Nainital is a popular
hill station in the
Indian state of
Uttarakhand and headquarters of
Nainital district in the
Kumaon foothills of the outer
Himalayas. Situated at an altitude of above sea level, Nainital is set in a valley containing a pear-shaped lake, approximately two miles in circumference, and surrounded by mountains, of which the highest are Naina on the north, Deopatha on the west, and Ayarpatha on the south. From the tops of the higher peaks, "magnificent views can be obtained of the vast plain to the south, or of the mass of tangled ridges lying north, bounded by the great snowy range which forms the central axis of the Himalayas."