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The old square in Patan is beautiful. The museum is tranquil and a nice place for food. There are many cafes on the rooftops around the square for drinks/meals in the evening.
www.world-heritage-tour.org/asia/south-asia/nepal/kathmandu/patan/map.html
Nice hotel in Patan with views of Kathmandu valley and mountains behind. Swimming pool, massage parlour, and on Sundays an organic market. Some rooms from as little as 15 dollars - it's a good place to get away from the heat and dust of the city.
Hotel comprising separate chalets huddled on a hill with spectacular mountain views. Run by Sita and her husband with real affection and friendliness. They can organise treks (the hotel has been used by Everest teams) and will ply you with good local food and ensure you get up in time to catch the mind-blowing sunrises.
The Fort Resort - Nagarkot (City Office)
P O Box 3004, Lazimpat, KTM
Tel: 977 1 4432 960 / 4432 964 fax: 977 1 4432 958
e-mail: fort@mos.com.np
This excellent budget hotel in the centre of Pokhara's Lakeside area is great value, with pleasant doubles with shared bathroom at around Rs 600 a night ($10).
The staff are friendly, and the large garden is a lovely place to relax and drink tea, to which Suraj likes to add lemon grass from the flower beds. They can recommend great guides if you are going trekking.
Plenty of budget options in this jungle area in southern Nepal - we didn't even have to walk far from the village to come across rhino. Relatively cheap elephant safaris also available.
An ox cart from the bus station to a hostel - if you have absolutely all the time in the world to kill - was a once in a lifetime experience (you don't want to do it twice).
You either get a visa from your local embassy or make sure you have a passport photo, $30 dollars, a pen, and the form in arrivals. You can get a form from the Nepal embassy website in advance. There are computers in the terminal but it's all done by hand so be patient.
When travelling or trekking in sensitive places use a solar powered battery charger for cameras/ipods/gps to avoid battery waste – some treks in Nepal are littered with old AAs, and there’s no need nowadays. Solio sell a really neat foldaway one for about £50.
Not just for vegetarians but anyone who likes genuine curry. It's a downbeat small place but great food. They spice the food up to your liking.
In the centre of Thamel district amongst all the tourist shops. Next to ABC Trekking/Baniya travel.
This is a first class tour in Nepal covering the prime tourist destinations. It helps people to explore the beautiful old palaces, spectacular mountain views as well as give the chances to do wildlife activites. This tour visits Nepal's five world heritage sites. Moreover, you would be staying at the award winning heritage hotel - Dwarika's in Kathmandu. In Pokhara, you would be staying at the luxury Fulbari Resort and Spa. Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge, the first wildlife resort in Nepal, is your home, you would be staying at in Royal Chitwan National Park.
I recommend this trip simply because of their excellent service arrangements right from our arrivals, hotel check in/check out, offering us a very good quality luxury vehicle, knowledgeable guiding in the cities. We enjoyed the trip so much that we did not wish to fly back home after the trip. We were always treated like the Rajas & Maharajas of olden days.
Mountain Holiday Excursion Pvt. Ltd.
P.O. Box # 15142, KPC # 117
Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal
Telephone: (+977 1) 4266897, 4260094
Fax: (+977 1) 4260094
Email: mhexcursion@wlink.com.np, travel@nepaltourinfo.com
Internet: www.nepaltourinfo.com
A beautiful temple like many in Kathmandu but this one is inhabited by hundreds of monkeys that will jump at you and bite you if you catch their eye or annoy them as you try to climb the many steps on the way to the top. It is great fun and the views from the top of the city are breathtaking. Ask a rickshaw driver to take you there.
Swayambhunath temple, Kathmandu, Nepal
Biking Kathmandu Valley is an excellent 10 day mountain biking adventure. Using Nepalese mountain bike guides the tour takes you into the hills around Kathmandu in almost a complete circle and reaching heights of 2500 metres above sea level.
The trip was booked through Exodus, although you can book direct with Dawn Til Dusk based in the centre of Kathmandu.
www.exodus.co.uk
www.nepalbiking.com/
Tour company based in Kathmandu running escorted tours in Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Run by the indefatigable Shiva Dhakal for whom nothing is too much trouble. Very reliable and utterly professional - they're used by some of the international adventure tour companies to run services for them. Go direct, save yourself some money and put more of your stirling/dollars/euros etc into the local economy. We found them on www.responsibletravel.com
Royal Mountain Travel
P.O.Box: 8720
Durbar marg (Yak & Yeti Hotel entry road)
Kathmandu, Nepal
Phone: +977-1-4215364-5 / +977-1-4215371
Fax: +977-1-4215372
Mobile: 00977 - 9851021560
e-mail: royalmt@mos.com.np
e-mail: rmtrek@wlink.com.np
www.royalmt.com.np
www.royal-mt-trek.com
The Kathmandu Guesthouse is a Thamel institution. Rooms are clean and comfy and though they are not the chepest rooms in Kathmandu it's a lovely place with really friendly, helpful staff and a very chilled atmosphere. You can organise tours and change money - there is an ATM there too.
