Mussoorie

Captain Frederick Young shot game on this ridge in 1823 and built a shooting box; by 1841 the settlement had the Himalaya Club and a library, and the Savoy Hotel of 1902 would follow, hosting a murder that Agatha Christie is said to have borrowed. The Mall runs between Library Bazaar and Kulri, all pastry shops and rickshaws, with the Gun Hill ropeway rising to 2,024 m for a view of Banderpunch and the Gangotri group. But the real Mussoorie is uphill.

Landour, the old cantonment, is a loop of deodar-shaded lanes at 2,275 m: Char Dukan's four shops serve bun-omelettes and ginger-lemon-honey tea under a church spire, Sisters Bazaar's Prakash's store has sold its cheese and peanut butter since 1928, Kellogg Memorial Church of 1903 still runs the Landour Language School, and Lal Tibba, the highest point, faces the snows. Ruskin Bond has lived in Landour since 1963, latterly at Ivy Cottage, and the Cambridge Book Depot down in Kulri keeps a shelf of his books. The Camel's Back Road curves 3 km around the hill for sunset; Sir George Everest's house at Park Estate, from 1832, has been restored and stares at the Aglar valley; Kempty Falls, 15 km away, is the town's swimming hole; Cloud's End is a forest walk; and Jabarkhet Nature Reserve is the best-kept oak forest on the ridge.

Dhanaulti and the Surkanda Devi shrine are a morning's drive along the ridge toward Tehri. A Mussoorie day is best spent walking, and the town rewards every hour of it.