Mussoorie is among the most famous hill stations in the state of Uttarakhand in India. It falls under Dehradun (capital of Uttrakhand) District, which is located approx 35 Km away from Delhi – the distance is approx 290 Km.
Other famous hill stations of Uttarakhand are – Nainital, Kanatal, Dhanaulti, Lansdowne, Sattal, Almora, Kasauni, Bhimtal & Ranikhet.
We traveled to Mussorie a couple of years back in 2011 from Delhi on a short vacation of 1N2D
We hired a cab from Delhi and started our journey on a Saturday morning. On the way, we stopped for a quick Breakfast at Cheetal– the famous stopover for food on the Delhi-Dehradun highway.
It has a beautiful garden view & a small zoo with rear birds. It took us 6-7 hrs to reach Dehradun, where we decided to stay.
We reached Dehradun by Noon. After our lunch, we took some rest and decided to head to a sightseeing location called – Sahastradhara. This is about 11 Km from the city.
Sahastradhara
A ropeway ride is available to reach the hilltop – to enjoy the view from the hilltop, a beautiful small Lord Shiva temple, and a small park. We originally didn’t plan to go to this place, but the manager of our hotel suggested this place, and it was good that we went there & luckily, the weather was fantastic that day.
After taking Darshan to the temple, we enjoyed the beauty of the place by roaming around and taking a lot of pictures. For all photo lovers who love to pose, there are a lot of scenic/picturesque opportunities available.
The place has an ecstatic beauty of nature where water drips from limestone stalactites, making the water sulfur abundant; thus, the place is also called a sulfur spring.
The view from the hilltop was superb, and on top of it, it started drizzling. Awesome feeling!!!!
There is a small café to enjoy some snacks and play pool/snooker while enjoying the beauty
We also tried our hands with bow and arrow aiming balloons. The Bow & arrow was heavier than I thought it would be.
Later in the evening, we gorged on hot and spicy noodles in a nearby food joint & then came back to our hotel and rested our day.
Mussoorie
The next day morning, we headed for Mussoorie. We went to the most popular tourist spot – Kempty Falls- the famous waterfall.
After reaching there, my first reaction was,….’it is just like any other waterfall…. why are people so crazy about this place…. it is so very crowded….etc. etc
We decided to roam around the place as we had come such a long way. So, we started walking and reached a place where everyone was enjoying the waterfall, but somehow, we were not interested in just being part of the crowd. From there, we just saw boating options available, so thought let’s go there, as it was not at all crowded.
When we reached the boating area, we found another waterfall there, and my day was made. This waterfall is not visible from the top, so not many people take pain to come down. Also, from the top, it looks like there is only a boating option available, so people who really love boating come all the way down.
The waterfall here is really amazing, and the view from this place is superb
After enjoying the waterfall, we went boating as the weather was good. On reaching a ticket counter, we saw a huge ball there. Of curiosity, we got to know – that the ball will float on water with you inside. The idea of being inside the ball and running on the water was very exciting. We had not seen or experienced this activity till then, so we decided to give it a try.
It seemed pretty easy in the photo/video we saw, but forget about running, we were not even able to stand inside the ball once it is in water. Somehow, I managed to crawl. It was so much fun.
Post both these tough physical activities, we decided to eat something. We enjoyed hot Maggie and tea. Sudden drizzling did “icing on the cake”.
While coming back up, we crossed that crowded waterfall, and I thought people here were really missing so many things. At the same time, thank god that these people are not exploring the place; otherwise, we would not have enjoyed it so very much.
The moral of the story is that one should always try new things and should not only follow the crowd. There are unexplored things/places, waiting for you, if you give a chance.
Although I agree that the boat thing needed a lot of walking, even I had in my mind that we had to come all the way up later; but thanks to our decision, we went down and had such an amazing time.
Important Tip – One should visit this place in the morning during peak season, or else they will get stuck in traffic jams, which take almost 4-5 hrs to clear. There is one point where the road is very narrow due to the hilly area.
We were lucky enough to cross that narrow stretch before lunchtime. We had our late lunch back in the hotel in Dehradun. Post lunch we proceeded back to Delhi while taking couple of stopovers at sightseeing places (museum, Flower Garden etc …) in Dehradun.
High points which made our trip worthwhile and memorable –
- Staying in Dehradun instead of Mussorie
- Exploring Sahstradhara
- Going towards the boating area only to find amazing activities and hidden waterfalls instead of following the crowd.