Pahadi House Partner Homestay

Grandparents Homestay, Matli

A family-run home on the Gangotri road in Matli, 8 km short of Uttarkashi, looking down at the Bhagirathi and the villages across the valley

NH-34, Matli · Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand 4.6 from 63 Google reviews

Mountain, river and village view stay

The house is on NH-34, easy to find, with plenty of room to park. Step off the highway and it goes quiet.

Every room is airy and has its own veranda, bathroom, kitchen and terrace. From all of them you look out at the mountains, the Bhagirathi, the villages on the far slope and the valley in between.

The road outside is the Gangotri highway, so there is no last hour of broken track to survive. You pull off the main road and you have arrived. Behind the house it is terraced fields, the kitchen garden and the polyhouse, with the Bhagirathi running below the village. The family lives on the property and cooks what the garden gives them.

Location: Gangotri Road (NH-34), Matli, Barahat Range, Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand 249193. About 8 km from Uttarkashi town. View on Google Maps

Setting: Above the Bhagirathi valley, with mountain, river, village and valley views, a kitchen garden, a polyhouse and an open-air cafeteria

Food: Organic and homemade local cooking, much of it from the garden. Every room also has its own kitchen

Tariff: Rates on request. Send your dates and how many of you are coming, and the family will quote

Facilities and experiences

Ample parkingOn the property, off NH-34
Spacious roomsWell ventilated
Private verandaAnd a terrace
Attached bathroomIn every room
Kitchen in the roomCook your own if you like
River and valley viewsMountains and villages too
Kitchen gardenFresh fruit and vegetables
Medicinal plantsLocal species in the garden
Organic home foodCooked by the family
PolyhouseProduce grown on site
Open-air cafeteriaTea with the view
Outdoor kitchenIn the garden
Solar powerUsed on the property
Compost, no plasticWaste handled on site
Family on siteAnd local staff

Fresh organic food, the valley in front of you, and a village getting on with its own day around you. That is the whole of it.

Your stay

Rooms here are built the way hill families build for their own guests rather than to a hotel plan. Each one is a self-contained space: a well-ventilated room, a private veranda to sit out on, an attached bathroom, its own kitchen, and a terrace. Tell the family how many of you are coming and which dates, and they will put you in the one that fits and quote for it.

Valley and river view from Grandparents Homestay at Matli

Valley-view room

Private veranda · attached bathroom · own kitchen
  • Spacious and well ventilated
  • Private veranda and terrace
  • Attached bathroom
  • Kitchen in the room
  • Mountain, river and village views
On request/ night
Chillies from the kitchen garden at Grandparents Homestay, Matli

Meals from the garden

Organic · home-cooked · local
  • Vegetables and fruit from the kitchen garden
  • Polyhouse produce through the cold months
  • Local Garhwali cooking on request
  • Open-air cafeteria and an outdoor kitchen
  • Cook for yourself if you would rather
On request/ meal
Grandparents Homestay on the Gangotri road at Matli, Uttarkashi

Easy to get to

On NH-34 · parking on site
  • Straight off the Gangotri highway
  • No rough last stretch to drive
  • Ample parking on the property
  • 8 km from Uttarkashi town
  • A natural halt on the way to Gangotri
Freeparking

The family has not published a fixed tariff, so rates move with the season and with how many rooms you need. Message with your dates and you will get a number back.

Things to do

Matli is a working village, not a resort strip, and most of what there is to do starts at the gate. The bigger outings (Gangotri, Harsil, the trek roadheads) need a car, and Uttarkashi is close enough that you can go in for the evening and come back.

Village walkTerraced fields around Matli
Farm workJoin in at the kitchen garden
Cooking with the familyGarhwali food, from scratch
BirdingAlong the Bhagirathi
Local craftWhat the village still makes
Vishwanath TempleUttarkashi, ~8 km
Dodital trekRoadhead ~30 km
Dayara BugyalRaithal base ~48 km
Harsil valley~80 km up the highway
Gangotri~108 km, a day trip

Good to know before you book

What the house gives you

  • ✓ A room with a private veranda and terrace
  • ✓ Attached bathroom and a kitchen in the room
  • ✓ Mountain, river, village and valley views
  • ✓ Organic, home-cooked local food
  • ✓ Kitchen garden, polyhouse and medicinal plants
  • ✓ Open-air cafeteria and an outdoor garden kitchen
  • ✓ Ample parking, straight off NH-34
  • ✓ The family living on site

Worth knowing

  • ✕ No fixed published tariff, so rates are quoted for your dates
  • ✕ Pets are not accepted here
  • ✕ Meals are charged separately, not bundled into a room rate
  • ✕ Transport, taxis and trek permits are on you
  • ✕ This is a village home rather than a hotel, so there is no reception desk and nobody brings food to your room
  • ✕ Not registered with Uttarakhand Tourism at the time of listing

How to reach

From Delhi~395 km · ~11 hr drive
From Dehradun~145 km · ~5 hr via Mussoorie
From Rishikesh~160 km · ~5.5 hr
Jolly Grant Airport~155 km · ~5.5 hr
Uttarkashi town~8 km · ~15 min
Matli helipadIn the village itself
Gangotri~108 km · ~4 hr
Harsil~80 km · ~3 hr

Most people drive up from Dehradun through Mussoorie, Chamba and Dharasu, or from Rishikesh along the Bhagirathi. Either way you stay on NH-34 and the house is on it, a little before Uttarkashi. There is no rough last stretch to drive and you do not have to walk in from a parking spot. If you are coming by train, get down at Dehradun or Rishikesh and take a taxi or a shared jeep from there. Send your arrival time when you book and the family will tell your driver where to pull in.

