List of hill stations in India

The hill stations are high-altitude towns used especially by European colonialists, as a place of refuge to escape the blistering summer heat and dust of plains during the British Raj. They are prevalent in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, particularly in India.

The Indian subcontinent has seven principal mountain ranges and the largest of all is the Himalayas that lies in the northern part of India. The famous peaks and ranges include the Kangchenjunga range in the Eastern Himalayas which frames the hill stations of Darjeeling and Gangtok as well as the Nanda Devi in Uttarakhand. The Shivalik range that also lies within the same region also has some famous hill stations that include Dalhousie, Kullu, Shimla, Nanital sahyadri and many more.

Most of the hill stations in India were developed by the British around a central mall to get respite from the oppressive summer heat. Many have picturesque lakes as their focal point, making them excellent places for boating activities.

Most of the hill stations in India are located in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya in the Himalayas and in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in Western ghats.[1] Some are located in Eastern ghats Andhra Pradesh, Odisha.Some of the hill stations in India are listed below by state.

Since a number of these hill stations attract large number of tourists in summer as well as other times of the year,they are well connected by rail, road and air services to major Indian cities.

History

Hill stations in India were established for a variety of reasons. After the revolt of 1857 the "British sought further distance from what they saw as a disease-ridden land by escape to the Himalayas in the north and Nilgiri Hills in the south", a pattern which started even before 1857. Other factors included anxieties about the dangers of life in India, among them "fear of degeneration brought on by too long residence in a debilitating land." The hill stations were meant to reproduce the home country, illustrated in Lord Lytton's statement about Ootacamund, in the 1870s, "such beautiful English rain, such delicious English mud."[2] Shimla was officially made the "summer capital of India" in the 1860s and hill stations "served as vital centers of political and military power, especially after the 1857 revolt."[3]:2

Dane Kennedy, following Monika Bührlein, identifies three stages in the evolution of hill stations in India: high refuge, high refuge to hill station, and hill station to town. The first settlements started in the 1820s, primarily as sanitoria. In the 1840s and 1850s, there was a wave of new hill stations, with the main impetus being "places to rest and recuperate from the arduous life on the plains". In the second half of the 19th century, there was a period of consolidation with few new hill stations. In the final phase, "hill stations reached their zenith in the late nineteenth century. The political importance of the official stations was underscored by the inauguration of large and costly public-building projects."[3]:14

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Andhra Pradesh

Araku Valley, Andhra Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh

Assam

Bihar

Chhattisgarh

Gujarat

Haryana

Himachal Pradesh

Khajjiar, Himachal Pradesh, also known as mini Switzerland of India.
Skiing in Manali, Himachal Pradesh
Mt Kailash (18,564 ft), Chamba, Himachal Pradesh
Triund Campsite is a base camp and acclimatisation point for trekkers climbing the Inderahara point of Mt. Dhauladhar.

[[|thumb|Tattapani]]

Jammu and Kashmir

Pahalgam Valley
Gulmarg
Kargil Town

Jharkhand

Karnataka

Shola Grasslands in Kudremukh, Karnataka

Kerala

Munnar, Kerala
Thekkady, Kerala
Rolling meadows of Vagamon, Kerala
Ambanad Hills in Kollam district

Madhya Pradesh

Pandav Caves Pachmarhi

Maharashtra

Lonavla, Maharashtra

Manipur

  • Kaina Hill Station
  • Kangchup Hill
  • Langthabal
  • Maibam Lokpa

Meghalaya

Nohkalikai Falls, Cherrapunjee, Meghalaya

Mizoram

Nagaland

Odisha

Punjab

Rajasthan

Sikkim

Tamil Nadu

Emerald Lake, Ooty
Kodaikanal
Meghamalai

Telangana

Tripura

Uttarakhand

Nainital Lake City, Uttarakhand
Mussoorie after Snowfall
Golf Grounds at Ranikhet
Auli hill station

West Bengal

The 'Toy Train' in Darjeeling, West Bengal

References

  1. ↑ http://travelfiver.com/5-best-palaces-to-visit-in-rajasthan/
  2. ↑ Barbara D. Metcalf; Thomas R. Metcalf (2002). A Concise History of India. Cambridge University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-521-63974-3.
  3. 1 2 Kennedy, Dane (1996). The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj. Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved 19 Aug 2014.
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