Kathmandu Travel Forum

I will arrive at the airport in Kathmandu on 20th March @ 12.45 and my return flight is on 22nd March @ 13.50. I would appreciate if anyone can help with the following info please?
1. Taxi from airport to hotel - are they readily available and idea of cost?
2. Good Hotel in Kathmandu ( Dinner bed & Breakfast and idea of costs ?)
3. Most importantly Best things to do and see in the short time I will have there?
4. I heard that it is possible to take a helcopter trip over the Himalayas - is this the case and if so HOW MUCH DOES IT COST!!!!????

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time and trouble to reply to this posting.
Cheers
Jeananne

Hello Madam,

Warmest greetings from Bhutan !

I am writing from Bhutan and would like to suggest about your trip to kathmandu.I have a very good friend of mine who normally handle the indiviual travellers and he can do the arrangement in kathmandu till your stays.

If you really would like to travel i will informed him for your arrangement.

Please feel free to write me back.Hope to hear from you soon os you can also write back at:mahayana@druknet.bt

With all my regards and best wishes,
karma.

Well we you arrive in Kathmndu airport, you an get plenty of Taxis to go to Thamel where you will find a good hotel.
To see things arund Kathmndu , pleaase visit my home pages.there are plenty of informations. I can even book a hotel for you and should you be interested we can meet for a weekend and goa round together.
All the best.

Hello Jeananne,
Glad to hear you are visiting Nepal , but two nights three days is very short period ,if you are actually traveller you need to have trek either annapurna or Everest region which helps you to know about the beauty of nepal ,the people living in mountainous area their culture and way of living and more.
Any way If you can manage for few more days , you could visit Pokhara 200km far away from Kathmandu one of the beautiful valley having beautiful lake and high icepeaked mountains behind the lake .
Next there is Saura , about 100 km far away from Kathmandu where you can ride elephant into the dark green forest.
Regarding your answer here it is .
1.Being daytime there are plenty of taxies for airport / Hotel .regarding the
cost you can pay RS 250-300 ( 1 USD = 71.50)
2.There are lot of good and luxury hotels .Hotel Annapurna located at Durbar marg may charge you about USD 40 or you can have cheaper one too.
Being short time you can visit , Bhaktapur ancient city, Pashupati temple and Bhaudha Stupa .Nagarkot hill station to view the ranges of himalayas.
Patan durbar square.
Regarding the cost of helicopter charter per hour , I need to contact the concerned office . If you are really interested I can give you the cost in a couple of days .please contact at my email address.
For more information you can contact me .
Thanks

Hi,

I stayed at Hotel Annapurna in Kathmandu (last may), nice service, clean, well located. It´s one of the best (if not the best) hotel there.

I flyed to the Himalaya's but not by helicopter, by plane. I paid USD 85 and was really amazing. Chek my Everest page to see the photos and more info (still under construction but there´s something)

Must see: Bakhtapur, Pathan and Kathmandu Durbar Squares, stupas (I can hardly remember the names and can´t write them), but check the Kathmandu pages of some other VT's and you´ll find the info.

Consider the cost of VISA at the airport, USD 30.

Enjoy Nepal, it´s sooooo great.

Rafa

Jeananne,
You are staying too few days in Kathmandu...and Nepal.
Now, if that's what you have to go with then be it. Check my pages re airport in/out and short-term stay itineraries. Taxis - prepaid ones are reliable price wise.
Forget the helicopter, I once booked a helicopter in Nepal, a 6-seater, and Karnali Helicopters then charged USD 1600 per hour. Chartering a Twin Otter comes to 18 USD per minute (2005 standard prices), and then you have 19 seats to fill up with your friends. Better take a commercial 50-60 minutes mountain flight early in the morning for about 120 USD; I'd recommend Buddha Air's mountain flight (see my pages again). You've got to do this on the 21st, as it may perhaps be a tad risky to do it the 22nd due to frequent delays (would work if you go for the first morning mountain flight), even if that would be convenient with your ThaiAirways departure. For the Thai flight you should ideally be there by 11 am for security check and check-in, 12 will normally be ok.
You can have hotels and food in Kathmandu amazingly cheap due to high competition for customers. In the 20-30-dollar bracket you will get a 3-4-star room. Not their rack rate, but a negotiable one. A special fav of mine is Hotel Marsyangdi. If on a budget and somewhat in need of extended services such as a business centre, nothing beats Kathmandu Guest House. But their booking system is ... The hotels will, if pre-booked, pick you up at the airport and relieve you from angst there. Look for the hotel sign as you arrive. Food: You arrive in town about 1:30 when flying in on Thai; refresh, buy bottled water, get settled. About 6, no later, begin looking for dinner, try a few places for snacks. A traveller's favourite snack in Kathmandu is the chicken chillies boneless and an Everest beer. Or, go for a plate of momos. Most eateries close at 10, so if you haven't settled for a place by 8 you may begin to hurry up... If you want to go ethnic and test some Himalayan specialties try Thakali Kitchen on Durbar Marg. If more on the upper bracket, still folksy, international, go to "1905" on Kantipath. If reliving the hippy days go to Third Eye in Thamel. Recovered hippies who found their way back to Nepal in a family incarnation also go there or to the next door slightly upper bracket YinYang (Thai, international, Nepali). If playing it safe and cheap, the Italian Mona Lisa across from the KTM Guest house gate is great. for a more rowdy crowd of trekkers, climbers and bar hoppers Rum Doodle is fun. There are numerous possibilities... The price range of the places quoted here for a full good meal w drinks would be around 12 to 20 dollars. but then you're very full...
Enjoy!
Saagar

