4.3 stars · around 2,040 Google reviews, more than any other café in Bir · 10 am–9.30 pm daily · above the 150m mark, Bir Colony Road · about ₹200–400 for one. Ratings and hours checked August 2026. Tripadvisor rates it lower, 4.0 from a small sample of 13 reviews.
The Northern Cafe has more Google reviews than any other café in Bir and one of the lower ratings on this list. Both facts are explained by the same thing: almost nobody comes here for the food.
They come for the view, and the view is extraordinary. From the terrace you look straight down the length of the valley with paragliders crossing the sky in front of you and, on a clear evening, the Dhauladhar going pink behind them. It is one of the best free sights in the Kangra valley, and the sunset is the single most-mentioned thing in the reviews by a distance.
The walk, and how long it actually takes
The café sits above the 150-metre mark on the Bir Colony road, and getting up there means about a kilometre of trail — call it ten minutes at a steady pace, longer if you stop. You will see it described as a five-minute stroll. It is not. Follow the signboards; they are clear enough, though a number of reviewers still report struggling to find the start.
It is a real, if short, climb. Two pieces of advice from people who did it wrong: do not attempt it carrying luggage — visitors arriving straight off the bus with backpacks all say the same thing — and do not do it in flip-flops after rain. Go slowly, and remember you are at around 1,500 metres, so the first climb of your trip will feel steeper than it is.
What to order, and what to expect
This is where honesty is more useful to you than enthusiasm. The reviews split down the middle on the kitchen. Some people eat well; plenty find the food ordinary for the price and the wait, and the waits get long during the sunset rush when everyone orders at once. The management does not hide from it — they reply to critical reviews individually and acknowledge the feedback about food and timing, which is more than most places do.
So order accordingly. The safe list, drawn from what people actually praise: the hot chocolate, the shakes, the chamomile tea, the cold coffee, cheese chilli toast, siddu, thukpa and the banana-nuts-honey bowl. Treat it as a drinks-and-a-snack sunset spot rather than a dinner destination and you will leave very happy.
One more note worth taking seriously: if you are thinking of travelling in from Palampur or Dharamshala purely to visit this café, it is not worth the journey on its own. It is worth it as the place you go after your flight, when you are already in Bir.
Timing
Open 10 am to 9.30 pm daily, which makes it one of the few places in Bir still serving after nine. But the whole point is sunset, and the terrace starts filling thirty to forty minutes before the light goes — regulars say get up there by half three in winter if you want the full show and the moonrise after it. Take a table with a view, order a drink, and wait. They are run by the Feel Alive Camps group and do take table bookings, which is worth using on a weekend in season.
If it's closed, or full
It never closes for a weekly day, but it does fill, and the sunset terrace is first-come unless you have booked. The alternative sunset is Charlie's down at the landing site — three levels, a rooftop, no climb, and a kitchen people are happier with. Café Buransh is thirty seconds further and does the better Himachali food. If you have made the climb and simply cannot get a table, Ara Cafe in main Bir has the other mountain-facing terrace in the village.
Northern is the view. Manage the kitchen expectations and it is unbeatable. The full roundup: the best cafés in Bir. Basing yourself here for a while? Our Bir Billing workation guide covers where to work, eat and wander, and Bir beyond paragliding covers the monasteries, the tea factory and the Rajgundha trail. Flying while you are here? See paragliding in Bir Billing.
← All blog postsQuestions, answered
Is The Northern Cafe worth visiting?+
For the sunset, yes — it is the widest valley view from any café in Bir. For the food, manage your expectations and order simply: drinks, hot chocolate, siddu, thukpa and toast rather than a full dinner.
How far is the walk to The Northern Cafe?+
About a kilometre of uphill trail from the road, roughly ten minutes at a steady pace — not the five-minute stroll some listings suggest. Follow the signboards, and do not carry heavy bags up.
What is the best time to visit The Northern Cafe?+
Thirty to forty minutes before sunset, to get a terrace table before the rush. It is open 10 am to 9.30 pm daily, later than most of Bir, and the kitchen slows badly during the sunset hour.