Experience the best of Nepalgunj

Nepalgunj lies in the flat Terai of western Nepal, close to the Indian border, and is among the hottest towns in the country in summer. It is a trading centre for the surrounding farmland and the main transport hub of the far west, with an airport that links to hill and mountain airstrips such as Simikot and Jumla. The Bageshwori temple is one of its best-known shrines.

Bardiya National Park, a wide stretch of sal forest and grassland along a branch of the Karnali River, lies to the north-west and is one of the best places in Nepal to look for tigers, rhinos and wild elephants. Banke National Park, hillier and quieter, lies to the north. Tharu villages with mud-walled houses and painted walls are scattered across the plain.

Tharu cooking, with its steamed rice-flour dumplings called dhikri and its river fish, sits alongside the sweet shops and tea stalls of the town centre. The wide Terai skies and the heat shape life here, with evenings spent outdoors. The cool dry months from October to March are the pleasant ones, while summer pushes the thermometer past forty degrees.