This small town consists of 50 thousand population. Jeypore a historical city witnessing King Bikram Dev's Dynasty. National Aluminium Co. has its bauxite mines nearby at Damanjodi. Three Hill Temples - A famous Lord Jagannath Temple, Lord Shiva Temple and Swamy Vivekananda Temple at three diferrent hilltops in three diferrent dimention of the town. Blessed with huge natural resources, beautiful natural landscapes, hills, waterfalls(at Kollab), lakes, the place Koraput is a place of pilgrimage and tourist interest. Boating at Chandan Pokhari (The Sandal Pond) attracts tourists to have magnificent experience. Koraput is well linked to Visakhapatnam (by road and rail) ,Rayagada, Howrah(by rail and road)and to the state capital Bhubaneswar(by rail and road). High Standard Lodging and Boading facilities are also provided by Lord Jagannath Temple Trust to outstation tourists.

Jeypore is a small town in Orissa, India and a main attraction town in the Koraput district. It is the biggest town in Koraput District. It has very scenic surroundings, encompassed by hills on all sides. It is also the business hub for the district. The town is famous for the old palaces. It has a nice cultural mix with significant numbers of people speaking different languages - Oriya, Telugu, Hindi and Bengali.

It is a historical city witnessing King Bikram Dev's Dynasty. There are ancient temples till existing in the town. There are lot of sight-seeing nearby Jeypore. Kolab dam (water reserviour) and Machkund dam (water reserviour) is nearby jeypore which generates huge elctricity for the state. It has attractive natural parks and forests and waterfalls in the outskirts of jeypore (around 10 kms from town). High Standard hotels and restaurants facilities are available in the town. The climate is always normal and the best to visit jeypore is in winter.

By train Koraput and Jeypore is connected to Vishakapatnam (by a day train) and Bhubaneswar by a nightly train. The Hirakand Express leaves from Bhubaneswar at night, and reaches Koraput, a small town at the foothills of the Mountains the next morning. An Express train leaves from Vishakapatnam at morning, and reaches Koraput and Jeypore by evening,it is an experience that is more than just a mode of transport as the journey through the scenic valley and hills make it breathtaking. A through ticket from Vishakapatnam will ensure a place on the smaller train, although many prefer the faster route of taking a cab or a bus from Vishakapatnam. Jeypore and Koraput can prove to be amazing during the peak season of November-February.

By plane The Vishakapatnam airport is the closest to the hills at about 5 hours by road. The road trip is quite scenic from either airport.

By road The Jeypore and Kraput (the collective hill range, also called the sandalwood Mountains), is in the state of Orissa, but it is quite near the borders of neighboring states Andhra Prades and Chattisgarh. The hills consequently can be reached from within Andhra pradesh and Orissa by travelling up a heavily forested winding road (also called a ghat road), with many sharp hair-pin beds. The road trip from any state is quite scenic. It is the most travelled and well maintained. If travelling in the early mornings or late evenings, you definitely will spot wildlife feeding along the road, even spot the odd carnivore. There are forests of Nilgiris and sandalwod trees all the way.

The district of Koraput derives its name from its headquarters the present town of Koraput. In ancient times when the Nalas were ruling over this tract, Pushkari near modern Umarkot was the capital city. In the medieval period Nandapur developed as the capital under the Silavamsi kings and sometimes under the kings of the Solar dynasty. Viravikrama Deo of the Solar dynasty shifted his headquarters to Jeypore about the middle of the 17th century and this town prospered as the capital. Koraput was chosen by the British in 1870 for better health prospects. The origin of the name of Koraput is obscure. There are several theories, none of which is convincing.

Accroding to Mr. R.C.S.Bell the name of the town is ‘Kora-Putti’ or”the hamlet of the nux-vomica” and it is derived presumably from a tree or trees that must at one time have been prominent near the site. But today not a singly tree of nux-vomica is to be found near about the town of Koraput and so the assumption or Mr. Bell is open to question.

Accroding to second theory, Koraput is corrupted form of ‘Karaka pentho’ Karaka literally mans ‘hail-stone’.

It is also believed that one ‘Khora Naiko’ laid foundation of the village during the time of Nandapur kings. He hailed probably from Ranpur and served under the Nandapur kings in the Militia, and for his faithful and meritorious services he has permitted to establish this village which was named after him as Khora Putu, and later on the name has beenabbreviated to ‘Koraput’.

Important Places

Jeypore : It is located at a distance of 21 kms from Koraput. Ruins of old palaces is the importance of this place. Darbar hall in the palace has good collection of Antique in ivory, silver, sandalwood, rosewood, gold and paintings.

Duduma : It is situated at a distance of 65 kms from Jeypore. The magnificient waterfall is regarded as the famous Machhyatirtha.

Bagra : It is situated at a distance of 9 km from Jeypore. Three waterfalls of Kolab river at Bagra starting from Kilkura or the 300feet plato jump over one another with great speed from a height of 30 feet.

Sunabeda : It is a modern township and famous for the MIG fighter plane factory. It is situated at a distance of 20km from Koraput.

Gupteswar : Situated at a distance of 65km from Jeypore, Gupteswar cave is famous for the shrine of Lord Gupteswar (Shiva). The captivating natural scenery of this place attracts the pilgrims.

Nandapur : Situated at a distance of 5kms from Koraput, Nandapur was the ancient capital of Jeypore Kingdom. The great image of Ganapati and throne with 32steps are the main attractions of this place.

Reference: http://koraput.nic.in; wikipedia