Visit Thamel in Kathmandu

Still in the seventies all the travellers guest houses where in the Freak Street area. Thamel was outside the proper town boundaries and there where many fields, scrubs and trees. In the mid seventies the Kathmandu Guest House started in a former Rana Palace with a nice garden and just 12 rooms. But soon many other hotel followed, because here there was enough space to build hotels according to western standards. Today all the area is clustered with houses with several floors and the streets are full of vibrant life. You will find every restaurant yo want, money changer accept all credit cards and you can even cash on EC-Cards and till the evening you can go shopping .

 Thamel starts in the south at a little place called Tahiti Tole.

In the west you find the main street Kantipath, where the standard tourist buses to Pokhara start early in the morning .

The best landmark is still the Kathmandu Guest house, everyone knows it and it is really in the centre of Thamel.

About 75 m in the north is the entrance to the best book store for Nepal books I ever seen. It is the Pilgrim Book house . If you are tired, you can go in the backyard restaurant, relax and an drink some tee.

On Tridevi Marg is the Nepali “shopping mall” Sanchaya Kosh building. Here you can find the ACAP office and get your ACAP entry permit, which you need for  trekking in the Annapurna region. The office is closed on Saturdays.

All the other shops are open till the evening seven days a week.

There are so many good restaurants, travel agencies, internet cafe’s and shops that I dont describe them. Have a look to your travel guide or just walk around. Kathmandu Guest house is still very famous among travellers and they have a great blackboard where you can fix or read messages. Its the place to go if you are looking for trekking partners. They have now 120 rooms but are often overbooked, Sometime people even with a confirmed booking dont get a room! But there are many other nice Hotels al around, some are probably even better value. I myself never stay in Thamel but prefer the Freak Street area. But I regulary come to thamel to do all the shopping.

Waiting for customers.

 Links:

 Thamel.com with a good map and addresses for business and shops

 the Thamelsite is from 1998 but have a look

Pilgrimms book house , you can also order books online.