Mussoorie

Mussoorie is a place that should be explored by walking. Having wide beautiful roads, it offers a magnificent view of the valley on one side, shops on the other and fountains and trees with wooden benches in between. Walk by all the shops which offers unique wooden handicraft, accessories, woollens and much more. Also at constant intervals there small vendors who sell delicious corns, momos, sweet corn, Maggie, coffee, eggs and much more. The weather there is pleasant throughout the day which makes walking along the Mussoorie Mall Road a wonderful experience.

Adventure Activities: When it comes to adventure activities, Mussoorie is gradually gaining a name for itself. The Mussoorie Adventure Park offers a plethora of adrenaline-pumping activities such as the skywalk, zip swings and zip lines, rappelling, skiing and paragliding. If camping and trekking is more your idea of an adventure, the park has facilities to arrange that too. River rafting is also a viral tourist activity in Mussoorie, where you can raft through challenging rapids along the Dhauliganga and Alaknanda rivers.

Vinification: Mussoorie also boasts of winemaking activity for tourists! Known as vinification, Mussoorie has several such workshops in the city where tourists are taught the process of making wine from scratch. The best part is that all of these workshops end with special wine tasting sessions!

Shopping: Mussoorie is often called a shopper’s paradise, and it has every reason to be. The main areas where you can shop in Mussoorie are Kulri Bazaar, Landour Bazaar and the Library, with shops selling everything from curious to antiques to jewellery to plush and stylish sweaters and shawls.

Also known as Indian ‘William Wordsworth’, Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent who is an icon in the history of Indian Literature. He is considered to be among the top Indian Writers and Novelists. Since 1963, he resides in Landour, a town in the Himalayan foothills of Uttarakhand. Acting as a freelance writer, his readers very often interact and seek his wisdom by meeting him in his hometown. People visiting Mussoorie often get a chance to meet this honourable writer during the weekends as every Saturday Mr Bond visits the Cambridge Book Depot, Mall Road from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM. A plethora of followers garner at the bookshop and wait for interaction and often get their books signed by him.

The name ‘Mussoorie’ is derived from the word ‘Mansoor’, name of a shrub that is commonly found in the area. In 1803, Gurkhas under the influence of Umer Singh Thapa fortified the region and incorporated the boundary of Mussoorie in their territory. During the time, East India Company was also dominant on the provinces and thus instigated combat in 1814.

Till 1819, they captured Saharanpur district and included it in their empire. During the same time, Dehradun was discovered by British Soldiers as a holiday spot for downtime. The place was kept under secrecy but not until the word of mouth spread among others and British officers came to know about it. In 1827, Mussoorie became popular as an ideal destination for summer vacation.

Mussoorie, being a popular tourist destination, has a platter from numerous cuisines to offer. Other than local cuisines, there are many other interesting highlights to the cuisine here. One finds Chinese, Tibetan, Indian, Thai, Moroccan, Italian, Goan and global cuisines in the town. Do indulge in the cakes, muffins as well as the many cafes and a few hookah bars here.

The Tibetan food is said to be the most mouth-watering and gets much limelight, so be sure to not miss the Momos here. The local cuisine of Uttarakhand that you might find here consists of Bhaang Ki Khatai, Kappa (a green curry), Sisunak Saag (a dish prepared with green leafy vegetables and many local ingredients), Aloo ke Gutke (a Kumauni potato dish), Rus (a preparation of many dals) and much more.