You can right away say that a place is less frequently visited by tourists when it does not have many homestays or hotels. Having no place for tourists to stay means you can get the opportunity to experience the local culture in the most authentic way possible.
In January 2020, I went to a secluded village known as Kalap. The village is situated far away in the beautiful mountains of Uttarakhand. An NGO known as Tons Trails invited me to visit this place.
This village has no to very less electricity, no roads, no cellphone tower. Even after a lot of hardships, the passionate people of Tons Trails manage to overcome day to day problems by using modern-day technology and coming up with their own hacks.
Kalap is a village lying forgotten in time in the upper Garhwal region of the northern state of Uttarakhand in India. Situated at an altitude of 7,800 ft, the village is nestled among virgin pine and deodar forests, and overlooks the gorge cut open by the roaring River Supin. Kalap is home to traditional Garhwali architecture and its surroundings offer stunning natural beauty, including views of the snow-capped Bandarpunch range.
It is also a land of legends. The entire Tons river valley is considered to be the birthplace of the Mahabharata, the Sanskrit mythological epic. The protagonists of the epic, the Pandava and Kaurava brothers, are said to have descended from this very valley, and the people living here still claim to trace their lineage to one of the two clans. Not being connected to a road head and far from the major trekking trails in Uttarakhand, Kalap has remained untouched by mainstream tourism.
Life is not easy there but folks of Tons Trails provide you with all the possible amenities such as:
Electricity: They have solar panels to help you charge essential electronics like your mobile phone and camera batteries.
Wifi: They have a receiver which can catch 4G signals from a faraway village.
Hot water, modern toilet facilities, home cooked meals and of course, a lovely company.
They have customized packages for all kinds of people and their prices keep on changing depending on the season, so it is better to visit their website for updated information.
I absolutely loved staying with them and highly recommend a stay with them to get a taste of Kalpa, the hidden gem of Uttarakhand.