Things to do in Kathmandu
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BK’s Place
This place has a well-deserved reputation for good old-fashioned chips (French fries), with a variety of sauces, as well as good momos. It’s a tiny place, west of the Rum Doodle.
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Helena’s
Helena’s is deservedly popular for its set breakfasts, one of the highest rooftops in Thamel, cosy interior and super-friendly service, with a wide range of coffee, good cakes, tandoori dishes and steaks. It’s warm and cosy in winter. If you are heading off trekking, consider breakfast on the 8th floor a form of high-altitude training.
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Yak Café
Another unpretentious and reliable Tibetan-run place at the other end of Thamel. The booths give it a 'Tibetan diner' vibe and the clientele is a mix of trekkers with their Sherpa guides and local Tibetans who come to shoot the breeze over a cigarette and a tube of tongba (hot millet beer). The menu includes Tibetan dishes, with good kothey (fried momos), and South Indian food, at unbeatable prices.
It feels just like a trekking lodge, down to that familiar electronic sound of a chicken being strangled every time a dish is ready.
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Or2k
This popular Israeli-run vegetarian restaurant is our current favourite for fresh and light Middle Eastern dishes. The menu spreads to crêpes, soups, zucchini pie, coconut tofu and ziva (pastry fingers filled with cheese). The mood is bright and buzzy. All seating is on cushions on the floor; you have to take your shoes off so make sure you’re wearing your clean pair of socks. A small stand at street level serves takeaway felafel wraps (Rs 110).
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Asan Tole
From dawn until late at night the six-road junction of Asan Tole is jammed with buyers, sellers and passers-by, making it the busiest square in Kathmandu. Every day, produce is carried to this popular marketplace from all over the valley so it is fitting that the three-storey Annapurna Temple is dedicated to the goddess of abundance, Annapurna, represented by a purana bowl full of grain.
At most times, but especially Sundays, you'll see locals walk around the shrine, touch a coin to their heads, throw it into the temple and ring the bell above them.
Nearby the smaller two-storey Ganesh shrine is coated in bathroom tiles. To the south is the Yita Chapal (Southern Pavilion) …
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Old Tashi Delek Rest
This place, a long-time favourite, feels like a trekking lodge that’s been transplanted from Everest into a Thamel time warp. Prices are decent, the Tibetan momos (especially the richosse momo soup) are authentic, and the spinach mushroom enchilada (Rs 140) is surprisingly good for Tibetan-Mexican food (Tib-Mex?). It’s down a corridor, slap bang in the centre of the Thamel action.
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Third Eye Restaurant
Next door to Yin Yang, and run by the same people, this is a long-running favourite that retains something of the old Kathmandu atmosphere. There’s a sit-down section at the front, and a more informal section with low tables and cushions at the back and a rooftop terrace. Indian food is the speciality and the tandoori dishes are especially good.
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Himalayan Java
Above the Bakery Cafe, this modern and buzzing coffeehouse serves good espresso and fine paninis and cakes, in addition to decent breakfasts. There’s a sunny balcony, lots of sofas and big-screen TV for the football, but from certain angles it feels a bit like a hotel foyer. It’s popular with hip middle-class Nepalis and there’s wi-fi.
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New Orleans Cafe
Hidden down an alley near the Brezel Bakery, New Orleans boasts a relaxed and intimate candlelit vibe and a great selection of music, often live. It’s a popular spot for a drink but the menu also ranges far and wide, from Thai curries and good burgers to Creole jambalaya and oven-roasted vegies, plus good breakfasts.
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Garden of Dreams
The beautifully restored Swapna Bagaicha, or Garden of Dreams is one of the most serene and beautiful enclaves in Kathmandu.
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Full Moon
Full Moon is a tiny chill-out bar and den of iniquity that draws a mixed Nepali-foreign clientele.
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Nepali Chulo
Closer to Thamel is this 157-year-old former Rana palace, the Phora Durbar. Most people choose the fixed menu of 11 dishes.
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Freak Street
Kathmandu's most famous street from the hippy overland days of the 1960s and '70s runs south from Basantapur Square. Its real name is Jochne but since the early '70s it has been better known as Freak Street. In its prime, the street's squalor and beauty was irresistible.
The smell of sweet incense, children fluttering prayer wheels, cheap hotels, ad hoc restaurants and shops selling enlightenment, were standard sights on Freak Street. Not surprisingly, it made an instant rapport with the dusty-haired 'freaks' who gave the street its name. Love-ins are a thing of the past, but Freak Street's history and plum position in the heart of old Kathmandu still make it a popular de…
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Yak Restaurant
An unpretentious and reliable Tibetan-run place at the end of Thamel. The booths give it a ‘Tibetan diner’ vibe and the clientele is a mix of trekkers, Sherpa guides and local Tibetans who come to shoot the breeze over a cigarette and a tube of tongba (hot millet beer). The menu includes Tibetan dishes, with good kothey (fried momos), and some Indian dishes, at unbeatable prices. It feels just like a trekking lodge, down to that familiar electronic sound of a chicken being strangled every time a dish leaves the kitchen.
