confirmed. Ask us and we check the portal for your dates rather than guess.
Before you book anywhere
Worth asking, whoever you book through
Ask us, or ask them. We would rather you booked the right thing somewhere else than the wrong thing with us.
Which zone is open on our dates?
The first question, before the resort. If the answer is vague, ask which gate and which portal it was checked on.
Whose name is on the permit?
Permits are issued in the guests’ own names on the government portal. If someone is selling you a permit in their own name, walk away.
How far is the gate, really?
“Close to the park” means nothing — the park runs to hundreds of square kilometres. Ask for the gate name and the kilometres.
Does the room take two adults and two children?
Many Corbett rooms are genuinely for two. A third and fourth bed is often a charge and sometimes not possible at all.
Questions
Asked often
- How many nights?
- Two nights, three days is the standard weekend and it works. One night is a long drive for one safari and most people regret it.
- Is a safari safe for young children?
- Yes, in a jeep with a guide. Under-fives find three hours on a forest track long rather than frightening — the canter and the shorter buffer drives suit them better.
- Will we see a tiger?
- Nobody can promise that, and anyone who does is selling you something. What you are likely to see is deer, elephant, crocodile and a great deal of bird life, and the forest itself is worth the drive.
- Can you arrange the car from Delhi?
- Yes. Most families drive themselves — the road is good — but we will arrange a car and driver if you would rather not.
- Do you take payment on this site?
- No. We take no payment on this website at all. Any transfer is to the company account against an invoice, never to a personal account or a UPI number. If anyone asks you for an advance to a personal number in the name of a Corbett resort, it is a fraud — it is common here, which is why we say so on every page.
Tell us your dates
We come back with which zone is open, which side to stay on, and what it costs — usually within the hour in working hours.