SHIMLA
The 108-ft Hanuman statue and views are genuinely worth it, but the resident monkeys snatch food, glasses, and phones — hospitals here treat over 1,300 monkey-bite cases a year. Rent a stick (₹10-20) at the base, don't carry visible food, and keep glasses in a pocket, not on your face.
Jakhu Temple sits atop Shimla's highest hill (2,455 m) and is linked in local legend to the Ramayana, where Hanuman is said to have rested here while searching for the Sanjeevani herb to save Lakshmana, meeting the sage Yaaku after whom the hill is named. The 108-foot (33 m) statue of Hanuman that now dominates the summit was built between 2008 and 2010 and inaugurated in November 2010, becoming one of the tallest Hanuman statues in the world. The temple itself long predates the statue and was already a well-known pilgrimage stop during the British colonial period.
