Santala Devi Temple

Fifteen kilometres west of the city, a paved path of some 700 steps climbs two kilometres up a ridge to a small Devi shrine (about forty-five minutes of steady work), which is exactly why the crowds thin out along the way. What waits at the top is quiet, and a long view across the western Doon. Local legend links Santala Devi and her brother to the region's fort-era past, and on Saturdays a steady flow of Garhwali pilgrims makes the climb. The shrine closes for roughly a month at the height of the monsoon. Carry water and start early in the warm months.

Seven hundred steps up a ridge for the quietest wide view over the western Doon