Bilaspur, situated in the state of Himachal Pradesh, is perhaps the first hill town of the country that is planned. This city, which once used to be the seat of anybody who ruled the state of Himachal Pradesh, was submerged for the creation of manmade lake, Govind Sagar, under the waters of Sutlej River in the year o f 1954. However later on it was recreated on the patterns of the old town and also on top of it. Bilaspur, where in the most popular languages are Hindi, Punjabi and English, is spread over an area of 1167 sq. km and has a net population of about 3.40 lakhs. Every year in the months of March or April an annual cattle fair, otherwise known as Nalwari, is organized. For this fair the cattle are normally brought in from Nalagarh and some parts of Punjab.
Bilaspur is easily accessible by roadways and railways. Kiratpur Sahib and Shimla are two railways station that are in close proximity to Bilaspur. Kiratpur is a broad gauge railway station and Shimla is narrow gauge railway station. The roadways around Bilaspur are also well developed as some of the major cities like Shimla and Chandigarh are easily connected.
One very popular place in Bilaspur is the Bahadurpur fort which is located on the top of Bahadurpur hill and is at a distance of 40 km from Bilaspur. The sight of Bahadurpur hill offers a panoramic view because of the of the beautiful Deodar and ban trees that cover it. The Naina Devi temple, which is located at a height of 915 meters from the sanctum town Anandpur Sahib, is another hot spot for tourists. One could reach the temple either by climbing stone steps or by using a cable car. In addition to this other popular tourist attractions Vyas Cave, Bhakra Dam, Tiun Fort, Markandeya and Sarjun Fort.