Hi there

you have some great advice here and I won't bother giving any more on hotels or restaurants - I can't better anything that is written. As you really only have a day and a half, I wonder if the time required for the everest flight might not be better spent on something else. Kathmandu is a city that just begs you to explore and sit down and watch and chat to people - to experience really. If I had the time you have I would certainly stay in Thamel and I would walk through Durbar Square and get the feel of the whole place. Patan is walkable from Kathmandu and really not a bad walk all in all - well worth seing - I was particularly charmed by teh garden behind the museum.

One of the mornings - maybe the morning you leave, book a taxi very early - before sunrise to take you out to Pashupathinath where you can watch the world come to life and take some amazing photos.. look it up on this site - it was wonderful. The other place I really enjoyed early morning was Boudanath - again very close to Kathmandu and wonderful to be there as the day was breaking.

I hope you have an enjoyable visit - I'd go back like a shot if I could :-)

The everest flight won´t take you much time. You go at sunrise and go back to hotel before 9 am. In my opinion, you can´t miss it.

Although you do see Everest from the plane when you fly in... and out...

Whatever, just my thoughts given what else there is to see... I didn't do an everest flight - and didn't feel like I'd missed out - but really it's about where the preferences are

Dear Jeananne, Namaste! from himalayan kingdom of Nepal!

First of all let me introduce you my self I am Manjit Thapa from Kathmandu, Nepal. And here I am running a gust house/Hotel along with my family as it’s our family business. As I saw your posting on virtualtourist.com- forum. So I would like to help you and give you an answer and some advice of your question.
It’s good to know that you are coming to KTM, Nepal on 20th of March. As per your questions, here’s the answer of it.
1) About the taxi cost from the airport to your hotel in Thamel (Main tourist area of Kathmandu) a taxi will be available all the time at the airport when ever there’s a flight coming and there’s also the prepaid taxi counter and they charge Nepali Rs.300 which is US $ 4 approximately. But I wanted to suggest you is do not take the prepaid taxi because inside the taxi counter you will find many persons who is working for the different hotels and guest houses and they will start to talk to you about their place and they’ll try to divert your mind and try to take you to the different hotels better after you come out from the main arrival gate and the taxi counter, outside you will find the local taxi which is run by meter and it cost you around Nepali Rs.120 to 150 Max. 1st you decide the price then only you take it otherwise they‘ll also try to take the advantage of the prepaid taxi and they say Rs.250 to 300 in this case you should bargain.
2) About the hotel as I told above I’m running a guest house/hotel here in KTM so if you want then you can come and stay in my place about the price for a single room + attached bath in deluxe category is cost per night US $ 16 (inclusive 13% Vat tax) on BB plan (Bed & Breakfast), about the dinner you can get it from US $ 3 to 5 for the set or you can choose it from our Menu. And we do have free pick up service from the airport to our hotel. For the further information about my hotel you can visit us at our website:www.annapurnaguesthouse.com
3)In these 2 days of short time you can do the sight-seeing by car of Ktm, Patan & Bhaktapur city and you can also go to Nagarkot 32 Km. far from Ktm to see the best Sunrise/Sunset & the spectacular view of Himalayas.
4)The trip to over the Himalayas will be the possible by helicopter but it’ll goanna cost very expensive and I’m sorry at the moment I don’t have the price for this I have to contact to the airlines but if you really want to see the Himalayas in the short time then I will suggest you to take a Mountain Flight trip actually it is 55 Minutes flight to all over to the Himalayas including “Top of the world Mount Everest” and it will cost you US $ 120.00
So above these are the in-formations which you’ve required. I hope now you have an idea and it will help you to travel here in Nepal. If you have any queries then please feel free to write me an e-mail to me I’ll be available on info@annapurnagh.com, manjitthapa@hotmail.com
Hope to hear soon from you.
Thanking you with regards,
Manjit Thapa
www.annapurnaguesthouse.com

Hi!
I would suggest you get a copy of the latest edition of Lonely planet. Be careful of so called guides who may prey on lady tourists travelling alone. Try and associate yourself with a group of tourists, that way you would be safer besides having some company. I dont want to frighten you and surely dont imply that Nepali people are dishonest (IMHO they are the bravest, most loyal and honest people), but you should nevertheless beware of deviant ones for your own safety.
And Go ahead and enjoy your stay in Nepal! Best of Luck and God Bless you!