Sandwiched between the Gangetic plains and Tibetan plateau, encompassing an extraordinary spectrum of landscapes, ranging from the terai grasslands and sal forests of its southern border with India to the vast wall of ice peaks marching along the Chinese frontier to the north – the legendary Himalaya, or ‘Abode of Snows’. Between these two extremes is cradled a lush, fertile valley that has been a centre of sophisticated urban civilization for more than 2,500 years, and where an unparalleled wealth of medieval palaces, Buddhist monasteries and Hindu temples survive intact, along with the traditional religious cultures that gave rise to them.

To walk through the Durbar Squares of the Kathmandu Valley, flanked by their distinctive skyline of tiered pagodas and golden-spired, whitewashed stupas, is to experience a world as unique as it is exotic to foreign eyes. Until the 1950s, Nepal lay resolutely off-limits to outsiders. Only a handful of honoured dignitaries and mountaineers were permitted to set eyes on its ancient treasures, ensuring this most refined of mountain societies thrived in glorious isolation.

Much of the country’s heritage endures making any journey an enticing prospect. The architecture is irresistibly exotic, the many varied cultures of its people compelling and the Himalayas, whether glimpsed from the comfort of a palace hotel window or through the flap of a tent on a trek, are quite simply breathtaking.

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