Thamel
www.ktmgh.com
Tel: 977 1 4700 800
Far Out Nepal is a small local trekking company that can organise treks, cultural trips or any kind of trip you would like to take in Nepal. They are really fantastic to deal with and on-the-ground arrangements are first class. My friend and I trekked to Everest base camp with them - two middle aged ladies - and they looked after us so well, to the point of providing hot water bottles when it got cold! They have now organised us a trip to Tibet, with a few days in the south of Nepal, a jungle adventure. Their prices are amazing, and even though your flights might cost a bit more to book independently, your trip will still be cheaper than going with another trekking company. I can highly recommend you contact Sunir in Kathmandu.
Probably the best pizzeria in Asia, and almost the world! I don't just say this because I was starved in Tibet and would have eaten anything. Instead, I lived in Kathmandu for 3 years and Fire and Ice never once failed me. We (and most other expats including Italians) used to go at least 3 times a week. Not only are the pizzas out of this world, but the atmosphere is great and the service is brisk and friendly. The place is always full of diplomats, NGO workers, Nepali and Indian families, Tibetan monks, mountaineers on their way to or back from the mountain, anthropologists etc. Run by an Italian lady, who has the Parmesan made in Lhasa. Unforgettable!
Sanchaya Kosh Bldg. 219, Tridevi Marg, Kathmandu (just at the entrance to Thamel, behind the carpark. Everyone knows it); tel: 01/250210
Don't give money to the street kids. They go and spend it on glue sniffing. Much better to buy them a packet of biscuits or something similar, but open the packet before handing it over, otherwise it will simply be resold.
Swayambhunath is a Buddhist stupa atop a hill in the Kathmandu valley. It's best to get there before sunrise - you'll be unlikely to meet any other tourists, just crowds of Nepali and Tibetan people. Swayambhu is a hive of activity at this time, with chanting, meditation and worship playing alongside the pre-school karate class, police training up those steep steps, earnest young men doing their exercises, the games of the monkeys and dogs.
It's a wonderful place at any time, but I think you see it at its best and most natural at sunrise. Beautiful light for photography too, if that's your thing. And there's a lovely view across the Kathmandu valley. If you fancy a walk, there's a lovely peaceful monastery at the top of the next hill along.
It's an easy walk from the centre, but you could also take a bus from Sohrakhutte, or find a taxi. Ask to be dropped at the bottom of the steps, rather than at the top. Then walk up to the stupa
The land of Hindu animal sacrifices. Nepalis lead their offering to the slaughter tenderly, often whispering prayers in the animal’s ears and sprinkling its heads with water to help it shrug its assent. It is an amazing insight into their culture, if not a bit bloody.
While you are in the area, also visit the Buddhist monastery and Hindu temples. The locals are incredibly friendly. There are also a few hotels, if you stay overnight you can hear the beautiful sounds of chanting and large horns coming from the monastery. It is far more relaxed than Thamel.
You can take the tourist bus or just get a taxi. The action takes place on Saturday mornings from 6am, unless there is a Hindu festival, in which case the sacrifices happen all week.
Thamel's best kept secret (till now) ... Sam's Bar - run by Sam and his Austrian wife - is a great place to chill out and meet locals, backpackers, climbers, overlanders and loads of other interesting people. If you're lucky you'll start with a Sam special and who knows where it'll go from there!
Upstairs opposite the Hotel Mandap in Thamel
Vast amounts of stuff are on sale in Kathmandhu's bazaar - from masala tea to tie-dye T-shirts and all the tat, trinkets and treasures in between. But for bored chaps doomed to drag themselves after their shopaholic other halves, this is the place to come and buy a kukri, a traditional Gurkha knife.
Avoid the cheap and nasty ones on the market stands and try to find this marvellous little shop; there's a variety of different suberbly-crafted designs and the owner will gladly talk you through every detail.
Saat Ghumti, Thamel,
Kathmandu
Tel: 00 977 1470 1314
www.thekhukurihouse.com or www.khukurihouseonline.com
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