From Delhi: 3-Day Mussoorie Hills and Waterfalls Tour

Two thousand metres up, seven hours from Delhi

Mussoorie sits on a ridge in the Garhwal Himalaya above Dehradun, and the British called it the Queen of the Hills. It is the closest proper hill station to Delhi and the temperature difference is the entire point: twenty degrees cooler than the plains in June.

Day 1: the drive, and the Mall

05:30 pickup, then seven to eight hours via Dehradun with the last hour on switchbacks.

The Mall Road is the spine of the town — pedestrianised in stretches, lined with colonial-era buildings, and where everyone in Mussoorie ends up in the evening. Gun Hill, reached by cable car, gives you the Doon valley on one side and the snow peaks on the other on a clear day.

Camel's Back Road is a three-kilometre walk around the ridge with no traffic at all, and it is the best thing in the town.

Day 2: waterfalls and views

Kempty Falls, 15 km out, dropping about 40 metres in tiers — busy, cheerful and thoroughly Indian, with a cable car down to the pools. Go early if you want it quiet.

Lal Tibba, the highest point, where a telescope points at Badrinath and Kedarnath. Company Garden, and Mussoorie Lake below the town.

And Landour, the cantonment above Mussoorie: quieter, greener, with four colonial churches, a bakery that has been there since the 1860s, and Ruskin Bond's bookshop — he still signs books there most Saturdays.

Day 3: back to Delhi

With a stop at Rishikesh or Haridwar on the way down if the timing allows.

Practical

Private air-conditioned car and driver throughout.

Mussoorie is cold from November to March and can snow in January. Carry layers whatever the plains are doing.

The roads are switchbacks — take something for motion sickness if you are prone to it.