Gaiety Theatre

Shimla


Lovingly restored between 2004 and 2009 and hoping for Unesco status, this remarkable 320-seater theatre opened in 1877, originally as part of a bigger grandiose civic centre. It's long been a focus of Shimla social life, and Rudyard Kipling, Baden-Powell, Shashi Kapoor and Michael Palin are among those who have trodden its Burmese teak boards.

It's worth the entry fee to admire the unusual gilt-patterned interior and to hear the (included) historical commentary by dapper and unstoppably fluent guide Mr R Gautam. There's also an exhibition of old photos and a church-like vaulted gallery (separately entered from The Ridge side, free).


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Nearby Shimla attractions

1. Town Hall

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Shimla's half-timbered old town hall building originally dates from 1908–10, but has been so restored that it looks essentially new.

2. The Ridge

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Along the central ridgetop, this broad pedestrian esplanade diverges from The Mall at Scandal Point, guarded by a fancifully hatted policeman. Thronged…

3. Ripon Hospital

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One of Shimla's most atmospheric timber-framed buildings, the green-and-white Ripon Hospital building (1885) has a couple of exterior wooden stair-spirals…

4. Christ Church

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This 1840s square-towered church would turn few heads in an English market town but in Shimla it's a treasured landmark, prominent at The Ridge's east end.

5. Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara

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This major Sikh temple isn't a particular attraction but makes a useful landmark beside busy Cart Rd below the bazaar area.

6. Bantony

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Whimsical and photogenically dilapidated, this 1880 red-brick mansion looks like a place for a Scooby Doo adventure. There's a wobbly central spire-turret…

7. Rothney Castle

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On the way up to the Jakhu temple, you can peep through the gates to see the glass verandas of this 19th-century mansion that was built for colonial…

8. Shimla Heritage Museum

0.37 MILES

This small, one-room gallery displays enlargements of a few historic photos of old Shimla, with cursory explanations, but you can see it all in five…