Mussoorie, Dhanaulti & Rishikesh — A Garhwal Family Holiday, 5 Nights

North across the plain to Dehradun and then the climb: thirty-five kilometres of hairpins from the Doon valley floor up to Mussoorie at about 2,000 m, with the valley opening out behind at every turn. Families flying in land at Jolly Grant, an hour and a half below the town, which makes this a short first day rather than a long one. The evening is the Mall Road on foot — closed to cars in its central stretch — and the first look down at the lights of Dehradun.

The ropeway up Gun Hill first, when the Garhwal peaks to the north are most likely to be out, then the level three-kilometre circuit of Camel's Back Road, which is a walk small children manage and prams can mostly follow. After lunch the road west to Kempty Falls, where the water comes down in stages into a pool with a shallow edge, and back up through Library Bazaar. The last of the afternoon goes to Landour, several hundred metres above the town: the 1830s church, the four-corner junction with its bakeries, and the Bandarpunch massif on the skyline if the air is clear.

A short morning drive east along the ridge, sixty kilometres of forest road with the valley on both sides, to Dhanaulti at 2,286 m. This is the quiet end of the range: deodar and pine, a few dozen rooms in the whole village and none of the Mall Road crowd. The two eco parks, Amber and Dhara, are laid out with rope walks, swings and short forest trails, and they are the reason this stop works for children. Late afternoon goes up to Surkanda Devi, a temple at 2,750 m reached by a steep kilometre and a half from Kaddukhal or by the ropeway that now runs there, with the high peaks behind it on a clear evening.

The descent from the ridge to the Ganga, losing nearly two thousand metres in ninety kilometres through Chamba and along the Tehri lake road. Rishikesh sits where the river leaves the mountains, and the afternoon is spent on its banks: the ashram bank across the water, the sand beach below Swarg Ashram, and then the aarti at Triveni Ghat around sunset, when the lamps go down the river on their leaf boats. Two of the three footbridges are out at the time of writing — Lakshman Jhula closed on safety grounds in 2019 and Ram Jhula closed on 25 July 2026 for a restoration expected to run to about December 2026 — so the crossings in use are Janki Setu and the new Bajrang Setu, and the Triveni ghats are being rebuilt, with the aarti performed from a temporary platform. The town is vegetarian and alcohol-free by law, which most families find makes the evenings easier rather than harder.

In the rafting season the morning belongs to the river: the shorter runs start upstream at Brahmapuri or Shivpuri and finish at Rishikesh, the state rules bar anyone under fourteen or over sixty-five from a raft, and everyone on the water is in a helmet and a buoyancy jacket. Out of season the same morning goes to the Neer Garh waterfall walk and the Beatles Ashram at Chaurasi Kutia, whose painted domes are now open to visitors. The afternoon is free for the market lanes, a cafe above the water, or an hour of yoga at one of the riverside schools.

Breakfast by the river and the drive out. Jolly Grant airport is an hour away, Haridwar railway station forty-five minutes, and Delhi about six hours by the Dehradun highway. If the flight or the train is late in the day there is time for Haridwar on the way: Har Ki Pauri in the middle of the morning, when the ghats are quiet, and a walk through the bazaar behind them.