The Skinny: A common getaway for travelers awaiting Indian visa clearance, Dhulikel offers a peaceful alternative to loud, busy Kathmandu. It has a simple, small town feel and supposedly spectacular views of the Langtang range, if visited in non-monsoon season! People we met were friendly and accomodating, regardless of the three-day Maoist strike which closed many of the stores and restaurants for the duration of our stay. Dhulikel also offers a couple of day hikes up to temples and stupas in the surrounding hills.
What Thar Be: In the middle of town, there's a big park which looked really nice but cost ten rupees to enter, so we passed on it. The Nawaranga Guest House has an art gallery in its lobby, with interesting paintings of Nepali people and landscapes by a local artist. We hiked up to the Buddhist pilgrimage site of Namobuddha, where legend has it a bodhisattva allowed a hungry tiger momma to devour him so not to see her and her cubs starve. The hike took us a good six hours and passed through some woods and small villages.
Digs: Hotel Snow VIew -- a quiet place on the outskirts of town with open,airy rooms (some with private bath) and a roof-top terrace. We paid 150NRP for a double in the off season of late May/early June. The garden restaurant is a bit pricy, but there is a gated area available for motorcycle parking.
Vittles: The Cold Store --a hole in the wall restaurant on the main drag through town, up towards the town park on the right side if you're just rolling in. This friendly, family-owned place serves good, cheap omelettes , chowmein, thukpa soup, and dhal bhat.
Hooch Factor: 22 oz. Tuborg beer is 60NRP. 180ml Virgin Whisky 50NRP
Navigability: Very easy. A wide main road through town with litle traffic and very few goats.
Sliding In and Out: The Arniko Highway from Kathmandu to Duhlikel has varying amounts of traffic, with a bit of a bottleneck on the outskirts of the city. There were a few traffic jams, but they were easy to circumnavigate with motorbikes. After the turn-off to Nagarkot, the traffic decreases noticeably. The highway is two lane, paved, a bit windy, and in overall good condition. As you start to climb out of the Kathmandu Valley the roads offers some nice views of the area. We took the same route back to Kathmandu.