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La Dolce Vita
Life is indeed sweet at Thamel’s best Italian bistro, offering up delights such as parmesan gnocchi; excellent antipasti; goat’s cheese, spinach and walnut ravioli; sinfully rich chocolate torte and wines by the glass. Choose between the rustic red-and-white tablecloths and terracotta tiles of the main restaurant, a rooftop garden, the yummy-smelling espresso bar (real Lavazza coffee) or sunny lounge space; either way the atmosphere and food are excellent. It’s right on the corner opposite Kathmandu Guest House.
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Via Via Cafe
This century-old red house at the end of ‘Seven Bends’ is part of a Belgian-run chain of travellers’ cafes that is part restaurant, part lounge bar, and part hostel. The food is mostly European, with some specifically Belgian touches, and the excellent brunch menu stretches to French toast, crêpes and Greek omelettes. If you like the Nepali dishes, sign up for the weekly cookery course (€5). The sociable lounge converts to a small Latin club on the weekends and a movie hall on Thursdays.
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Dechenling
Quality Tibetan and Indian food is served up in this attractive beer garden, and it’s one of the few places in town to offer interesting Bhutanese dishes such as kewa dhatsi (potatoes and cheese curry). The thukpa (Tibetan noodle soup; Rs 150) is the best in Thamel. If you can’t decide, opt for a Tibetan or Bhutanese set meal washed down with a draught Everest Beer. No wonder the Tibetan name means Place of Joy.
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Dolma Momo Center
This is typical of the Tibetan eateries dotted around town - it's just a hole in the wall, and momos and a few stains are the only things on the menu. But the momos are excellent, and they're top value.
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Rum Doodle Restaurant & Bar
Named after the world’s highest mountain, the 40,000½ft Mt Rum Doodle (according to WE Bowman, author of The Ascent of Rum Doodle, a spoof of serious mountaineering books), this famous bar is still milking a dusty (1983!) Time magazine accolade as ‘one of the world’s best bars’. It’s long been a favourite meeting place for mountaineering expeditions – Edmund Hillary, Reinhold Messner, Ang Rita Sherpa and Rob Hall have left their mark on the walls – and a visit here feels like a bit of a pilgrimage for mountain lovers. Trekking groups can add their own yeti footprint trek report to the dozens plastered on the walls. The restaurant serves up decent steaks, pasta and pizz…
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Bhojan Griha
In the same vein as Bhanchha Ghar, but perhaps more ambitious, Bhojan Griha is located in a recently restored 150-year-old mansion in Dilli Bazaar, just east of the city centre. It’s worth eating here just to see the imaginative renovation of this beautiful old building, once the residence of the caste of royal priests. Most of the seating is traditional (ie on cushions on the floor), although these are actually legless chairs, which saves your back and knees. In an effort to reduce waste, plastic is not used in the restaurant and mineral water is bought in bulk and sold by the glass.
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Durbar Square
Kathmandu’s Durbar Square was where the city’s kings were once crowned and legitimised, and from where they ruled (durbar means ‘palace’). As such, the square remains the traditional heart of the old town and Kathmandu’s most spectacular legacy of traditional architecture, even though the king no longer lives in the Hanuman Dhoka – the palace was moved north to Narayanhiti about a century ago.
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Royal Hana Garden
This place is a bit of a secret – there are two outdoor hot-spring baths (admission Rs 340, includes towel and shampoo, Thursday to Saturday from 3pm only) where you can luxuriate for as long as you like before heading inside for a very reasonably priced Japanese meal. It’s perfect for small groups and it’s worth ringing ahead to book a soak. The restaurant is in Lazimpat, just north of the Hotel Ambassador.
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Makhan Tole
Crowded and fascinating Makhan Tole starts at Tana Deval Temple and runs towards the busy marketplace of Indra Chowk. Makhan Tole was at one time the main street in Kathmandu and the start of the main caravan route to Tibet. From here you can either head south to visit the Hanuman Dhoka or continue northeast up Makhan Tole back towards Thamel.
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Banu’s Total Fitness
A decent health club for aerobics addicts is Banu’s Total Fitness, hidden down an alleyway southeast of the New Royal Palace. There are aerobics classes at 7am, 10.30am (women only) and 5.30pm, and regular yoga lessons (Rs 1500 per month). A visit costs Rs 200 for nonmembers, or Rs 375 with cardio machines and sauna.
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Kumari Restaurant
Next to the Century Lodge, this friendly hang-out attracts the densest collection of dreadlocked travellers in Kathmandu and is one of few places that seems to have hung onto some of the mellowness of times past. All the travellers’ favourites are here.
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