Mussoorie Hotels and guest houses

Lakshmi Bhabi

Hi everyone,

I'll be in Mussoorie for 4 weeks going to the Landour School to study Hindi. Does anyone have any good hotel recommendations? Any comments on Devdar Woods? Thank you!

Zoero

Hello,
I stayed at the Dev Dar in 2001 I found it to be a wonderful place, very relaxing. My teacher has been staying there when in Mussoorie for years and will be there again this spring. He grew up in the neighborhood. I am hoping to stay there in April if its not full. The neighborhood (Sisters Bizaar) is wonderful and Prakashs store is around the corner. Prakashs store serves a lot of the expats in the area and had homemade cheese, real cheese, among other things I missed after a few weeks in India. I believe they are owned by the same family. I think one of the family members learned to make the cheese is Switzerland, its been a few years but that is the story I remember. I hope they are there making cheese still, I will need it by the time I get there. Hope this helps every though its not up to date.

zzzehar

I just came back from Mussoorie from a 4 day trip and clicked a lot of informative pics of all the hotels ! give me a day or two while I write the long long post and paste it here.

Lakshmi Bhabi

Thanks for that - apparently DEVDAR Woods is completely booked in June & July so I need other alternatives. All help would be appreciated!

zzzehar

Are you travelling alone? If yes, I'd suggest you to stay at Rokeby - homestay accomodation situated at the Lal Tibba Road (same road leads to Dev Dar). I stayed there this time with my wife and It was really an awesome experience. A very simple place. The owners are very nice and for single persons, they have dorm type accomodation (bunk beds). We took a double bed room. The charges range from Rs 330 to Rs 500 per person including all meals cooked in house. All the guests used to have food together in a very large dining hall. The outside views are great as It is located on the top of the hill.
I will post the pics soon (In a day). I have clicked the pics of a lot of hotels and guest houses especially to post them on Indiamike ! I'd suggest you to book in advance however If you face any 11th hour accomodation problems, just let me know and I will make arrangements. I know a few hotel guys (the place where I always used to stay).

porter

Just spent 4 weeks at Devdar. It's big plus is that is is very convenient for the language school. The food is quite good (set meals of Indian/Chinese with the odd pizza). We paid Rs400 per night per person including 3 set meals. Some of the rooms are spacious but in February//March it was very cold ! Some issues with the plumbing and lighting but can't really complain for the money.

Other students stayed at Rokeby which I did get to see. Seemed busier than Devdar with a mix of students including some more religious ones.

Other students stayed in flats (Char Ducarn (?) seemed a very pleasant little place just below Rokeby with a couple of cafes . Other flats avaialble in Landour Bazaar.

Staying in Mussoorie itself is not really viable because of the breaks between lessons ( when its convenient to get back to your accomm) and the Rs100/- each way taxi fare ( a must) from Picture Palace.

The school is excellent and my Hindi has improved (starting from a very low level)

9hanover

I would recommend the Kasmanda Palace. we stayed there last year and will be staying there again next month.

zzzehar

I wouldn't suggest kasmanda if your looking for a common's man life in mussoorie. I have just come back from Rokeby and It wasn't at all crowded and the location was quite wonderful too. check out my post under UP and Uttaranchal section.

zzzehar

I'd say things have changed a lot. I actually met a few people living a Rokeby and there didn't seem to be a single rule. Infact all the maids were cleaning the sheets and sweeping the rooms.

The owner was very polite and friendly with everyone around. The location is also quite good and their dining hall was very clean. Check out the ppics of rokeby on my post under UP and UA.

Are you referring to Ivy Banks?

bijapuri

If staying at Devdar, be sure to specify what you want for your meals in general, such as salad, curd, etc. They tend to skimp. AND their kitchen is none too clean, so get after them. Same with rooms- they won't clean very often (if at all) unless you insist. The manager is hated by staff- he yells at them. At least the manager in summer 2004. He was also very often hung over, I noticed , , ,
There was a rat that went thru the drains. so a bucket of water on top of same is helpful.
That said, it's a nice place, and was far better than Rokeby, which has many arbitrary rules.
A bit far from the school down the path is a place, forget the name, which was considered then to be the best, but too far for my old bones. a mile perhaps dpown the hill to the Moos, but I can't remember the name
Re: bloody cold rooms . . . electric space heaters are available in Mussorie, recommended! As are stronger light bulnbs and small desk lamps

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lookit me!!!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bijapuri/

Utube fuzzy logic:
http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=bijapuri&p =r

zzzehar

Check out my blog here at this link with pics :

http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=22043

beebah

Although everything Bijapuri said is true, I too preferred Devdar woods of all the hotels in and around Landour. Rokeby is a nice place but I didn't like the rather authoritarian Christian atmosphere there (previous guests have been made to feel very uncomfortable when they didn't want to attend prayer sessions). Granted this may not always be the case - I think it depends on whether the Austrian owner is at home. It's also very popular with missionairies and families.

Ivy Banks is a short distance down a very steep hill and is much better in terms of room quality than either Devdar or Rokeby but it has prices to match (6-700rs I seem to remember) also the walk's a bit of a killer if your knees aren't good. This place is very popular with organised groups of American college students so it gets booked quite far in advance and can be a bit noisy when they're around.

For longer stayers there's a fair amount of rooms to let too. Mr Prakash who runs the nice shop in Sister's Bazaar aswell as Devdar Woods also rents out some apartments - ask for details. There's flat for rent in Char Dukaan and then beyond Char dukaan in an unmarked house above the road there's a house called Wolfesburn owned by Professor Uniyal who rents out some of the (very small) converted servants quarters which have their own kitchens and bathrooms for quite high rates (around 7-9000 a month I seem to recall) however he and his wife are nice and interesting and he keeps a lovely garden with some very pretty flowers. Further down the owner of northern Stores at the top of Landour bazaar also rents out a couple of apartments but that can be quite a walk - I've no idea of what the rooms though.

You can get some hefty discounts on the fancy hotels down in Mussorie itself but it's quite a trek up and down everyday (some of the teachers do it though!). A taxi up (thats the only alternative to walking) will cost anyhting form 70-100rs.

Once you get there the teachers at the school will be able to give you more advice about the current situation and might even be able to suggest more places.
Enjoy your study!

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Food and other interesting things- a blog.

zzzehar

a very very kewl and Informative post Beebah ! thanks a ton.

Lakshmi Bhabi

Yes, thank you everyone, I now have lots of leads to go on. However, it now seems that not only is Devdar booked, Landour is booked as well! There is a large consortium of US schools spending all of June & July there....I'm still trying to get in anyway but not sure I will get good lessons if there are so many students. What do you who have studied there before say?

manreet_16

all posts r useful..hope devdar is ok...