SHIMLA
16km/~1hr from Shimla by taxi-union car (~₹1,800-2,500 round trip). The views are real, but every activity here — pony rides, yak photos, telescope views toward the 'China border' — is separately and aggressively priced. Confirm rates with multiple vendors before agreeing.
Kufri, whose name derives from the local word 'Kufr' meaning lake, came under British control after the 1815 Sugauli Treaty ceded the region from Nepal, and the British established it as a retreat from around 1819. It remained a minor hamlet for over a century, gaining prominence as a tourist and winter-sports destination only after ski slopes were developed by the Shimla Winter Sports Club in the early 1980s. It now hosts Himachal Pradesh's annual winter sports festival each February.
