Since 2009
A small house, run by the family who grew up in it.
Snowfinch Lodge began when Rukmani and Deepak Shrestha opened the top two floors of their family home to trekkers coming down from Langtang. The name is Rukmani's: snowfinches are the little birds that follow the high passes, and she liked that they always seem to find their way back down to the warm valleys.
We are not a hotel. There is no lift, no minibar, and the wifi in the garden is honestly a bit slow because the jacaranda is in the way. What we do have is a walled courtyard that stays cool in the pre-monsoon heat, thick old walls that keep out the traffic on Bhimsensthan Marg, and a kitchen that will happily make you dal bhat at nine at night if your bus from Pokhara ran late.
Most of our guests come to walk in the hills, to volunteer at the schools out past Kirtipur, or simply to have a base near the old city that is quieter than Thamel. We keep things plain on purpose. A clean bed, a hot shower most of the day, strong coffee in the morning, and someone at the desk who actually knows which micro-bus goes to the Monkey Temple.
- Rukmani & Deepak, and the whole house
