Kasmanda Palace

The building went up in 1836 as part of the Christ Church complex, put up by Captain Rennie Tailour of the Bengal Engineers, and is one of the oldest in Mussoorie. It became a sanatorium for the British forces, then one of the first schools in the town. In 1915 it turned into the summer retreat of the royal family of Kasmanda, premier taluqdars of Awadh near Lucknow, and in 1992 the family converted the main building into a hotel. It has been in the family for six generations and trades as a WelcomHeritage property.

Twenty-nine bedrooms are spread over three acres on a hillside above Mall Road, divided between a Heritage Wing, a Palace Wing and a Cottage Wing. The Royal Rooms in the Heritage Wing are the largest and face the Doon Valley or the garden.

The Magnolia restaurant is named for Rajmata Vidyawati Devi, who landscaped the grounds in 1917 and planted magnolia trees around the garden in the early 1920s. She won prizes at Mussoorie's annual flower shows from the 1930s to the 1960s and some of her trophies sit in the Belvedere Lounge, along with family photographs and old newspaper clippings.