Dharan

Dharan sits exactly where the Tarai ends. Drive north from Itahari across the flat fields and the city appears against a wall of green ridges; behind it the road climbs to Bhedetar and Dhankuta. It is technically the Bhabar belt at the foot of the hills rather than the true Tarai, but for travellers it is the east's great gateway.

The Gurkha years

From the 1950s until 1990, the British Army ran a Gurkha recruitment and welfare camp at Dharan. Generations of young men from the eastern hills came here to try for selection, and pensions and remittances shaped the town. When the camp closed, its grounds became the B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, one of Nepal's leading medical schools.

Temples

Budha Subba, set in a bamboo grove, is Dharan's best-loved shrine; local lore says the bamboo there grows without tips. Dantakali and Pindeshwar are important Shakti and Shiva temples, and in Shrawan pilgrims carry holy water from the Koshi at Chatara to Pindeshwar. Bishnupaduka lies in the hills nearby.

Food and city life

Dharan's mix of Limbu, Rai, Magar, Newar and many other communities gives it a lively food culture — pork dishes, sukuti (dried meat), sel roti and momo in the Bhanu Chowk area. It is also known for its music scene and for keeping its streets clean.

Nearby

Barahakshetra and the Koshi river are a short ride away, Bhedetar's viewpoints are up the hill, and Namaste Falls lies in neighbouring Dhankuta district.