Mumbai to Lansdowne With a Dog
Roughly 1940km by road, which is around 27 hours of driving. Almost nobody does this by car with a dog. Train or plane is the sensible route.
Both directions on one page. Plan the return the same way you planned the drive to Lansdowne.
Do not drive this one
1940km each way. A dog can do it, split over days, and will get nothing out of it. The railhead is Kotdwar, roughly an hour and a half below.
Leaving Mumbai
Lansdowne lies north east of Mumbai, roughly 1940km by road. Getting out of Mumbai is the journey's hardest hour. The Expressway and the eastern exits both jam from about 7am, and weekend departures are worse than weekday ones. Leaving before 6am is the single change that most improves a Mumbai road trip.
Where to break this journey
Driving means two or three days each way, and these are where those days end.
Of the 57 destinations we cover, Lansdowne is the 37th closest to Mumbai.
Closer from Mumbai, if this is further than you wanted
- Mumbai to Gokarna , about 13 hours, beach in Karnataka
- Mumbai to Udaipur , about 12 hours, heritage in Rajasthan
- Mumbai to Goa , about 12 hours, beach in Goa
Lansdowne in one paragraph
A cantonment town, unusually quiet and free of the commercial crowding that makes other hill stations stressful for dogs. Pine forest walks are the main draw. Limited commercial infrastructure, so plan supplies.
The full Lansdowne guide covers where you can take a dog, where you cannot, and the things that catch visitors out.
Veterinary access at the far end
Very limited locally. Nearest reliable care is Kotdwar, about an hour and a half down, so carry medication and a first aid kit.
Ask the property where they send guests' animals. Front desks usually know, and they know who actually opens at night. Emergency vets by city.
Timing it from Mumbai
Humidity rather than heat is the Mumbai problem. Skin and ear infections are constant, and the monsoon adds standing water, which carries leptospirosis risk for dogs who walk through flooded streets.
Monsoon, roughly June to September, brings paw infections, leptospirosis risk and dogs who will not go outside. Ganpati and Diwali both bring firework and crowd stress.
Set that against Lansdowne, where the advice is to go march to june, september to november and avoid peak monsoon. The overlap between those two windows is your actual travel season, and it is usually narrower than either one suggests on its own.
Doing this journey with your dog
At around 27 hours of driving this is two days each way, which is the argument for the train. Feed light before you leave rather than not at all. A small meal three hours ahead settles most dogs better than an empty stomach, which brings its own nausea. Carry the food they already eat, since a strange brand on the road is how a holiday turns into a clean up. Roughly 27 hours in the car is long enough that what went in that morning matters.
Our breed climate checker scores how your breed copes with the conditions at Lansdowne, and the travel hub has the other 56 destinations if this one turns out to be the wrong fit.
Questions people ask
How far is Lansdowne from Mumbai?
Roughly 1940km by road, north east of Mumbai, which is around 27 hours of driving. At that distance almost nobody drives it with a dog, and the figure is an estimate rather than a looked-up number.
Should I fly or take the train from Mumbai to Lansdowne?
Flying is faster and harder on the dog. Airport handling, the noise, the hold if they are over the cabin limit, and a crate they cannot leave. A train is longer in hours and easier in every other respect, and you can walk them at station halts.
Can I drive from Mumbai to Lansdowne with a dog if I want to?
You can, over two or three days. Udaipur, Mount Abu, Jodhpur sit broadly along the corridor and make sensible overnight stops.
What is the best time to visit Lansdowne with a dog?
March to June, September to November. Avoid peak monsoon, because landslide risk.
Do I need to book pet friendly stays in Lansdowne ahead?
Yes, and confirm by phone rather than trusting a listing. Properties marked pet friendly frequently turn out to mean small dogs only, or specific rooms, or an undisclosed fee. Get the size limit in writing.
What should I pack for Mumbai to Lansdowne?
Water and a collapsible bowl, their own food rather than a new one, the physical vaccination card, any medication, a spare lead, poo bags and an old towel. The vaccination card is the item people leave behind and then need.
Distances are straight line figures adjusted for how Indian roads actually run, which adds roughly a third and more in hills. Times follow from that. Both are approximations.
Plan the whole trip
Give the planner your dates and your dog and it works out the stops, the timings and what to book first.
Open the trip plannerMore on Lansdowne: the full destination guide.