At 7,700 feet on Shimla’s highest peak, in a stone cottage that has witnessed the Raj, Independence, and three generations of royalty, one of India’s most private and atmospheric heritage homestays waits — just 500 metres from a temple, yet completely removed from the world below.
Most people who visit Shimla stay in the town — on The Mall, in the hotels that cluster around the ridge, within easy reach of the bakeries and the toy train and the colonial architecture that has made this hill station one of India’s most enduringly beloved. Very few walk the three kilometres from The Mall up to Jakhu Hill, Shimla’s highest point. Fewer still know that at the end of a forest path on that hill, nestled in ancient deodar woods with sweeping views of the middle Himalayas, there is a stone cottage that has been standing since the late nineteenth century and that has — until very recently — been entirely private.
This is Jungle House. And its story is, in every sense, extraordinary.
A History Worn Gracefully
The property began its recorded life as a modest hill dwelling — inhabited at various points by a local shepherd and later an English settler — before passing into the hands of HH Princess Kusum of Bharatpur. In 1941, as the Second World War began and travel from England became impossible, the Princess returned to Shimla and made Jungle House her home. It has remained in the same family ever since, passed down three generations, accumulating history with the ease of a house that knows it has nowhere to hurry.
The names that passed through these rooms over the decades read like a register of Indian and imperial history. Nobility, royalty, and — it is said with the pleasant imprecision of all good family stories — even a Vicereine once dropped by for a chat. The house has witnessed the heydays of the Raj, the moment of Independence, the birth of Himachal Pradesh as a state, and the slow transformation of Shimla from an imperial capital into a beloved hill station.
When the current owners decided to open Jungle House to guests, they did so with one guiding principle: nothing essential would change. The house would remain a home, not a hotel. The chef who has cooked family recipes here for thirty years would continue to cook them. The gardens would stay as they always have been — lovingly tended, fragrant, entirely themselves.
The Property
Jungle House sits on a sunlit spur at 7,700 feet on Jakhu Hill — Shimla’s highest point — in ancient woods that are government-protected and filled with deodar trees. The Shimla Catchment Sanctuary surrounds the property. The air is clean in the way mountain air only is when there are no roads nearby and no buildings between you and the sky.
The building is made from stone, with a wood-panelled roof and large bay windows designed to frame the Himalayan peaks and wildflower meadows beyond. On winter mornings, the cottage is dusted in snow and looks, quite accurately, like a fairy tale. On summer evenings, the fire pit in the garden is where the day properly ends — sundowners with the hills going amber and the first stars beginning to appear above the deodar canopy.
Himalayan pheasants graze on the lawn in the mornings. Leopards, on occasion, come to visit. These are not promises or marketing copy. They are simply what happens when you build a house in the right forest and leave it largely alone.
The Suites
There are two suites — deliberately just two, a number that preserves the intimacy and privacy that define the Jungle House experience. Each is generous in scale, with teak floors, high ceilings, sumptuous furnishings, original artworks, and exquisite bathrooms. The interiors carry the warmth of a room that has been lived in and cared for over generations: intricately woven carpets, warm yellow lighting, handwoven throws on the beds. Large windows frame views of pine trees, the deep jungle, and the Himalayan ranges beyond.
The bathrooms are, by specific report, exceptional — the kind of bathrooms where the instruction to relax while watching snowflakes drift past the window through a soaking tub is not a promise but a simple description of what will happen.
Rates start from approximately ₹20,500 for two guests, inclusive of breakfast. The property accommodates up to four guests across both suites, making it ideal for a couple wanting complete privacy or two close friends travelling together.
Eating Here
The chef at Jungle House has been cooking here for thirty years. He cooks family recipes — the Bharatpur household’s repertoire, accumulated over generations and adapted with quiet intelligence to the ingredients available in the Shimla hills. Meals are prepared using local produce, and the afternoon tea — freshly baked scones, sandwiches, Indian savouries, and a selection of teas and coffees — is the meal that guests consistently describe as a favourite. It is the kind of afternoon tea that makes the concept feel genuinely necessary rather than merely charming.
Breakfast is included in the room rate. Lunch and dinner are available on request.
