Sitla Estate, Mukteshwar: Why this 40 acre Himalayan retreat has just 12 rooms

After leaving Mumbai in 1998, Vikram Maira turned his family’s holiday home and orchard in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon hills into an intimate Himalayan retreat where thoughtful cooking, a close-knit local team and personal attention matter more than expansion

Updated - October 30, 2026 09:42 am IST

A view of Sitla Estate, at dusk | Photo Credit: Yash Vishwakarma

I learn about apple farming, ligudva fiddle ferns and the man-eaters of Kumaon under the shade of an old plum tree.

I am still in my pyjamas, my fingers sticky with warm toast slathered with butter and local honey, when I am told that tigers smell like popcorn and that if I am ever lost in the forest, I need to take off my shoes and hug a mossy tree to hydrate.

On a trek, through the Mukteshwar reserve forests | Photo Credit: Yash Vishwakarma

Unsure whether the Sitla Estate naturalist Raju Mehta is joking, I peer at him questioningly, while a Grey-hooded Warbler provides a cheery soundtrack. He is deadpan.

As I soon find out, when we plunge into the Mukteshwar reserve forests, Raju does not joke. As nimble as a deer, he leads us along a path made by wild animals, freezing when a sounder of wild boars trot past. We splash through cold streams, sniff wild ajwain and pluck medicinal Chota Dhatura, a cockleweed said to have healing properties. Then, we track a leopard, following claw marks on a tree trunk, and paw prints in the soft soil.

Back at Sitla Estate, I catch my breath over a heady espresso, sinking into a plush sofa with Jim Corbett‘s The Temple Tiger . Jazz swells in the background. This is Vikram Maira’s world.

Athletic and bronzed from years of trekking, Vikram runs Sitla Estate with the delight of an adventurer who has finally found home. “When I moved here from Mumbai in May 1998, there was no electricity and no running water,” he smiles, adding that since there was no road to the house, they had to park in Mukteshwar and hike the rest of the way. They lit kerosene lamps every evening, and collected water in a bucket from a spring.

Cosy coners and reading nooks with plush sofas at the property | Photo Credit: DINESH KHANNA

An enthusiastic self-taught cook, he started making meals on an old cast-iron wood-fired stove. “The apple orchards were overrun, and more like a jungle. Supply lines were undependable. We slowly started growing our own vegetables, and replanting the apple trees. It was frustrating sometimes, but also challenging and fun.”

This 40-acre-estate was his family’s holiday home when he was growing up: “Mom would pack a hamper of roasts and eggs. My baby sister and I loved it – it was just two rooms then, and we lived camp-style till our supplies ran out.”

Returning as an adult to live in the 165-year-old house, there was a lot of work to do. Especially since he started welcoming guests just months later.

Vikram Maira | Photo Credit: Yash Vishwakarma

Over the years, Vikram and his small team of local workers renovated the main building, added rooms and replanted the orchards. Vikram also worked with the panchayat and local government so that the estate gradually received electricity, water and road access.

Now he speaks Kumaoni, and is deeply involved with the gram sabha. “A lot of it is settling disputes about land, fights between siblings and organising community festivals,” he says. Though he downplays his role, he has helped fund the education of children from the village, helped neighbours and supports local NGOs. He shrugs as he states, “I am part of the community. We all need help from each other.“

An evening at the property | Photo Credit: Yash Vishwakarma

Meanwhile, the steady stream of guests just kept coming. “There are people who have been staying with us for over 25 years now,” he says, pausing to play rock, paper, scissors with a guest’s two little sons, who excitedly report on the birds they saw during their morning walk in the forest.

Still edgy with city energy, I walk to Sitla ‘high street’ on the first afternoon, hoping for some retail therapy, proudly returning with a pleasingly dramatic aquamarine wooden cape from the Kilmora store, along with plum jam and an intriguing jar of pahadi furikake. Normally oblivious to birds, I download the Merlin app, and identify 6 species over my first cup of coffee on the balcony of my room. And, I scramble across the estate with the gardener, the laid-back Prakash Pande, who has been with Sitla Estate for 18 years, listing down everything they grow: from local herbs like pahadi palak to parsley, lettuce and broccoli.