Best Places to Visit This Summer That You Should Not Miss

May arrives and the decision becomes urgent. The plains are genuinely difficult, Delhi at 44 degrees, Mumbai's slow steam, the specific misery of an office that air conditioning makes bearable but barely. The question isn't whether to leave. It's where.

The best places to visit this summer that you should not miss split neatly between two states that the Himalayan geography has blessed with the elevation, the forest cover, and the specific cool that makes June feel like October. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Between them, they cover every version of the Indian summer escape, the culture trip, the quiet retreat, the family circuit, the solo walk through a hill town that hasn't been processed for mass tourism yet.

Here's the breakdown.

Himachal Pradesh: Where the Summer Escape Has More Than One Answer

Dharamshala

1,457 metres. The Dhauladhar range directly behind the ridge. Summer temperature between 18 and 28 degrees. The Kangra Valley below and the Tibetan cultural infrastructure above, the 200-year-old country manor character of the town sitting alongside the monasteries, the Tibetan market, the Dal Lake walk.

Dharamshala in summer works because the elevation is serious enough to produce genuine relief without the cold that makes the higher destinations difficult outside a narrow window. The Naddi viewpoint for the Himalayan panorama. Bhagsu Nag waterfall. The morning walk through the Kangra Valley landscape before the day heats up.

WelcomHeritage Grace Hotel, Dharamshala, a 200-year-old country manor built in traditional hill architecture, situated in the Kangra Valley. Proximity to Dal Lake, Naddi viewpoint, and St. John Church. The heritage character that modern construction can't replicate.

McLeod Ganj

The road from lower Dharamshala climbs to McLeod Ganj, the Tibetan settlement that grew around the Dalai Lama's residence and developed a cultural identity that no other Indian hill town carries. Summer here means cool mornings, the Tsuglagkhang complex without the January cold, the Triund trek accessible, the cafes running.

The specific character of McLeod, part Himalayan hill station, part Tibetan settlement, the monastery a fifteen-minute walk from most of the town, is the summer trip for the traveller whose brief goes beyond the standard hill station circuit.

WelcomHeritage Natraj, McLeod Ganj, Ward No. 3, McLeodganj Road, upper McLeod Ganj. Heritage property directly positioned in the town's main circuit, the monastery, the Tibetan market, the Triund trailhead all accessible from the address.

Kasauli

77 kilometres from Shimla. 1,795 metres. The cantonment character, pine-lined roads, colonial-era bungalows, Monkey Point at the highest elevation with the Himalayan panorama and the plains visible simultaneously. Summer in Kasauli is what Shimla feels like on a quiet weekday in February. The difference is that Kasauli maintains this atmosphere through June and July without the weekend crowd density that Shimla's fame generates.

The traveller who has done Shimla and wants the Himachal hills without the traffic, Kasauli is the correct answer.

WelcomHeritage Parv Vilas Resort & Spa and WelcomHeritage Santa Roza, Kasauli, Gandhigram and Mauza Kot respectively. Both reflect the cantonment character that makes Kasauli worth choosing. Heritage architecture, quiet setting, the Himachal hills without the crowd.

Shimla

2,200 metres. Temperature peaks at 25 degrees in June when Delhi is at 44. The Mall Road, Christ Church, Jakhu Temple, the Kalka-Shimla toy train that remains one of the more enjoyable rail journeys in India. These aren't novelties, they're the reasons Shimla has been North India's summer capital since the British made it the Raj's seasonal headquarters.

The crowds are real. The infrastructure handles them. Book ahead and Shimla delivers the complete hill station experience every time.

WelcomHeritage Elysium Resort, Shimla, contemporary luxury away from the Mall Road density, tranquil enclave, lush greenery, modern amenities redefining the Shimla experience. The quiet version of the Queen of Hills. 

Uttarakhand: The Garhwal and Kumaon Hills in Their Summer Best

Mussoorie

2,000 metres. 290 kilometres from Delhi. Temperature 15 to 20 degrees below the plains through June. The Queen of Hills earns the nickname specifically in summer — the Garhwal Himalaya visible on clear mornings from Lal Tibba, the Landour cantonment above the main ridge running quieter than the Mall Road below it, Dhanaulti 25 kilometres out for the deodar forest without the Mussoorie crowd.

The best places to visit this summer that you should not miss argument for Mussoorie is the combination of accessibility and completeness, the infrastructure, the views, the walks, the food, all functioning simultaneously. No single element is the best in the hills. All of them together make the trip work reliably.

WelcomHeritage Kasmanda Palace, Mussoorie, Mall Road, opposite Padmini Nivas, near Gandhi Chowk. Heritage palace address on Mussoorie's main ridge, the colonial character, the Mall Road location, the views that the palace position delivers.

Ranikhet

1,829 metres in the Kumaon hills. The cantonment ridge with the Himalayan panorama — Trishul, Nanda Devi visible on clear mornings. The golf course. The Chaubatia Orchards for the apple and plum season that summer begins. The specific silence of a hill station that chose its pace and kept it.

Ranikhet is Nainital without the Nainital crowd. The Kumaon that the Mussoorie and Nainital traffic bypasses. Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary 35 kilometres for the morning wildlife detour. The summer trip for the traveller who found that the famous Uttarakhand addresses were booked and discovered something better in the process.

WelcomHeritage Windsor Lodge, Ranikhet, Kalika Estate, Dadgallia, near the golf course. Heritage lodge matching the cantonment character, quiet, ridge-positioned, the Himalayan views from the property that the address enables.

Palampur

The Kangra Valley tea town at 1,220 metres, technically Himachal Pradesh, but included here for the traveller building the Uttarakhand and surrounding hills circuit. The Dhauladhar peaks visible above the tea estates on clear mornings. The flush season in summer producing the white blossoms across the Kangra tea gardens. The Baijnath temple, the Neugal Khad gorge, Bir Billing 20 kilometres for paragliding.

The summer destination for the traveller whose brief is landscape and agricultural character rather than the hill town circuit.

WelcomHeritage Taragarh Palace, Palampur, V&PO Taragarh, Kangra Valley, Tehsil Baijnath. Palace property in the tea garden corridor, Dhauladhar views, heritage architecture, the Palampur setting that most visitors discover late and revisit repeatedly.

Nainital

2,084 metres in the Kumaon hills. The Naini Lake at the centre, the shikara rides, Snow View Point cable car, Tiffin Top for the sunset, the Mall Road circling the water. The Kumaon forest on the surrounding ridges for the morning walks that the hotel terraces look out over.

Summer brings the school holiday crowd. The infrastructure handles it. The lake doesn't diminish with the crowds around it. Nainital remains the complete family hill station, accessible, beautiful, reliable across every summer season.

WelcomHeritage Ashdale, Nainital, High Court Road, Sherwani, boutique heritage property in the heart of the town. Lake accessible, Kumaon hills surrounding, the old town character that the address on High Court Road delivers.

The Summer That Covers It All

Eight destinations. Two states. Every version of the Indian summer escape, the cultural trip, the quiet cantonment, the famous lake town, the tea garden corridor, the heritage palace on the ridge. The best places to visit this summer aren't a single list, they're a set of answers to different questions about what the trip is actually for.

WelcomHeritage Hotels operates heritage properties across every destination above, the character that belongs to each place rather than the generic hotel formula applied regardless of location.

The best places to visit this summer are defined by choosing the right address, ones you simply shouldn’t miss.