Shimla Travel Guide

The Ridge is a broad, vehicle-free promenade along the top of Shimla, and effectively the town's living room. Mall Road runs below it with bookshops, tailors, cafés and the Gaiety Theatre of 1887, restored and still staging performances. Scandal Point at the junction takes its name from a supposed elopement involving the Maharaja of Patiala. It is the obvious thing to do in Shimla and still the right one — especially at dusk when the whole town walks it.

Timings

Open access · shops roughly 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM

Ticket

Free

Time needed

2 – 3 hours

Best time

Late afternoon to evening

At 2,455 m, Jakhoo Hill is the highest point in Shimla, and the Hanuman temple at the summit is said to mark where he rested while searching for the Sanjeevani herb. The 108-foot statue erected in 2010 is visible from almost anywhere in town. Reaching it means a steep 30–45 minute walk from the Ridge, or a ropeway. The macaques at the top are numerous, bold and practised thieves — spectacles and phones disappear regularly.

Timings

Around 5:00 AM – 8:00 PM

Ticket

Free · ropeway approx. ₹500 return

Time needed

1.5 – 2 hours

Best time

Sunrise

At 2,720 m, Kufri gets reliable winter snow and becomes Shimla's skiing and tobogganing outlet; in summer it offers wide views towards the greater Himalaya. The Himalayan Nature Park nearby houses species including the Himalayan monal. Be warned that Kufri is heavily commercialised and that the horse rides along the muddy track to the top are frequently criticised on animal-welfare grounds — the views from the road are much the same.

Timings

Around 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Ticket

Nature park approx. ₹50 – ₹100 · activities extra

Time needed

Half day

Best time

December – February for snow

Consecrated in 1857, Christ Church is the second-oldest church in north India and the building every photograph of Shimla contains. The neo-Gothic frame is butter-yellow with a clock tower added later, and the stained-glass windows represent Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Patience and Humility. The pipe organ, installed in 1899, is among the oldest in the country. It is floodlit after dark, which is when the Ridge is at its best.

Timings

Around 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM · services on Sunday

Ticket

Free

Time needed

30 minutes

Best time

Evening, when it is lit

Completed in 1888 on Observatory Hill, the Viceregal Lodge was the summer seat of British power in India — and the room where the decision to partition the subcontinent was taken. Built in Jacobethan style in grey sandstone, it was electrified before much of Britain was. It now houses the Indian Institute of Advanced Study; guided tours cover a limited set of ground-floor rooms, and the gardens are immaculate and open more widely.

Timings

Around 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (closed Monday)

Ticket

Grounds approx. ₹50 · guided tour approx. ₹100

Time needed

1.5 hours

Best time

Morning