The Enduring Colonial Allure of Mussoorie
Captain Young set this place up back in the 1820s, working for the British East India Company. People have been coming to Mussoorie ever since. It's India's classic Himalayan hill getaway. The town stretches across a 15 kilometer ridge shaped like a horseshoe, with the green Doon Valley dropping off one side and snow topped Garhwal peaks rising on the other. Old colonial buildings sit right alongside wild forest.
Mall Road pulls you in first. Wooden shops stacked with souvenirs, bakeries pumping out smells, kids yelling at arcade machines. Walk a little higher and Landour goes quiet. Cedar trees everywhere, and Ruskin Bond still lives around there, the writer everyone associates with this place. You want waterfalls? Kempty Falls thunders down in white sheets. Prefer a hike? George Everest Peak is where the old surveyors worked, and the views pay you back for the climb. Gun Hill has a ropeway and a sunset you'll talk about for years.