✅ Nepal Among Ten Places That Deserve More Travellers

Aug 10, 2016

✅ NEPAL

Nepal has been placed on the list of the top 10 places that deserve more travellers by National Geographic. The UK-based popular travel publication, in its June issue, ranked Nepal among the top 3 spots in their round-up of 10 deserving destinations.

✅ THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND

Although Kathmandu and Nepal have long attracted adventurous travellers, the country’s April 2015 earthquake—which killed 8,000 people and caused about $10 billion (half of Nepal’s GDP) in damages—decimated its tourism industry.

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 has stabilized, if not fully recovered. Several of Kathmandu’s most famous tourist structures were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake; others—like the fifth-century Pashupatinath Temple and the relic-containing stupa of Boudhanath, now undergoing restoration—remain largely intact.

✅ WHY GO NOW

Nepal’s economy, deeply reliant on tourism, needs visitors now more than ever.

✅ DON’T MISS

If you’re not up for a seven-day trek in the Himalayan wilderness, Kathmandu offers a range of more sedate activities. The tradition of the Himalayan singing bowls—bell-like instruments 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 placed Nepal in sixth spot on its ‘Cool List’ for 2016, among 16 excellent locations.

Duke Nepal Adventure