Mussoorie, located some 250 miles north of Delhi, is among the most popular
hill stations of India, and is called “the Queen of the hill stations”.
It overlooks the sprawling Doon valley and the city of Dehradun, the gateway
to Mussoorie and infact to the entire Garhwal. Mussoorie, a hill resort at a
height of around 7,000 ft above the sea level, straddles a ridge in the
Garhwal Himalayas - a region that is fast developing into a major tourism
destination of India.
Honeymooner’s
Paradise
Although Mussoorie, as a hill station was established only as back as in
1823, it has quite an intriguing past. Mussoorie was never an official
summer capital unlike Shimla - a hill station in the state of Himachal
Pradesh, which was the summer capital of the British Indian Government and
even unlike Nainital - the summer capital of the united provinces government
in British India. Mussoorie always remained unofficial - for the affairs of
heart. It has always been a gossipy place - with an air of informality and a
tradition of romance - The Honeymoon Capital of India.
An idyllic stroll through any of the meandering mountain roads of the town
on a clear and sunny day will bring you to some of the well known and not so
well known spots - each having its own tales to tell - Landour Bazaar, Chaar
dukaan, Lal tibba, Gun hill, the Camel Back Cemetery, the Mussoorie Library,
and of course the Hotel Savoy - an historical edifice in itself.
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PLACES OF INTEREST
AROUND MUSSOORIE
- Haridwar
Gateway to the four pilgrimages in the Uttaranchal state, is
located on the foot hills of Shivaliks.
- Rishikesh
Rishikesh is known as the Tapo Bhumi or the place for meditation of
the Gods. Rishikesh is one of the popular pilgrimage for the Hindus.
At this place the Ganges leaves the mountains and prepares herself
to begin a long journey through the plains.
- Kempty Falls
If you're not quite ready for such seclusion, take the western trip
out to Kempty Falls, a 15-km drive from Mussoorie. Also served by
regular buses and taxis this perennial cascade is a mountain stream
which has cut and sculpted its way through great boulders and down
rock faces offering a stimulating, drenching, shower when it reaches
a sandy basis before rushing on. Here there is snack bar and bridge
and, inevitably, a few photographers. The journey down is a 20
minute stroll, the way up is a 30 minute trudge, and you should
allow half an hour or so at the base of the falls.
- Nag Tibba
55-kms from Mussoorie is very good place for trekking. Nag Tibba,
as it is called, is the highest place around Mussoorie. It is
surrounded by thick dense forests. The actual trekking for Nag Tibba
starts some 21-kms away from the place. The 34 kms journey from
Mussoorie is done on Taxi or Bus and the rest is covered on foot.
- Gun Hill
Another must-do thing in Mussoorie, apart from shopping, is a ride
in the 'Ropeway': the cable car that carries visitors from the
roundabouts and snackbars of the Childrens' Playground on the Mall
to the heights of Gun Hill. Around its flat top are snack stalls and
over a hundred photographers who snap visitors in glittering 'hilly
girl' costumes, as brigands with ferocious mustaches and turbans,
and as country-and-western stars with guitars and straw-hats. But
quite apart from these 'souvenirs' of your Mussoorie visit', Gun
Hill also offers excellent all-round views of Mussoorie, Dehra Dun,
the eternal snows of the higher Himalayas and the wooded slopes of
the sister- town of Landour.
- Dhanolti
If you walk past the clock tower and look between the plains and
the rising slopes of Landour, you'll see a road that leads to the
green meadows and Deodar forests of Dhanolti, 24-kms away. There's
both a forest bungalow and a tourist bungalow and a tourist bungalow
at Dhanolti and its a delightfully lonely place to spend a weekend
from Mussoorie.
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