Family Stays in Kathmandu
Room to spread out, a kitchen for fussy eaters, and a quiet street where children can actually play outside.
Room to spread out, a kitchen for fussy eaters, and a quiet street where children can actually play outside.
Travelling in Nepal with children is easier than most people expect, but hotel rooms make it harder than it needs to be. Everyone sleeps in one room, there is nowhere to make a snack at 6am, and there is nowhere for anyone to go when a nap is needed.
House of Forrest is a building of seven apartments in Nagarjun, a residential neighbourhood on the quiet green edge of Kathmandu. Families come to us for the same three reasons: separate living space, a kitchen, and a street where you are not gripping a child's hand against passing motorbikes.
Anyone who has travelled with a child through a country whose food is unfamiliar knows the problem. Restaurant meals three times a day get expensive and slow, and a tired six-year-old who will not eat spiced food at 8pm is a difficult evening for everybody.
Having a kitchen means breakfast happens when your children wake up rather than when a dining room opens, you can keep milk and fruit in the fridge, and there is always a plain option available. Grocery shops are a few minutes' walk, and we are happy to point you to the nearest market for fresh vegetables and fruit.
Each apartment has a separate living area, so adults can sit up after children have gone to bed. For families travelling together, or grandparents joining, we can put you in adjacent apartments on the same floor. Since the whole building is only seven units, larger groups sometimes take most of it, which effectively gives you a house with the services of a hotel.
Residential Nagarjun, not a main road. Enclosed compound set back from the traffic.
Washing machine in the apartment, which matters more with children than with anyone else.
Space on site if you hire a car and driver for day trips out of the valley.
$7 per trip, arranged in advance, so you are not negotiating with drivers with tired children.
The lower trails in Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park are gentle enough for most children and are full of monkeys, which reliably beats a temple in the popularity contest. Swayambhunath is 2.7 km away and its resident monkey population makes it the easiest of the major sites to sell to a child. Garden of Dreams in the city has lawns and a cafe, which is a useful reset in the middle of a sightseeing day.
Our guide to 13 attractions nearby lists distances and travel times for everything within easy reach, which helps when planning a day that has to work around nap times.
Tell us how many of you there are and we will arrange apartments together.
Ask About Family BookingsYes. We have seven apartments in one small building, so families travelling together can take neighbouring units on the same floor. Tell us how many of you there are when you book and we will arrange it.
It is one of the calmer residential areas of Kathmandu. The street outside is quiet, the compound has electronic key card access and 24-hour security, and there is CCTV throughout the building. Families with young children tell us the lack of traffic noise and the enclosed compound are the main reasons they chose us.
We can arrange an extra bed in most apartments. For cots and high chairs, message us before you arrive and we will do our best to source what you need for the length of your stay.
The Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park gate is a twenty minute walk and the lower forest trails are easy enough for children. The compound itself is enclosed and off the road, which is where most younger guests end up playing.
Yes, and this is the main reason families book apartments over hotel rooms. Every apartment except the studio has a full kitchen with stove, oven, fridge and microwave, and there are grocery shops within walking distance for fresh produce.
About ten minutes by taxi to Thamel and fifteen to Durbar Square. We would suggest doing sightseeing in the morning and coming back for the afternoon, which is easier on small children than a full day out in the heat and traffic.