Almora(India)

Situated at an altitude of 1650 metres above sea level, Almora is a popular hill station of Uttarakhand, India.
The cultural capital of Kumaon region, Almora, is in the shape of a horse shoe. The Almora town is famous for its traditional outlook. The forts, the historical monuments and the royal courts are still present here. The town has maintained the same original look of the ancient time by constructing the new houses in traditional style. The roads are also paved with slate stones which give it a classical look.
Almora was ruled by Chand Dynasty for almost a millennium. It was never discovered and developed by the British regime in India.
Overlooking the snow capped peaks of the Himalayas; the town is encircled by two rivers, Kaushik (Koshi) and Shalmali (Suyal).
Almora can be said as travellers’ paradise because of its picture perfect lofty height, view of the green valley, misty mountain, fruit-laden orchards, countless temples and most of all the smiling faces of the people.
Almora has been attracting people ever since the history. The famous writer, Rabindra Nath Tagore, spent the memorable summer at Almora. The internationally known dancer Uday Shankar fell in love with the place and set up the cultural academy here. Moreover, the films star Guru Dutta, artist Zhora Sehgal, sitar maestro Ravi Shankar visited this place and become earnest lovers of the Almora town.
The famous Govinda Vallab Pant Public museums, Nanda Devi temple, deer park are the other places worth seeing at Almora besides the natural beauty of the place itself.
Many historical caves and temples are situated rear by Almora. “Lakhudiyar” meaning one lakh (100 thousand) caves is in 20 km distance from Almora. The prehistoric rock paintings are discovered within the caves.
Jageshwar, in a distance of 34 km is another place with ancient history. A group of 125 temples, most of which are dedicated to Lord Shiva and a few to different Goddesses. Jageshwar is considered as one of the 12 Jyotirlingas.
Just 8 kilometres away from the town is the temple of Chitai. This temple is dedicated to Golu Devta and people write letters to the God to fulfil their desires and in return they hang bells in the temple premises. Surrounded with dense fur and pine trees along with ringing bells in the hilly air of Kumaon hills, the temple can be considered as a piece of heaven.
Kalimath (temple dedicated to Kasar Devi), Gannath (temple dedicated to Lord Shiva), Binsar (temple built by King Kalyan Chand and dedicated to Lord Shiva at an altitude of 2420 metres) and Katarmal (the second important Sun temple in India) are the places for absolute peace of mind and soul in Almora.

How to reach Almora?
Almora is well connected by roads with the major cities of India. The capital Delhi is 380 km from Almora. The queen of lakes, Nainital, is just a 66 km drive from Almora. Private taxis and jeeps are the main transportation to move around locally and the Kumaon region. One can even hire motorbikes and take an adventurous tour of Kumaon hills.
Driving to Almora is little bit tiring for those who don’t have the habit of driving in the mountainous terrain. But the journey is quite interesting because of the sceneries of the green Kumaon valley.
The nearest airfield from Almora is at Pant Nagar (127 km) from where one can find flights to and from Delhi.
Kathgodam is the nearest rail station for Almora at a distance of 88 km. One can get trains for major cities like Delhi, Deheradun, Kolkata, Lucknow, Gorakhpur etc.