Listed by Pahadi House

Basa Stay, Khirsu

A stone and timber house at Khirsu, 1,780 m up in the oak and pine, thirteen km short of Pauri

Gawad, Khirsu · Pauri Garhwal 4.4 from 199 Google reviews

A stone house in the Khirsu forest

Khirsu is a village of a few hundred people at about 1,780 m, thirteen km short of Pauri, with oak and pine on every side and the Garhwal snow line across the valley. Almost nobody stops here. The road carries on to Pauri and to Srinagar and most cars go with it.

Basa Stay is built the way houses here were built before concrete arrived. Stone walls, a timber upper floor, carved door and window frames, a slate roof, and a verandah running the length of the front on wooden posts. The courtyard is stone paved. Inside, the rooms are plain and wood lined.

What reviewers write about is the building and the quiet. The food gets good marks when it arrives. Several of them also point out that Khirsu is a village rather than a resort strip, and that anybody after a bar and a spa has come to the wrong hill.

Location: Basa Stay, Gawad, Khirsu, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand 246147. About 13 km from Pauri town and 14 km from Srinagar. View on Google Maps

Setting: A stone and timber house at roughly 1,780 m, in oak and pine forest, with the Garhwal peaks across the valley on a clear morning

Food: Garhwali home cooking, and breakfast is included. Order meals ahead rather than on the hour: the kitchen is small and supplies come up from Srinagar

Tariff: Rs 4,000 a night with breakfast included. Other meals are charged separately, so confirm the full figure when you book

Facilities and experiences

Traditional stone buildTimber upper floor, slate roof
Carved woodDoors, windows and posts
Long verandahRuns the front of the house
Wood lined roomsPlain and warm
Breakfast includedGarhwali home cooking
Wi-FiOn the property
Free parkingIn the courtyard
Oak and pine forestStraight off the property
Snow peaksAcross the valley on a clear day
Forest trailsVillage paths from the door
BirdingHimalayan species in the oak
Garden gazebosTwo, on the lawn
Snow in winterKhirsu gets it most years
Temple countryKandoliya, Dhari Devi, Tarkeshwar
4.4 on GoogleFrom 199 reviews

Your stay

Rs 4,000 a night. Breakfast is included, other meals are extra. Send your dates and the size of your group and ask for the full rate including meals.

Room at Basa Stay with exposed stone walls, a timber ceiling and a wooden floor, Khirsu

Wood lined rooms

Doubles and twins · attached bathroom
  • Exposed stone walls and timber ceilings
  • Attached bathroom
  • Windows onto the forest or the courtyard
  • Blankets and heating for the cold months
Rs 4,000/ night
Bedroom at Basa Stay with a stone wall, lit alcove and wooden ceiling, Khirsu

The common room

Long table · verandah · breakfast
  • Meals served at a long wooden table
  • Breakfast is included in the rate
  • Verandah to sit out on all day
  • Order dinner earlier in the day
Includedwith the room
Carved wooden pillars along the upper balcony at Basa Stay, Khirsu

The balcony and the grounds

Carved pillars · gazebos · forest
  • Upper balcony on carved wooden pillars
  • Two gazebos on the lawn below
  • Oak and pine straight off the property
  • Snow peaks across the valley on a clear day
Includedwith the stay

Things to do

Khirsu is a walking place. The temples and the two towns are all inside half an hour by road, and everything else worth doing here starts at the gate and goes uphill.

Village walkKhirsu and the forest paths
Oak and pine trailsFrom the property
BirdingHimalayan species in the oak
Snow peak viewsChaukhamba and the Garhwal range
Kandoliya temple~12 km
Dhari Devi~13 km, on the Alaknanda
Pauri town~13 km
Srinagar and the Alaknanda~14 km
Tarkeshwar Mahadev~28 km, deodar forest
Jwalpa Devi~33 km

Good to know before you book

What the house gives you

  • ✓ A wood lined room with an attached bathroom
  • ✓ Breakfast, cooked in the house
  • ✓ The verandah and the stone courtyard
  • ✓ Oak and pine forest from the gate
  • ✓ Free parking and Wi-Fi
  • ✓ Snow peak views across the valley on a clear day
  • ✓ Two gazebos and the lawn

Worth knowing

  • ✕ Meals other than breakfast are charged separately and want ordering in advance
  • ✕ The kitchen is small and the choice is short. Two reviewers have said so plainly
  • ✕ One review from July 2026 said the property had closed. Later reviews say otherwise, but call before you drive up
  • ✕ A 2025 review complained about the caretaker and about being charged extra on site. Agree the full rate on the phone first
  • ✕ Khirsu is a village of a few hundred people. The nearest real shopping is Srinagar, 14 km down
  • ✕ Pets are not listed as accepted here
  • ✕ This is not a Pahadi House partner homestay and we have not stayed here ourselves

