Mall Road is Shimla's central promenade — a pedestrianised street running east to west along the main ridge of the town, lined with colonial-era buildings, tea shops, bookstores, Tibetan handicraft stalls, and the offices of government departments that have occupied the same buildings since the British used them. The Road connects to the Ridge at its eastern end, a broad open space where the town's main public gatherings happen and where Christ Church and the bandstand mark the colonial skyline.
The walk from Scandal Point at the western end of the Mall to Christ Church at the east takes about 15 minutes at a normal pace — longer if you stop at the bookshops (there are several good ones selling Himalayan travel literature, Hindi books, and political history), the snack stalls selling jalebi and aloo tikki, or the viewpoints that look north toward the Himalayan foothills. In the evenings, the Mall fills with Shimla residents on the traditional evening walk — one of the most pleasant pedestrian experiences in the Indian hills.