NAINTAL

Nainital Today

Tiffin Top also known as Dorothy's Seat (Tiffin = light meal eaten during the day). This terraced hill top (2,292 m (7,520 ft)) on Ayarpatta hill is a 4 km (2 mi) hike from the town centre and commands a nice view of the neighbouring country side. Dorothy's Seat is a stonework picnic perch on Tiffin Top built as a memorial to an English artist, Dorothy Kellet, by her husband and admirers after her death in a plane crash.

The High Court of Uttarakhand formerly known as The Old Secretariat.

Gurney House, the former residence, of Jim Corbett, is located on Ayarpatta Hill. Before leaving for Kenya, Jim and his sister Maggie sold the house to S.P. and Kalavati Varma, who belonged to a prominent zamindari family in Bihar and whose children were studying in Nainital schools. The house now belongs to S.P. Varma's granddaughter, Nilanjana Dalmia. It is a private residence but is open to visitors as a museum of Corbett memorabilia. It is one of the main tourist attractions in Nainital.

The surrounding hillside is rich with deodar, oak, pine and rhododendron.

Outside Nainital

The Jim Corbett National Park (29°32′N 78°56′E) in the Nainital district is India's oldest national park. The park, which is 63 km (39 mi) west by north-west of Nainital, contains a wide variety of wild life including elephant, tiger, chital, Sambar Deer, nilgai, gharial, King Cobra, muntjac, wild boar, hedgehog, common musk shrew (White-toothed shrew), flying fox (pteropus, megabat), Indian Pangolin, and nearly 600 species of birds.

Mukteshwar (2,286 m (7,500 ft)) is a picturesque town 52 km (32 mi) north-east of Nainital, is home to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute. It also offers an unhindered view of the high mountains of the western Himalaya, including Nanda Devi, Trisul, and Nanda Kot.

Bhimtal Lake is named after the second Pandava brother Bhima in the Mahābhārata who was known for his prodigious strength. The lake, which is larger than Naini Lake, is approximately 22 km (14 mi) from Nainital at an altitude of 1,370 m (4,495 ft). There is an island in the lake with a popular restaurant on it. There is also a 17th century temple complex, the Bhimeshwar, alongside a 40 ft (12 m) high dam at one end of the lake.

Sattal, literally Seven Lakes, is at a distance of about 23 km (14 mi) from Nainital in the Lower Himalayan Range at an altitude of 1,370 m (4,495 ft). It is a cluster of small interconnected lakes in the midst of an old oak forest. On approaching Sattal, the first lake encountered is the Nal-Damyanti Lake; next it is the Panna or Garude lake; and finally there is a cluster of three lakes: Ram, Laxman, and Sita lakes.