Questions people ask

Where exactly is Grandparents Homestay?
On the Gangotri road (NH-34) at Matli, in the Barahat range of Uttarkashi district, about 8 km before Uttarkashi town if you are driving up from Rishikesh or Dehradun. The postal address is Grand Parent’s Home Stay, Gangotri Road, Matli, Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand 249193. The property sits above the Bhagirathi, so the valley, the river and the villages on the far slope are all in view from the rooms.
What does a night cost?
The family has not put a fixed tariff out, and it changes with the season and with how many rooms you take. Send your dates on WhatsApp and you will get a rate back. Meals are quoted separately from the room, and since every room has its own kitchen you can also cook for yourself.
What is the food like?
Home cooking, and a lot of it comes off the property. There is a kitchen garden with fruit and vegetables, a polyhouse that keeps produce going through the colder months, and medicinal and local plants growing alongside. Ask for Garhwali dishes and you will get them. There is an open-air cafeteria and an outdoor kitchen in the garden as well, which is where most people end up sitting.
Is this a good base for Gangotri and the Char Dham?
Yes, and that is the practical reason a lot of people stop at Matli. You are already on the Gangotri highway with the climb done, Uttarkashi is 15 minutes away for supplies and registration, Gangotri is about 108 km further up, and Harsil is around 80 km. Matli also has the helipad that the Char Dham chopper services and rescue flights work out of. Better to break the drive here than push on up the valley in the dark.
Can I trek from here?
Uttarkashi is the trekking town for this whole stretch of Garhwal. The Dodital roadhead is roughly 30 km away, the Dayara Bugyal base at Raithal about 48 km, and Gangotri, where the Gaumukh and Tapovan trails start, about 108 km. Nothing serious starts from the doorstep, but plenty starts within a morning’s drive, and the house is a comfortable place to come back down to.
When is the best time to come?
April to June and September to November are the easy months, and they are also the Char Dham months, so book earlier if you are coming then. The monsoon between July and September is green and quiet, but landslides do close this highway from time to time and you should keep your plans loose. Winter is cold and clear, with the valley below and the peaks above at their sharpest.
Are pets allowed?
No. The family does not take pets at this property. 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. It opens a message to the family who run the house, with the name of the property already filled in so they know it came through Pahadi House. Send your dates, how many of you there are, and whether you want meals. No advance is needed just to check availability.

A homestay at Matli, on the road to Gangotri

Matli is a village in the Dunda block of Uttarkashi district, strung along the Rishikesh to Gangotri highway about 8 km before Uttarkashi town. Most people pass through it without noticing: it is the stretch where the road runs high above the Bhagirathi, with terraced fields dropping away on one side and the river turning below. The helipad that the Char Dham chopper services and mountain rescue flights use is here, which is the one thing Matli is usually named for.

Grandparents Homestay is on that road. The family who own it have kept it a home instead of turning it into a small hotel. They live on the property and grow a good part of what comes to the table, and each room is built so a family can manage on its own inside it: a veranda to sit on, a bathroom of its own, a kitchen, a terrace.

Why Matli rather than Uttarkashi town

Uttarkashi is the district headquarters and it behaves like one. It is busy, it is where the shops and the yatra registration and the trekking outfits are, and in season it is loud. Matli is eight kilometres of that noise away, on the same highway, with the valley open in front of it. You can drive in for whatever you need in a quarter of an hour and come back out to quiet. In the Char Dham months, when Uttarkashi fills up, those eight kilometres are worth a lot.

What is close by

  • Uttarkashi and the Vishwanath Temple is about 8 km away, the old temple town on the Bhagirathi.
  • Dodital has its roadhead roughly 30 km away, for one of Garhwal’s gentler high-lake treks.
  • Dayara Bugyal starts from Raithal, around 48 km, with meadows above the treeline.
  • Harsil is about 80 km further up the highway, apple country in the upper Bhagirathi.
  • Gangotri is roughly 108 km, comfortably a day trip from here in season.

The food

There is a kitchen garden, a polyhouse and a run of medicinal and local plants on the property, and the cooking leans on all three. Meals are organic and homemade in the plain sense of both words: picked that morning, cooked by the family. There is an open-air cafeteria and a second kitchen out in the garden, and in good weather that is where people eat. If you would rather cook, every room has a kitchen.

How this listing works

Grandparents Homestay is a partner homestay on the Pahadi House list, not a property we run. We visit and check the homes we list, we put them in front of guests, and the enquiry goes straight to the family, so you are talking to the people who will actually host you. If you run a homestay in the hills and want to be on this list, it is free to register.

To check dates, message the family at +91 79065 71580.

Stop at Matli on the way up

Send your dates on WhatsApp and the family will come back with a rate and whatever else you need to plan the drive.

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