After dark

The thing guests mention most is not the view. It is what happens to the view after dark.

No town glow

On this stretch of the ridge there is no town glow at all. Mussoorie is sixteen kilometres below and behind the hill; Dhanaulti is twenty minutes on and small. Between them is us, at about 2,250 m, with the valley falling away in front and nothing electric in it.

That is a genuinely uncommon thing to have within a day’s drive of Delhi, and it is the one part of staying here that is not available in either town at any price. A hotel in Mussoorie can give you a better restaurant and a shorter drive. It cannot give you this.

When the sky is actually good

Three things have to line up, and only one of them is ours to influence:

• A clear night. The most reliable run is the winter, when the air is thin and dry — cold, though, properly cold, which is covered on Dhanaulti in winter.
• No moon. A full moon washes out everything faint. If the sky is the reason you are coming, pick your dates around the new moon rather than the weekend.
• Monsoon, avoided. July and August are cloud. Lovely cloud, often at eye level, but cloud.

Which months do what is set out properly on the best time to visit.

Practical, for anyone bringing a camera

It gets cold the moment the sun leaves the ridge, which is earlier in the afternoon than you expect — dress for two hours outside, not for ten minutes. Tell us you will be up late and the kitchen can leave you something hot. And if you want a particular night for a particular reason, message us and we will tell you honestly what the weather has been doing, which is more useful than a forecast for a town sixteen kilometres away and half a kilometre lower.