On Chaman Estate above Mussoorie’s Mall Road, a colonial stone cottage built in 1880 — once part of the fabled Rampur estate — has been in the same family for four generations. Today, two sisters are carrying its legacy forward. This is one of the most beautiful places to stay in the Himalayas.
There is a particular quality of light on Mussoorie evenings, when the clouds drift in from the valley below and the pine forests go dark and the ridgeline of the Garhwal Himalayas catches the last gold of the sun. At Eagles Nest 1880, this is not a view from the road. It is the view from your sitting room, your patio, your garden bench — the clouds floating through at eye level, the mountains holding still behind them, the old stone house warm and lit around you.
The cottage was built in 1880, when Mussoorie was the summer retreat of the British administration and the Himalayan foothills were being settled with the elegant practicality of colonial hill architecture. Perched on a rock above the town — the name is a description, not a metaphor — Eagles Nest was once part of the fabled Rampur estate and has been in the same family for four generations. It is currently in the care of two sisters, Ameira and Pavni Sikand, who have taken up their family’s legacy of warmth, hospitality, and excellence with the ease of people who grew up in this house and understand, from the inside, exactly why it matters.
The Property
Eagles Nest 1880 comprises three distinct cottages, each built in harmony with the original 1880 structure and each carrying the same essential qualities: original fireplaces, tall wooden ceilings, colonial arches, patios, and the kind of antique furniture that arrives not from a vintage dealer but from a family that has simply lived with beautiful things for a very long time.
The Main Heritage Bungalow, constructed in 1880, has five bedrooms — the heart of the estate, furnished with select antique pieces, original architectural features, and an old-world fountain surrounded by flowers in the garden. The building is made from stone, with the solidity of a structure that has survived Himalayan winters for a century and a half and intends to survive many more.
The 3-Bedroom Cottage offers spacious bedrooms with a separate seating area and outdoor seating, some rooms interconnected for families travelling together. The 1-Bedroom Cottage is the most intimate option — a single-bedroom retreat with full kitchen provisions, complete privacy, and its own character within the broader estate.
All three cottages are centrally heated with radiators in each room, with additional floor heating in the single-bedroom cottage — a practical and deeply appreciated detail for Mussoorie’s cold winters. The gardens are lovingly maintained. An antique fountain marks the centre of the grounds. Vast mountain views complete the picture from every angle.
The Rooms
The bedrooms across all three cottages are furnished with spacious layouts, premium bedding, refined décor, and large windows specifically designed to frame the hills. Each room has a private bathroom, flat-screen TV, balcony with mountain view, electric kettle, and safety deposit box. Select rooms have garden views. Breakfast is served à la carte with continental and Asian options.
The interiors carry the accumulated warmth of a house that has been lived in with care across four generations — not the studied approximation of heritage that new properties deploy, but the genuine article: slightly worn in exactly the right places, rich with objects that have their own histories, and lit with the particular quality of a house whose windows have always faced these mountains.
Dining Under the Stars
One of the most celebrated experiences at Eagles Nest 1880 is dinner outdoors — under the stars, beside a bonfire, with the heady mountain air and the crackling fire and the valley lights beginning to appear in the darkness below. This is the kind of meal that makes everything that preceded it — the drive up the mountain, the unpacking, the first cup of tea on the patio — feel like a preparation for something genuinely extraordinary.
Breakfast is served daily. Garhwali lunches — traditional cuisine of the Uttarakhand hills, prepared with local ingredients and the knowledge of someone who has grown up eating this way — are available on request and are, by all accounts, not to be missed. Barbecues can be arranged as part of the estate’s experience programme.
What to See and Experience
Eagles Nest 1880 sits 1.3 kilometres from Mussoorie’s Mall Road — close enough for shopping, cafés, and evening strolls along the famous ridge, far enough to feel removed from the weekend crowds that make Mussoorie’s main drag temporarily exhausting. The Mussoorie Library, a colonial-era institution of great character, is under a kilometre away. The Landour Clock Tower and Camel’s Back Road are within easy walking distance.
