Nepal among 10 places that deserve more travellers
Nepal among ten places that deserve more travellers
Aug 10 2016
NEPAL
Aug 10, 2016- Nepal has been placed on the list of the top 10 places that deserve more travellers by National Geographic. Nepal is among the ten places that deserve more travellers. The UK-based popular travel publication, in its June issue, has placed Nepal on the top 3 spots among the round-up of 10 places.
THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND
Although Kathmandu and Nepal have long attracted adventurous travellers, the country’s April 2015 earthquake, which killed 8,000 and wrought about $10 billion (half of Nepal’s GDP) in damages, decimated its tourism industry, it writes.
Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, a UNESCO-listed compound of palaces dating back as far as the tenth century, was partially destroyed, as was another of Kathmandu’s iconic structures: the 19th-century Dharahara tower.
However, a year later, Nepal’s situation is, if not what it once was, then nonetheless stable. Several of Kathmandu’s most famous tourist structures have been damaged or destroyed by the earthquake; others—like the fifth-century Pashupatinath Temple and the relic-containing stupa of Boudhanath, now undergoing restorations—remain largely, if not entirely, intact, it said.
WHY GO NOW
“Nepal’s economy, deeply reliant on the tourism trade, is more in need than ever of visitors.
DON’T MISS
If you’re not up to a seven-day trek in the Himalayan wilderness, Kathmandu has a range of more sedate activities on offer. The tradition of the Himalayan singing bowls—bell-like structures historically rung before, during, or after periods of Buddhist meditation—has a long history in Nepal. Cultural centres like the Kathmandu Centre of Healing offer three-day intensive bowl workshops (from $300) where you can learn the art of playing the bowls to make them “sing.” Last year, the UK-based magazine on its ‘Cool List’ for 2016 had placed Nepal in the sixth spot among 16 excellent locations.