Hotting up Indian hill stations swamped by tourists escaping extreme heat in cities

Until recently, the drive up to Landour was a highlight of a visit to the small hilltop town as drivers enjoyed glorious Himalayan views and breathed in the cool forest air.

- Sapna Gopal

Today, the journey is something to be endured, with up to 1,000 cars a day clogging the narrow, winding road - slowing to navigate hairpin bends. A journey that once took five to six hours from Delhi can now take up to 10 hours, especially at weekends in May and June.

Sitting in the foothills of the Himalayas at an altitude of more than 2,100 metres (7,000ft), Landour, a town of under 4,000 people, was built by the British Indian army in the early 1820s as a convalescence station, thanks to its cooler temperatures. Although little more than two miles from Mussoorie, a popular destination known as the "queen of the hills", Landour was considered off the beaten track and drew few visitors.

But today, the oven-like heat in India's cities has led to a big increase in visitors to popular hill stations, encouraging people to explore lesser-known, more remote villages such as Landour. Now, this once tranquil haven, where tourists could delight in birdsong and the scent of warm cakes coming from the teahouses, is now filled with the sounds of honking horns and the reek of exhaust fumes.

Exposure during the pandemic, when social media influencers started to visit Landour and highlight its isolation and lack of crowds in videos, has also contributed to its rising popularity.

"Before this, very few tourists would come here," says Ankita Singh, chief executive of Landour cantonment board. "The [social media] reels made it popular. In the last five to six years, the number of tourists has grown exponentially.

Recently, a 62-year-old man died in the ambulance before he could reach the hospital in Mussoorie, owing to the traffic jam."