Landour — the quiet, largely unchanged British-era cantonment above Mussoorie where Ruskin Bond has lived and written for most of his life — is a short walk away and an afternoon very well spent. Its cafés, second-hand bookshops, and unhurried streets offer the experience of Mussoorie before it became a tourist destination.
The Benog Tibba hike is one of the best in the region — ascending through dense oak and rhododendron forest to panoramic Himalayan views. The Jabarkhet Nature Reserve, a privately managed wildlife sanctuary of extraordinary richness, offers guided walks through protected forest where leopards, Himalayan black bears, and a remarkable diversity of birds inhabit the trees. The Top Tibba trail is a longer, more demanding route with views that stretch to the high peaks on clear days.
A visit to a corn village in the surrounding countryside — arranged through the property — offers a genuine encounter with Garhwali agricultural life. The Tibetan Market on Mall Road, and the broader cultural life of the Mussoorie area, are accessible with the convenience of the property’s location.
Why It Stays With You
Eagles Nest 1880 works because of what it is rather than what it tries to be. It is a family home — one that happens to be 145 years old, perched on a rock above a Himalayan hill station, filled with four generations of accumulated objects and memories, and currently managed by two sisters who grew up in these rooms and understand their character from the inside.
Ameira and Pavni Sikand’s commitment to their family’s legacy is visible in every detail: the original fireplaces kept burning, the antique furniture maintained rather than replaced, the gardens tended with the same care that the original estate received a century ago. The welcome is warm because it comes from a house that has always been about hospitality, long before hospitality became a business.
To stay at Eagles Nest 1880 is to be a temporary part of that continuity — to sleep in a room that has been a room since before your grandparents were born, to look at the same mountains that every generation of this family has looked at, and to feel, for a few days, that you have come home to a place you never knew you had.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Chaman Estate, Jakhu Hill Area, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand — 248179 Phone: +91 90846 59738 Email: eaglesnestcottages1880@gmail.com Website: eaglesnest1880.com Instagram: @eaglesnest1880 WhatsApp: +91 90846 59738
Owners: Ameira and Pavni Sikand (fourth generation)
Accommodation: — 5-Bedroom Heritage Bungalow (main house, 1880) — ideal for families or groups, exclusive use available — 3-Bedroom Cottage — spacious, interconnected rooms, outdoor seating — 1-Bedroom Cottage — private, fully self-contained, with its own character
All units: original fireplaces · Tall wooden ceilings · Antique furniture · Mountain views · Private bathrooms · Balconies · Central heating · Free Wi-Fi · Free parking
Meals: Breakfast included (à la carte, continental, Asian) · Garhwali lunch on request · Bonfire dinners · Barbecue available Experiences: Benog Tibba hike · Jabarkhet Nature Reserve walks · Top Tibba trail · Corn village visit · Landour exploration · Mall Road · Picnics · Bonfire & barbecue
Check-in: 1:00 PM · Check-out: 11:00 AM
Getting There — Dehradun Airport (Jolly Grant) is approximately 50 km from Eagles Nest — around 2 hours by road. Paid airport transfers can be arranged through the property. — Dehradun Railway Station is approximately 30 km — around 1.5 hours by road. — From Delhi: approximately 290 km via Dehradun — around 6–7 hours by road. The Shatabdi Express from New Delhi to Dehradun takes approximately 5.5 hours; taxis are then available from Dehradun to Mussoorie. — From Dehradun to Mussoorie: approximately 35 km — around 1 hour by road via the main Mussoorie Highway. — Eagles Nest 1880 is on Chaman Estate, approximately 1.3 km from Mall Road. It is motorable with parking on site.
Nearby — Mussoorie Mall Road: 1.3 km · Mussoorie Library: under 1 km · Landour Clock Tower: 3.6 km · Camel’s Back Road: 3.7 km · Gun Hill Point: 4 km · Jabarkhet Nature Reserve: 5 km · Kempty Falls: 12 km · Dehradun Airport: 50 km
Best Time to Visit: March to June for clear Himalayan views and pleasant temperatures · October to December for crisp autumn days and the first snowfall · January to February for full snow and the fairy-tale winter cottage · Avoid peak summer weekends (May–June holidays) if solitude is the priority.
