This hill station in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand was once the capital of the Chand dynasty in the mid-16th century. Today it is popular as a summer retreat and is also visited by travellers for its famous Dusshera celebrations and the Nanda Devi Mela. Almora is also home to some of the important temples in the Kumaon region.
Unlike Shimla, Ranikhet, Nainital and Mussoorie, which were developed by the British as hill stations, Almora has no such history. It was in 1560 AD that Almora came into light when Raja Balo Kalyan Chand shifted his capital from Champawat to Almora. Later the Gorkhas captured Almora in 1790 AD and finally British won it after the Gorkha wars in 1814-1815.
Almora besides being a hill station has also been a place frequented by famous personal
+ more about AlmoraThis hill station in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand was once the capital of the Chand dynasty in the mid-16th century. Today it is popular as a summer retreat and is also visited by travellers for its famous Dusshera celebrations and the Nanda Devi Mela. Almora is also home to some of the important temples in the Kumaon region.
Unlike Shimla, Ranikhet, Nainital and Mussoorie, which were developed by the British as hill stations, Almora has no such history. It was in 1560 AD that Almora came into light when Raja Balo Kalyan Chand shifted his capital from Champawat to Almora. Later the Gorkhas captured Almora in 1790 AD and finally British won it after the Gorkha wars in 1814-1815.
Almora besides being a hill station has also been a place frequented by famous personalities. Rabindra Nath Tagore spent some time here and wrote some of his sweet verses; Swami Vivekananda on his Himalayan sojourn stopped here and gave some famous discourses. Almora is the birth place of freedom fighter and Bharat Ratna Govind Ballabh Pant. Even Jahwarlal Nehru was in Almora Jail for some time. Almora is also the birth place of Noble laureate Sir Ronal Ross, the famous scientist, who pioneered the vaccine against Malaria. Uma Thurman (American actress) spent a part of her childhood at Crank’s Ridge. Prsoon Joshi, Mohan Upreti and a few more popular artists have their roots in Almora.
Almora is the second largest town of Kumaon and is a transit point en-route to popular tourist destinations Binsar, Jageshwar, Sitlakhet and Kaushani. It is also home to many famous temples including Kasar Devi, Binar Mahadev, Nanda Devi Temple and Banari Devi.
Almora is located at an altitude of 1,651 meters above sea level. It is 367 km from Delhi. Most of the town is situated on a crescent shaped mountain ridge about 5 km long. There are quite a few hotels in Almora that provide comfortable accommodation to travellers.
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