The chief thing about this 'Queen of the Hills' town is that it still retains many of the quaint features that have attracted visitors over the years.
The main market on Mall Road is still crowded, especially in the evenings, with tourists as usual milling around the famous 'Chic Chocolate' which sells ice creams and milk shakes half way down the street.
An interesting change, however, is that the 'New Empire Stores', which stood right next door offering healthy competition ever since many can remember, has now been taken over by the 'Chic Chocolate' group. Old timers will miss 'New Empire Stores', which was equally well regarded for its pleasing ices. Small photography shops are another familiar feature.
 These street studios provide colourful ''pahari'' (hill folk) and other dresses on rent, so tourists can get themselves snapped in Garhwali attire and take home albums of a summer's pleasant vacation memories. Many old-time visitors say the charm of these photographers with their little shops have not faded over the years.
So also the freshly roasted corn on the cob, ''imli chooran'' and green almonds sold on the Mall
in little baskets. And so again the ever-popular morning shows at the ''Rialto'' and the ''Picture Palace'' cinema halls. |
 Photographs of yesteryear film stars Premnath and Bina Rai in a studio near Library Point still draw smiles of appreciation from older visitors. Bina Rai's house here also fascinates many star-struck tourists. The photo shops are clustered around the Jhoolaghar with its giant wheel, from where the trolleys start for nearby Gun Hill.
Another very popular place is the Camel's Back Road behind the Mall. Besides providing an extremely scenic view of the Himalayas, it is greatly preferred by children taking horse rides as it is less crowded than the Mall.
A changing trend is that tourism now comes more in weekend spurts, particularly with visitors from Delhi, Haryana and Punjab seeking relief from the summer heat. After all, Mussoorie is just a seven-hour drive from Delhi. No longer do people stay here for long spells, like the entire summer holidays.
In October, however, tourists from West Bengal do come and stay on for a week or ten days during the ''Pooja holidays''.
Till about the mid-eighties, several families of Dehra Dun, which is just a walk down a rather steep hillside away, used to shift up here for the two-month summer vacation. Some do so even now, but it is a dying custom.
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