Haridwar to Dehradun and Mussoorie by road:55 km, 35 km, and the drive that joins them

Haridwar to Dehradun is a short, flat run of about an hour, and the only real decision is which side of the Rajaji forest to take. The direct road leaves Haridwar on NH-7, crosses the Motichur stretch and runs through the tiger reserve corridor to Raiwala and the Nepali Farm junction, then on past Jolly Grant airport and through Doiwala into the Doon valley. Our distance page puts it at 55 km and an hour to an hour and a half, and on a normal morning the hour is right. Nobody climbs anything on this road; the Shivaliks stay alongside it rather than under it.

The alternative is the Rishikesh fork at Nepali Farm. Instead of carrying straight on, the road goes up past the Ganga to Rishikesh and comes back to Dehradun through Ranipokhri. It adds a little distance and, more to the point, a tea halt at Rishikesh worth the detour: the jhulas, the ghats and the river before the day gets going. If you have the time it is the better morning; if you are catching a train or a flight at Dehradun, the direct road is the one.

There is no wrong answer between them, and the driver will take whichever you ask for. What we would say is that Rishikesh is only a detour if you have not seen it. For anyone who has just spent a night at Haridwar and has Mussoorie ahead, the direct road and the breakfast on Rajpur Road make the better day, and Rishikesh keeps for the way back.

Haridwar to Dehradun distance and route page

Short as it is, this is a real hill road, and it starts almost as you leave the city. The run up Rajpur Road is flat, then just past Rajpur the Mussoorie Road turns into hairpins and stays that way to the top, the bends stacked one above the other over the Doon valley. Our distance page puts the leg at 35 km and an hour to an hour and a half, and the hour and a half is the honest figure on a weekend, when the traffic on the bends is nose to tail. It is a well-kept road, but a good driver honks at every blind corner and the passengers in the back learn to look at the view rather than the drop.

There is no halt to speak of on a road this short. The tea stalls at the bends do a brisk trade, and the viewpoints on the upper section give you the whole valley at once, which is why the meal belongs in Dehradun before the climb: break on Rajpur Road, because from the top of it there is nothing but chai stalls until the ridge. Once you are up, the Picture Palace end of Mussoorie is the place to stop properly, and the car parks there while you walk the Mall.

Mussoorie sits above the fog line of the plains, and on a winter morning the climb takes you out of the murk and into sunshine, which is the best argument for a December visit. The same season brings snow to the town and ice to the shaded bends, and in January and February the police hold cars at the bottom until the upper bends are cleared. In the monsoon the mist closes in and small slips on the cutting side are common, so allow extra time and keep to daylight. A gentle driver is the whole of the advice.

Dehradun to Mussoorie distance and route page

All three legs are under the 300 km per day minimum that outstation cabs bill on, so for a given vehicle they cost the same: the minimum at the vehicle’s rate, ₹11/km for a sedan, ₹15 for an Ertiga or similar SUV, ₹18 for an Innova Crysta and ₹23 for a 12-seater Tempo Traveller. Fuel and the driver are inside those figures; tolls, where any apply, and parking at Dehradun or Mussoorie are paid at actual. The fare box below does the arithmetic on the longest leg, Haridwar to Mussoorie at 90 km, and the one-way figure is the same for the shorter two.

That is the reason to put the legs together rather than book them one at a time. Haridwar to Mussoorie via Dehradun, with breakfast on Rajpur Road, is one minimum; Haridwar to Dehradun today and Dehradun to Mussoorie tomorrow is two. A two-day round trip with the same car and driver is the greater of twice the one-way fare or two days at the minimum, and on these distances they come to the same thing; the driver’s night halt at Mussoorie is extra at actual. If Dehradun is your base, the same-day Mussoorie trip from Dehradun is its own page and prices the up-and-down in a day.

On the choice of car, a sedan is right for all three legs. The forest road is flat, the climb is well kept, and there is nothing on the Mussoorie Road that needs an SUV; an Innova Crysta earns its rate for six people and their luggage, not for the hill. The one-way pages are the right booking for a drop, Dehradun to Mussoorie or Haridwar to Rishikesh; the round trip is right if the car is coming back to Haridwar with you.

Same-day Mussoorie from Dehradun