Ranikhet

Ranikhet - City of Meadows

View of the Ranikhet

Ranikhet is situated about 72 km from Nainital in the Kumaon hills at 6,000 feet. Ranikhet means the Queen's meadow. Ranikhet is set along a 1,800 m high ridge and covered with pine and oak forests, giving very little indication of where its centre is. This is one of its attractions in that there are many enjoyable walks. The views from the ridge are magnificent and the twin peaks of Nanda Devi (7.816 m) can be clearly seen. There are plenty of museums, temples, lively bazaars and orchards full of fruit in Ranikhet. Ranikhet is also a great place where one can relax and gaze leisurely at the majestic snow-clad Himalayas.

History

St. John in the Wilderness, Nynee Tal, 1860

Ages ago, a Kumaoni queen, Rani Padmini fell so deeply in love with the green glades and meadows of a tiny hill paradise that her king, Raja Sukherdev, built her a grand palace there and named the place as Ranikhet or queen’s meadow. There is no trace of a palace to lend credence to this legend, but few who have visited Ranikhet have any doubts about its charm. In 1869, the land was bought from local villagers and the British established a summer resort and recreation settlement for their troops, and a cantonment town governed by the military authorities.

They also developed a hill station here. At one time, Lord Mayo, Viceroy of India, was so enchanted with the place that he wanted to move the summer Headquarters of the army away from Shimla. That did not happen but Ranikhet became and still is the Regimental Centre or the Kumaon Regiment.