Hill Stations of the Himalaya

Long before air conditioning, the British Raj solved the problem of India’s punishing summer heat in the most direct way possible — by leaving. Each year, the colonial administration would relocate wholesale to towns built high in the foothills of the Himalaya, where pine forests, cool air, and mock-Tudor architecture created small transplanted fragments of England thousands of feet above the plains. Those hill stations remain today, layered now with over a century of Indian life on top of their colonial bones, and they offer a side of North India that the Golden Triangle, for all its monuments, never touches: mountains, forests, and a noticeably slower pace of life.

Shimla — The Raj’s Summer Capital

For several months of every year between 1864 and 1939, Shimla was not merely a hill station but the literal seat of British government in India, with the entire administrative apparatus relocating from Calcutta and later Delhi to escape the heat. That history is written plainly across the town today: the Viceregal Lodge, a vast neo-Gothic stone building that once housed the Viceroy himself, the Christ Church on the Ridge, and the Mall Road, still the social heart of Shimla, lined with colonial-era buildings now housing shops, cafés, and the curious sight of monkeys treating the rooftops as their own territory.

Shimla is also the terminus of the Kalka-Shimla Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage narrow-gauge line completed in 1903 specifically to connect the summer capital to the plains below, climbing nearly 5,000 feet across 864 bridges and 102 tunnels in a journey that remains, by any measure, one of the great railway engineering achievements of the colonial era. Where schedules allow, we include a stretch of this route — known affectionately as the “toy train” — as a genuinely memorable way to arrive in or depart from the hills.

Manali — Where the Plains Give Way to the Greater Himalaya

Continuing deeper into Himachal Pradesh, Manali sits at the head of the Kullu Valley, surrounded by snow-capped peaks and pine forest, and serves as the gateway to some of the most dramatic mountain scenery accessible by road in this part of India. The Solang Valley, a short drive from town, offers sweeping views toward glaciated peaks and, depending on season, activities ranging from paragliding to (in winter) skiing on modest slopes.

Old Manali, across the river from the newer town centre, retains a more traditional Himachali character — wooden houses with slate roofs, apple orchards (the region’s other major export alongside tourism), and the Hadimba Temple, an extraordinary four-tiered wooden pagoda-style structure dating to 1553, dedicated to a goddess from the Mahabharata and built in a uniquely Himalayan architectural style found almost nowhere else in India.

The Road Itself — One of the Journey’s Highlights

Unlike the relatively flat drives of the Golden Triangle, the roads connecting these hill towns are themselves part of the experience — switchbacks climbing through pine and deodar forest, valleys opening suddenly to reveal distant snow peaks, and roadside dhabas serving hot chai exactly when the mountain air makes you want it most. We build extra time into the driving days specifically to allow for unplanned stops; some of the most memorable photographs from this itinerary come from pull-offs that were never on the original plan.

Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj — A Himalayan Tibet in Exile

Our western Himalaya route typically concludes in Dharamshala, and specifically its upper neighbourhood of McLeod Ganj, home to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile since 1960. The result is a hill station with a genuinely distinct character from anywhere else on this itinerary — Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and prayer-flag-draped hillsides, excellent Tibetan cuisine, and the Tsuglagkhang temple complex, the holiest Tibetan Buddhist site outside Tibet itself, which visitors of any faith are welcome to enter respectfully.

The surrounding Dhauladhar range provides a dramatic backdrop, snow-covered for much of the year, and several excellent short and long treks begin directly from McLeod Ganj for travellers wanting to get out on foot rather than just admire the mountains from a vehicle.

A Cooler, Greener Counterpoint

This itinerary works particularly well either as a standalone escape from India’s heat, or as a deliberate counterpoint booked alongside a Golden Triangle journey — many of our guests tell us the contrast between Rajasthan’s desert forts and these pine-covered Himalayan valleys is, in itself, one of the most memorable aspects of seeing both within the same trip. Best visited outside the heaviest winter snow (December–February can close some higher roads) and outside the monsoon (July–August brings heavy rain to these hills), with March to June and September to November offering the clearest mountain views and most comfortable travelling conditions.