Shimla - Summer Capital of British India

Shimla was built by the British as an escape from the Indian heat, and four days here is enough to feel why they kept coming back. What started as a scattering of wooden cottages around Jakhoo hill grew into the summer capital of the Raj, and much of that layered colonial history is still visible in the town's streets and buildings.

This is a slower, culture-and-history focused few days rather than a mountain trek — you're here to walk through a hill station shaped by 19th-century politics, war treaties, and the British habit of building a little England at altitude.

What you'll do

• Visit Jakhoo hill, the forested site that predates British Shimla
• See Kennedy House, one of the first proper British residences built here in 1822
• Explore the old colonial settlement that grew from 30 houses to over 1,141 by 1881
• Learn about the Shimla-Kalka railway line, built in 1906 to link the hill station to the plains