Caution
Mussoorie in May
Uttarakhand, India
May is the annual siege of Mussoorie. Every school in North India closes for summer and every family with a car points it toward the hills. Weekend footfall on Mall Road exceeds 80,000-100,000 people. The Dehradun-Mussoorie road becomes a single-lane parking lot β the 35 km drive can take 3-4 hours on Saturdays. Hotel rates hit 4x off-season. Kempty Falls turns into a concrete amphitheatre packed with 5,000+ visitors daily. Temperatures are a comfortable 25-28Β°C, which is the entire problem β pleasant weather shared with a small city's worth of visitors.
The May story
May Mussoorie is a product, not a place. It is engineered for maximum throughput: horse rides on Mall Road, corn sellers every 10 metres, photographers with Polaroid cameras, toy trains that go nowhere interesting. Kempty Falls is the biggest tourist trap in Uttarakhand β a natural waterfall surrounded by concrete steps, pay-per-view platforms, and a water park that has nothing to do with the mountain setting. Avoid it entirely. If you are trapped in May, your survival strategy is Landour. The cantonment is a 20-minute steep walk above Mall Road and most May tourists will not make the climb. Char Dukan is crowded by Landour standards (50 people) but heaven compared to Mall Road. Lal Tibba viewpoint has haze-limited views but the walk there passes through genuine forest. The George Everest house trail (6 km from Library Chowk) is Mussoorie's best-kept May secret β a ruined survey point with Doon Valley views that most visitors skip because it requires actual walking on an unpaved path. Come on a Tuesday. Or better, come in March.
Why May scores 2/5
Roads & Access
Safety & Emergency
Safety: 4/5. rescue: SDRF Uttarakhand (1070). helpline: Tourist helpline: 1364. ambulance: 108. police station: Mussoorie Police Station (0135-2632083). nearest hospital: Mussoorie Government Hospital (0135-2632040)
Network
JIO: Yes, BSNL: Yes, AIRTEL: Yes
Kids
Kid-friendly (4/5) β
Elevation
2,005m β Moderate altitude
Who should go
- βFirst-time travelers
- βSenior citizens
- βFamilies locked into school holiday dates with absolutely no alternative
- βFirst-timers who specifically want the full chaotic Indian hill station carnival
- βVisitors who will strictly stay in Landour and George Everest trail, avoiding Mall Road
Who should think twice
- βAnyone with flexible dates β March, April, October are all dramatically better
- βCouples seeking any kind of romance or privacy on Mall Road
- βRoad trip enthusiasts β the Dehradun approach is a 3-4 hour crawl on weekends
- βBudget travelers β every rupee is priced at peak extraction
- βVisitors who think Kempty Falls will be a natural waterfall experience β it is a concrete zoo
All 12 Months
| Month | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|
| January | 3/5 | January Mussoorie is bone-cold and nearly deserted. |
| February | 3/5 | February is January with slightly better odds. |
| March | 4/5 | March is Mussoorie waking from hibernation. |
| April | 5/5 | April in Mussoorie is warm, clear, and increasingly busy. |
| Mayviewing | 2/5 | β |
| June | 2/5 | β |
| July | 2/5 | β |
| August | 2/5 | β |
| September | 4/5 | September is monsoon's slow retreat from Mussoorie. |
| October | 5/5 | October is Mussoorie's finest month. Monsoon is done. |
| November | 4/5 | November is Mussoorie powering down for winter. |
| December | 3/5 | December Mussoorie is a snow gamble wrapped in Christmas packaging. |
Practical Details
How to reach
Contact local transport
Elevation
2,005m
Difficulty
easy
Budget tier
mixed
Nearby in Uttarakhand scoring high in May
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