Nainital (Kumaoni: Naintāl; nɛnːtaːl) is a town and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters of an eponymous district. It also houses the Governor of Uttarakhand, who resides in the Raj Bhavan. Nainital was the summer capital of the United Provinces.
Nainital is located in the Kumaon foothills of the outer Himalayas at a distance of from the state capital Dehradun and from New Delhi, the capital of India. Situated at an altitude of above sea level, the town is set in a valley containing an eye-shaped lake, approximately two miles in circumference, and surrounded by mountains, of which the highest are Naina Peak () 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, bound by the great snowy range which forms the central axis of the Himalayas." The hill station attracts tourists round the year.
The town of Nainital covers a total area of , and is located at , at an average elevation of above sea level. The slopes of the nearby mountains are most populated, with an altitude ranging from . The highest point nearby is the Naina Peak, with a height of . The town is located in the Kumaon foothills of the outer Himalayas at a distance of from the state capital Dehradun and from New Delhi, the capital of India.
The town is set in a valley around the Nainital Lake - an eye-shaped lake, which is located at an altitude of from sea level. The lake is long and wide, and is approximately two miles in circumference. The bed of the lake is at a depth of near Pashandevi, the deepest point of the lake. The lake is deduced to have been formed tectonically. Balia Nala, which is the main stream feeding the lake is along a fault line and the subsequent streams align parallel to major joints and faults.