Kasauli sits in the Solan district hill country of Himachal Pradesh, reached by hill roads rather than highways. Solan, the district headquarters, is 25 km away; Chandigarh is 58 km; Shimla is 77 km; and Ambala Cantt, a major North Indian railway junction, is 94 km.

Because these are winding Shivalik hill roads, actual travel time runs longer than the straight-line or road distance alone would suggest.

The Central Research Institute (CRI), founded in 1904 as the Pasteur Institute of India, anchors Kasauli's economy and identity.

It operates as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre, producing vaccines for measles, polio and the DPT group, and also runs a Master of Science programme in microbiology.

Kasauli's colonial-era landmarks give the area its character: Christ Church, completed in 1853 and home to a mechanical tower clock restored in 2015 and listed in the Limca Book of Records as India's oldest working turret clock; the 1835-founded Kasauli Brewery and Distillery, which still produces Lion Beer and Solan No. 1 whisky; the heritage Kasauli Club, rebuilt in stone after a 2001 fire; and Monkey Point, which offers views toward Chandigarh on clear days.

The 1923 Baptist Church near Sadar Bazaar adds to the colonial townscape.