What to See and Do
Jakhu Temple — the ancient temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman, perched at the very top of Jakhu Hill — is a mere 500 metres from the house. The walk up, through the forest, with langur monkeys observing from the canopy above, is one of the most pleasurable short treks in the Himalayas. According to the Ramayana, Hanuman stopped at this very spot to rest while searching for the Sanjeevani herb to revive Lakshmana. The colossal Hanuman statue that now crowns the hill is among the tallest in the world and visible from much of Shimla.
The manager at Jungle House arranges guided heritage walks — accompanied by an authority on Shimla during the Raj era — that trace the building of the summer capital through its surviving architecture, gardens, and colonial-era institutions. Following in the footsteps of Rudyard Kipling, who lived and wrote here, or exploring Gorton Castle, the former government buildings, and the Gaiety Theatre is an entirely different way to understand a town most people experience only as a hill station.
A picnic breakfast on Jakhu Hill’s highest peak — arranged by the staff with the same care brought to everything at the house — is among the experiences guests describe as unexpectedly perfect. The Shimla Catchment Sanctuary, accessible on foot from the property, offers forest walks of varying lengths through protected woodland where birdlife is exceptional. Ice skating at Shimla’s open-air rink, the nearest to a town centre in Asia, is available in the winter months.
Why It Stays With You
What makes Jungle House exceptional is not any single thing but the sum of everything: the history in its walls, the food made from recipes that predate the guests by several generations, the pheasants on the lawn, the leopard that occasionally passes through the garden at night, the chef who has been here thirty years, the particular quality of silence that comes from being in a protected forest at 7,700 feet with only two other guests in the building.
There are many beautiful places to stay in Himachal Pradesh. There is only one Jungle House.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Jungle House, Near Forest Hill Road, Jakhu, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh — 171001 Instagram: @junglehousesimla Booking: Via 1524 Delhi (1524delhi.com) · LohonoStays · Direct enquiry via Instagram
Check-in: 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM · Check-out: 11:00 AM
Suites: 2 — both with teak floors, high ceilings, exquisite bathrooms, mountain views, and original artworks. Maximum 4 guests across both suites. Rates: From approximately ₹20,500 per night for two (breakfast included). Full exclusive-use also available. Meals: Breakfast included · Afternoon tea (highly recommended) · Lunch and dinner on request Facilities: Garden · Fire pit · Croquet lawn · Bar · Parking · Free Wi-Fi · Mountain views Chef: Thirty-year resident cook, preparing family recipes with local ingredients
Experiences: Heritage walks with a Raj-era Shimla authority · Jakhu Temple trek (500m from the house) · Shimla Catchment Sanctuary walks · Guided Himalayan hikes · Picnic breakfast on Jakhu’s highest point · Ice skating (seasonal)
Getting There — Shimla Airport (Jubbarhatti) is approximately 25 km from Jungle House — around 60 minutes by road. Taxis available from the airport. — Shimla Railway Station is approximately 6 km away — around 20 minutes by road. — From Chandigarh: approximately 115 km — around 3 hours by road via NH 5. The toy train from Kalka to Shimla (UNESCO heritage route) takes approximately 5 hours and is an experience in its own right. — From Delhi: approximately 370 km — around 7–8 hours by road, or overnight by train to Kalka followed by the toy train. — From Shimla town / The Mall: approximately 3 km — a pleasant 30-minute walk through the forest. The house is also motorable, with parking on site. — Jakhu Temple is 500 metres from the house — the walk up from The Mall to the temple and then to the house makes for an excellent arrival.
Nearby — Jakhu Temple: 500 m · The Mall: 3 km · Shimla Railway Station: 6 km · Rashtrapati Niwas (Viceregal Lodge): 5.5 km · Gaiety Theatre: 3 km · Shimla Catchment Sanctuary: adjacent · Ice Skating Rink: 3 km
Best Time to Visit: March to June for clear Himalayan views and pleasant temperatures · December to February for snow, the fairy-tale winter cottage experience, and ice skating · October to November for crisp autumn days and golden deodar forests · Avoid peak summer weekends (May–June) if solitude is the priority.
