Hill station

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A summer view of Khajjiar, a hill station in Himachal Pradesh, north-east India.

The Mallam Jabba Resort Hotel, Swat, Pakistan

Hill station is a term used for a town usually at somewhat higher elevations. The term was used in colonial Asia (particularly India, but rarely in Africa), where towns have been founded by European colonial rulers up where temperatures are cooler, as refuges from the summer heat. In the Indian context most hill stations are at an altitude of approximately between 1,000 and 2,500 metres (3,500 to 7,500 feet); very few are outside this range.

[edit] History

The British Raj, and in particular the British Indian Army, founded perhaps 50 of the 80-odd hill stations in the Indian subcontinent; the remainder were built by various Indian rulers over the centuries as places of leisure or even as permanent capitals.

Several hill stations served as summer capitals of Indian provinces, princely states, or, in the case of Shimla, of British India itself. Since Indian Independence, the role of these hill stations as summer capitals has largely ended, but many hill stations remain popular summer resorts.

[edit] List of hill stations

This is a list of hill stations in various countries, which are mainly in Asia.

[edit] India (by state)

[edit] Pakistan (by province)

Azad Kashmir
- Muzaffarabad

Northwest Frontier Province: Most of the hill stations of the NWFP are in the Galiyat region, which also extends into the Murree Tehsil of the Punjab province.
- Abbottabad
- Ayubia
- Behrain
- Chitral
- Galyat
- Kalam Valley
- Malam Jabba
- Nathia Gali
- Patriata
- Swat

Northern Areas
- Gilgit
- Hunza
- Skardu

Punjab: All the hill stations listed here are in the Galiyat region. Although the Galiyat area is primarily in the NWFP, it also extends into the Murree Tehsil of the Punjab province. The largest hill station of the Galiyat is the town of Murree.
- Bhurban
- Charra Pani
- Murree
- Patriata