How to reach

From Delhi~330 km · ~9 hr drive
From Rishikesh~79 km · ~3 hr
From Haridwar~101 km · ~3.5 hr
Jolly Grant airport~93 km · ~3.5 hr
From Dehradun~115 km · ~4 hr
Srinagar, Uttarakhand~14 km · ~30 min
Pauri town~13 km · ~30 min
Devprayag~37 km · ~1.5 hr

The drive is Rishikesh to Devprayag to Srinagar along the Alaknanda, then up the hill towards Pauri and off at Khirsu. About three hours from Rishikesh, tarred the whole way, and you can pull straight into the courtyard. Jolly Grant is the nearest airport at roughly three and a half hours and Rishikesh is the nearest railhead. Ring ahead with your arrival time. Khirsu is small and the turning is easy to miss.

Questions people ask

Where exactly is Basa Stay?
At Gawad in Khirsu village, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand 246147. Khirsu sits at about 1,780 m, roughly 13 km from Pauri town and 14 km up from Srinagar on the Alaknanda. Some booking sites file it under Srinagar, Uttarakhand, which is the nearest town rather than the address.
Is this the BASA community tourism project?
No. That one sits near the block office and was built with the Pauri tourism department and the Unnati women’s self help group. This is a different property at Gawad, run privately and managed by Shivansh Inn Resort. Both use the Garhwali word basa, which is roughly an invitation to stay the night, and the names get mixed up constantly.
What does a night cost?
Rs 4,000 a night, with breakfast included. Other meals are charged separately. Ask for the full figure when you book, because one guest has written about being charged extra after arriving.
What is the food like?
Garhwali home cooking, and breakfast comes with the room. Reviews are positive about the food and less positive about the range and the timing, so order ahead and do not expect a menu. Supplies come up from Srinagar.
Is it worth going to Khirsu at all?
If you want a quiet forest village with snow peaks across the valley and almost nothing to do, yes. If you want sights, no. Khirsu has a park, a temple or two, and oak and pine in every direction. Pauri is thirteen km away for anything else.
Does it snow?
Khirsu gets snow most winters at 1,780 m, usually between late December and February. It is the quietest time to come and the coldest, so check the road before setting out.
Are pets allowed?
Pets are not listed as accepted here. If you are travelling with a dog, tell us and we will point you at one of the pet friendly homestays on our list instead.
How do I book?
Use the WhatsApp button on this page, which opens a message with the property name in it. Confirm the rate, the meals and that they are open for your dates before you commit to the drive.

A homestay in Khirsu, thirteen km short of Pauri

Basa Stay is at Gawad in Khirsu, a village of a few hundred people in Pauri Garhwal at about 1,780 m. Plenty of people have heard of Khirsu and very few of them come. What is here is oak and pine forest, a park, a couple of temples and the Garhwal snow line across the valley. There is nothing to hurry for.

The house is stone at the bottom and timber above, with carved door and window frames, a slate roof and a verandah along the whole front of it. Houses here were built like this before cement arrived and not many are still standing. The courtyard is stone paved, two gazebos sit on the lawn, and the forest starts at the edge of the property.

The other BASA in Khirsu

There is a second, better known BASA here. The Pauri tourism department and the Unnati women’s self help group built it near the block office as a community tourism centre, with an exhibition of Khirsu’s own heritage inside, and the architecture press has written it up. This page is not about that one. Basa Stay at Gawad is a separate property, privately run and managed by Shivansh Inn Resort. The two share a name and nothing else.

What is close by

  • Kandoliya temple, above Pauri with the range in front of it, about twelve km.
  • Dhari Devi on the Alaknanda, about thirteen km, one of Garhwal’s most visited shrines.
  • Pauri town at thirteen km and Srinagar at fourteen, in opposite directions.
  • Tarkeshwar Mahadev, roughly twenty eight km, a Shiva temple in deodar forest.
  • Jwalpa Devi, about thirty three km down the Nayar valley.

What the reviews actually say

Basa Stay holds 4.4 from 199 Google reviews and they do not all agree. The good ones are about the building and the quiet, and several name the staff. The bad ones are just as specific. One guest in 2025 wrote about a caretaker who overcharged and served food late. Another found the choice of food too narrow. A review in July 2026 said the property had closed, although people have posted since about staying there. That is a mixed picture rather than a bad one, and it is the reason to ring first, settle the full rate, and check they are open before driving three hours up from Rishikesh.

How this listing works

Basa Stay is not a Pahadi House partner and we have not stayed here. This page exists because somebody asked us where to stay in Khirsu. There are not many options and this is the most interesting building among them. Everything above comes from the property’s own site, its Google listing and its reviews. If you run a homestay in the hills and want a page we have actually been to, it is free to register.

To check dates, message the family at +91 94120 50234.

Ask Basa Stay about your dates

Message on WhatsApp to check your dates, and confirm the meals and that they are open before you set off.

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