Namche bazaar is a great little town in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is in the Khumbu region of Nepal at an altitude of 3800 mts. The population is 1500 odd mostly catering the tourists on the way to Mount Everest.
What is so special…
The village is known for the stopover and to acclimatize before proceeding to Everest or Gokyo. If you do not want to proceed further you can get a great view of Ama Dablam, Lhotse and Everest. The sunrise over the mountains are just spectacular..
The village reflects the life of Sharpas. Stone houses with bright coloured windows, metal roof, cobbled streets are some of the architectural features of Namche. Most houses often have rooms for tourist passing by and the menus include everything from pizza margarita to burritos but mind you it is a Nepali version.. Safe bet is to go with Dal Bhat.
There are cafés playing anything from Bob Marley to Brian Adams.. Some have outdoor pool tables and where you can have a game of pool with the locals. Or you fancy shopping, there are stores selling North face, Berghaus at quarter the price. Maybe not the genuine ones but the soft shell I bought is as good as the one I bought in the UK.
There is a Namche Monestry, National park, Museum if you have time.
When is the best time to go there….
March to June is a good time to go there as its spring and not very cold. My recommendation is September – October.
How do I get there…..
Namche has a air strip but no commercial airlines fly there.. If you can afford the cost you can take a helicopter to Namche ;-). You can either fly to Lukla and trek to Namche which is 1-2 days trek depending on your fitness.
Credits
Author Bhupal Adhikari
Photo by Sebastian Pena Lambarri on Unsplash