Visit to Artistic Hill Station of Almoda in the State of Uttaranchal in India

The State of Uttaranchal in India is full of beautiful hill stations. Almoda is one of them. Hill station of Almoda attracts thousands of tourists every year due to its natural beauty without any pollution of people and environment. This hill station is developing slowly and the number of tourists is on the increasing trend every year. I had an opportunity to visit Almoda during the winter of year 2006 with my entire family. All of us enjoyed this beautiful, small hill station, situated in the Himalaya Mountains.

Almoda is spread in the area of around twelve square kilometers and have population of around 70,000 people. It is situated at the height of around 5,400 feet from the mean sea level. This town of Almoda was established by the King of Champavati, Balo Kalyan Singh, in the year 1560. It was the capital city of Chand kingdom for many years. Almoda can easily be reached by air, rail, or by road from most of the major cities of India. The nearest airport of Pantnagar is around 72 miles away. The nearest railway station is Kathgodam, which is around 54 miles away from Almoda. There are regular buses plying for Almoda from all the major cities of Northern India. Almoda is 224 miles away from Delhi, 276 miles away from Luckhnow, and 60 miles away from famous hill station of Nainital. Almoda is full of most beautiful, religious, and cultural site seeing spots. The most important place is the Kali math, which is situated at around 3 miles away from the town of Almoda. There is an ancient Kali Mata temple, situated in the middle of the most beautiful Himalaya Mountain summits.

The next place is Mohan Joshi Park. The tourists love this exotic park, full of beautiful flowers and trees. The government museum is also worth visiting here at Almoda. Many ancient and historical arts specimens are stored here. The National Deer's Reserve Park is a place where the tourists can view wild life in free environment of forest. The historical Dak Bungalow at Almoda is also loved by all the tourists. This Dak Bungalow is around 250 years old. It has a lovely garden all around it. The British Viceroys used to stay at this Dak Bungalow during the British rule. There are ashrams of Anandi Maiya and Ramakrishna Mission at Almoda. The large fair is held here on Radha Astami day every year here at these ashrams.

There are many excursions available for the tourists near Almoda. The Lord Shiva temple of Bagheshwar is situated at around 50 miles away from Almoda. This ancient temple of Lord Shiva is situated at the sangam of rivers Gomti and Saryu. The famous Uttarayana fair is held at this temple every year in the month of January. The historical Sun temple of Baijnath is situated at around 40 miles away from Almoda. This temple is at the bank of River Saryu at the height of around 4300 feet from the sea level. The Lord Shiva temple of Jageshwar is situated at around 21 miles away from Almoda. As per Hindu religion, Lord Shiva had performed tapa at this temple after Sati Parvati became angry with him. The other less popular but very beautiful hill stations like Koshani and Ranikhet can also be visited by the tourists during their stay at Almoda. The weather at Almoda remains extremely cold during the winter. Hence, the best time to visit Almoda is either during early winter or summer. The hotels like Hotel Mount Resort, Hotel Renuka, and Hotel Konark are available at Almoda for the tourists. We had stayed at Hotel Renuka. It offers nice double room at the rate of around Rs.2000 ($50) per day. The authentic North Indian style food delicacies are served here at the restaurant of this hotel. The stay of around two to three days can be sufficient to enjoy all the site seeing spots at Almoda.

I am quiet confident that this article shall encourage many of my AC friends and readers to visit this beautiful hill station to enjoy beauty of snow cladden Himalaya Mountains.