Landour to Shimla: Internet swoons as Indian hill stations become winter wonderlands after fresh snow❄️ in new videos

Landour, the quiet sister town of Mussoorie, is looking magical covered in a thick layer of snow. Shimla, aka 'Queen of Hills', is also living up to its name.

The long wait for a 'proper' winter finally ended this week as fresh snowfall blanketed the famous hill stations of Landour and Shimla, among others, turning the landscape into a picturesque white paradise.

After a notably dry start to the year, the sudden change in weather has social media buzzing; Instagram is filled with videos of the 'season’s first' snowfall in Landour and Shimla. For those stuck in the plains, these viral videos offer a digital escape.

Landour’s ‘first snowfall’ captivates the internet

In Landour, the quiet sister town of Mussoorie, residents and tourists woke up to a magical sight as the first snowflakes of 2026 began to fall. An Instagram video, which garnered thousands of likes, showed the deodar-lined lanes and colonial-era rooftops of Landour covered in a thick layer of white. A comment read, “Too late for this, but at least it did snow. More than happy. Love winter.”

Another clip captured the serenity of the hills, and was captioned, “The wait is over! First snowfall of the season in Landour, and it's coming down beautifully.” A comment read, “How gorgeous.”

Shimla: The Queen of Hills wears her crown

In Himachal Pradesh, the Queen of Hills finally lived up to her name. Videos from the Ridge and Mall Road showed locals and tourists in the snow, a sight that has been rare over the last couple of years due to shifting weather patterns. Instagram feeds were flooded with clips of snowfall in Shimla that Instagram users described as 'fairytale' and ‘magical’.

On January 23, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a fresh alert for widespread snowfall and rainfall across Himachal Pradesh, warning of continued disruption to daily life as commuters face severe problems due to slippery roads, traffic jams, and fuel shortages. According to the IMD, a new western disturbance is set to impact the state on January 26, bringing multiple spells of moderate to heavy snowfall and snowstorms in several districts over the next few days.