Hotel Yatri · Gorkha
Ten rooms on the ridge at Sami Dadha, looking out across the valley to the Himalaya. Restaurant, bar and garden. Free parking, free WiFi, someone at the desk all night.
Why people book the top floor
This is the view from the hotel, not a stock photo. On a clear morning the range lights up pink about twenty minutes before the sun reaches the valley, and it is quiet enough that you will hear it happen before anyone else is up. Then the cloud settles into the valley below you and stays there most of the day.
Rooms
Five floors. The higher you go, the more of the range you get.
The hotel
Restaurant, garden, and what the window actually looks like.
While you are here
The line that made Nepal began with a foot race. In 1559 the hill fort of Ligligkot, north of here, chose its king by sending the claimants running to the top — Drabya Shah won it, and took Gorkha the same year. His descendant Prithvi Narayan Shah became king in the palace on the ridge above this town in 1743, at twenty; twenty-five years later he held Kathmandu, and the country now called Nepal existed. The word his soldiers carried out with them — Gorkha — is the one the British later spelled Gurkha.
1,500 steps · about 45 minutes up
The palace and fort the Shah kings ruled from, cut into the ridge by Newar craftsmen. The 2015 earthquake brought down part of it; it has been rebuilt. Start the climb by eight — there is no shade on the steps.
At the foot of the steps · NPR 150
Tallo Durbar, the lower palace, finished in 1835 and now the district museum: dress from every ethnic group in Gorkha, folk instruments, old weapons, and three hectares of garden. An hour, and the coolest place in town at midday.
Inside the palace grounds
The cave shrine of Gorakhnath — the yogi the district is named for — and the Kalika temple in the palace courtyard, still an active shrine. Shoes and leather off at the door, and the inner sanctum is open only to Brahmin priests — everyone else watches from the terrace.
About 90 minutes by road
The wish-granting temple on the hill across the valley, reached by a 2.8 km cable car from Kurintar — ten minutes up, and the ride is half the reason to go. Runs 8am to 5pm, shut for lunch from noon to 1:30. A half day, out and back.
About 3 hours on a rough road
The 2015 earthquake began under Barpak. The village has been rebuilt in stone, and the walk over to Laprak is the best hill day in the district — better as an overnight than a rush. Ask us about the road first; it does not always behave.
1,520 m · 30 minutes above the palace
The top of the ridge, and the widest view in the district: Manaslu, Himalchuli — 7,893 m, the eighteenth-highest mountain on earth — and the Annapurnas behind them. Go late afternoon, when the light comes round onto the peaks and you walk down in the cool.
Plan your trip
Nothing in it needs booking in advance except the room.
Tea on the terrace, with the whole of Gorkha bazaar laid out below you. It is about fifteen minutes down and rather longer back up, and the shops shut early.
Ask at the desk what time the sun comes up and be outside twenty minutes before it — that is when the snow goes pink, and it moves by an hour across the season. Breakfast after, and start up to Gorkha Durbar by eight, before the sun is on the steps. Down through the museum, back for lunch.
Half an hour above the palace, the highest point on the ridge — the widest view of the Himalaya you will get without walking for a week.
The cable car is a half day and puts you back on the highway by mid-afternoon. From there: Pokhara is three to four hours west, Chitwan about three south, Kathmandu five east. All of them a comfortable half day from the door.
Trekking
Manaslu is 8,163 m, the eighth-highest mountain on earth, and every village on the way up to it — Arughat, Soti Khola, Machha Khola, Jagat, Samagaun — sits in Gorkha. Most agencies drive their groups in from Kathmandu by way of Dhading Besi and never pass through the town the trek is named after. If you are here anyway, the road out to Arughat leaves from this bazaar.
Getting here
The Prithvi Highway between Kathmandu and Pokhara passes the bottom of this hill. Turn north at Abu Khaireni and it is about 24 km up to Gorkha bazaar. You reach us before the town — a side road leaves the main one and climbs to Sami Dadha in about ten minutes, with the whole bazaar in view below.
Direct buses and minivans leave Gongabu — the New Bus Park — in the morning. Or take any Pokhara-bound tourist bus, get out at Abu Khaireni, and pick up a local bus for the last hour up.
Direct buses daily, or the same Abu Khaireni change in reverse.
Bharatpur is the nearest airport — 25 minutes in the air from Kathmandu, then the drive up. Send us your landing time and we can have someone meet you.
Door to door, and you can stop at Manakamana on the way without losing the day. We can arrange one from Kathmandu or Pokhara.
When to come
Manaslu out most mornings, warm days, cold nights. Also when the rest of Nepal is on the road — book early.
No haze at all and hardly any visitors. Bring a jacket for the terrace at six.
Warmer than autumn, slightly hazier, and the hills go red. Trails are dry again.
The range is mostly behind cloud. In exchange: the hills at their greenest, the lowest rates of the year, and Gorkha Durbar to yourself.
Good to know
Find us
Book direct
Booking.com takes a cut of every reservation. Book with us and that cut stays out of the price. Tell us your dates and we will confirm within a few hours.
In a hurry? Call us — someone answers at any hour.
Before you come
On a clear morning, yes — the photo on this page was taken here. The clearest months are October through March. In monsoon the cloud usually sits in the valley below the hotel, which is its own view, but the range is often hidden.
Breakfast is served every morning and is included in the room rate. Continental, cooked, or Nepali. If you are leaving before the kitchen opens for a trek, ask the night before and we will pack something.
Gorkha is a quiet district town and one of the easier places in Nepal to walk around alone, including after dark in the bazaar. The usual sense applies — tell someone where you are going on the longer hill walks, and do not start the climb to the Durbar in the last hour of daylight. The desk is staffed all night, so a late arrival is never a problem.
Yes — a local guide for the Durbar and the ridge walks, and a jeep for Manakamana, Barpak or the road out to Arughat. Ask at the desk the night before. Manaslu permits are different — those have to come from a Kathmandu agency registered with TAAN.
Pets are welcome at no extra charge. Just let us know when you book so we can put you in the right room.
Hot water is available around the clock, and we have backup power for the essentials during a cut.
Yes. Plenty of guests leave a bag with us before the Manaslu Circuit and collect it on the way back. There is no charge for it.
Most of what the kitchen cooks is vegetarian already — dal bhat, vegetable curry, roti, momo. Say so when you order and it is no trouble at all. If you are strictly vegan, tell us at breakfast rather than at dinner, so the kitchen can plan around ghee and curd.
Yes. The booking sites take a commission on every reservation, so the rate we can give you directly is lower. Use the form above or call.
