Dhulikhel, at 1550m, is a popular, interesting small town to view the Himalayan. There are some beautiful old buildings in this town. The main place to view the mountains is the parade ground on the ridge a little east of the center of town.

There are some good day walks in the area. Many people come here to get warmed up before doing a longer trek. The people in the village are Newars.

In the main square there is the Harisiddhi Temple and Narayan Temple, both Vishnu temples.

The most popular place to watch the sunrise over the mountains is at the Kali Temple on top of the hill in the southeast. You walk to the Panorama View Lodge and keep walking another half-hour. Ridi Bazaar.
Bhagwati Mandir, in the northwest part of town, is a high point in the city and from where there are good views of the mountains.

NAMOBUDDHA & PANAUTI
A pleasant fairly easy all-day walk goes to Namobuddha (Namro or Namura), about a 3 hr walk south of Dhulikhel, where there is a Buddhist stupa. You can then walk back or take a circular route back. You can also walk to Panauti, another 1½ hours away and then get a bus back to Dhulikhel or Kathmandu via Banepa. You can get a map from the Dhulikhel lodge of this walk. It is also pleasant to do this circuit on a mountain bike.

The story about this place states that a Buddha saw a tigress almost dead because of starvation and could not feed her cubs. The Buddha led the tigress eat him. This is a stone tablet higher up on the hill from the stupa, which is said to mark the place where this event took place. There is a big festival here in November.

From Dhulikhel the trail goes up to the Kali Temple with good mountain views. The trail then goes through the village of Kavre and some teahouses. It then goes up past some pine forest and Phulbari and then climb up and down some hill before getting to the Namobuddha Hill. It is easy to ask directions on this route.

From Namobhudda the trail goes down through Sankhu and then past some water mills. The trail then goes up to Batase and then through a pine forest. You then go down and cross a stream and then it is climb to Dhulikhel.

Panauti Trek
It is an interesting trek from Dhulikhel to Panauti. The walk begins by going south out of Dhulikhel and then turning west past south rice fields. It then goes along a small stream and then comes to the Banepa to Panauti road just north of town. Panauti is a nice town worth visiting (see Panauti section).

From Panauti you can take a bus to Banepa, 7km north and then from there a bus to Kathmandu or to Dhulikhel. You can also keep walking to Godavari. There are several ways to walk there and it takes 6 to 8 hours. One route goes west pass Bhaleswar and then goes along the Roshi Khola valley in about six hours. Another route goes southwest and climbs up the Pulchowki and then the trail goes on to the road down to Godavari. Another route goes more south through Kalar and also climbs Pulchowki and the goes on the road to Godavari. Going via Pulchowki is a long day walk.