རབ་གསལ་ Boudhanath, Kathmandu

A quiet garden
beside the
Great Stupa

Twenty-three quiet rooms a few minutes' walk from the Boudhanath Stupa.

Rabsal — utterly luminous, brilliantly clear; and the name of the carved Tibetan window that fills a room with light.

Reserve your stay See rooms

The gilded spire of the Great Boudhanath Stupa against a clear sky, the painted eyes of the Buddha above the whitewashed dome and prayer flags running out from the tower

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The Great Stupa, five minutes on foot

Rooms

Twenty-three rooms, all facing the garden

The guest house room wing seen across the lawn: two storeys of brick with wooden doors and balconies, the gilded monastery roof rising behind

Standard

from NPR 1,600

Simple, quiet and well kept. A double bed or twin beds, a writing table, and a window onto the courtyard.

Private bathroom with hot water
Opens onto the garden courtyard
Breakfast included
Single, double or triple

The guest house from the courtyard garden: balconies hung with prayer flags above potted plants and a green lawn

Deluxe

from NPR 2,000

More room and more light, with the best of the garden views. Suited to longer stays and to retreat visitors.

Private bathroom with hot water
Larger room, garden outlook
Breakfast included
Single, double or triple

Rates

Bed and breakfast, per night

Nepalese rupees, inclusive of all taxes.

February – April & September – November

Occupancy Standard Deluxe

Single 1,900 2,300

Double 2,600 3,200

Triple 3,900 4,500

Pay in NPR, EUR or USD at the exchange rate on checkout day.

The café garden in morning mist, seen from above: white parasols over marble tables on the lawn, flowering shrubs along the path

The café tables seen through an arch of bougainvillea in flower

The Rabsel Garden Café

Vegetarian, on the veranda

The guest house restaurant sits on a covered veranda and spills out onto the green courtyard. Everything is vegetarian and made fresh: homemade pasta, pies and quiches, Tibetan and Nepali dishes, organic spelt bread, homemade yogurt, masala chai.

Produce is organic and purified. No MSG. Open to guests and to anyone who finds their way through the monastery gate.

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Espresso

Location

Inside the monastery gate

The walk from the Great Stupa is 554 metres and takes about eight minutes, all of it flat.

Hover a step to trace it on the map; click to zoom in on it.

Airport 5 km, pickup on request — send your flight number when you write.

Rabsal Guest House, Shechen Monastery compound, off Shechen Back Road, Boudhanath, Kathmandu. Walking route traced from OpenStreetMap.

Gallery

Through the window

Click any window and the shutters open on it.

Café tables and chairs on the lawn under a parasol, pots of flowers along the hedge — The garden café, mid-morning

The temple of Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling in evening light: a deep red facade under gilded roofs, rows of carved and painted Tibetan windows — Shechen Monastery, across the courtyard

An elderly pilgrim in maroon robes, leaning on a stick, walking beside the whitewashed wall of the stupa below a carved window — Kora, early morning

A large prayer wheel of embossed brass and copper, painted with mantras, standing in a whitewashed alcove — A prayer wheel at Boudha

The lane into Boudha at dusk seen from the main gate: prayer flags strung overhead, lit shopfronts either side, people walking in toward the stupa — The lanes of Boudha at dusk

A large engraved brass gong in a metalworker's shop near Boudhanath — Brass, worked by hand

A cup of milk tea on a saucer beside a glass of water, on a sunlit stone table — Masala chai, all day

Hundreds of butter lamps laid out in rows, wicks being set for offering — Setting wicks for the butter lamps

Guest words

The lanes outside are full of noise. You walk through the gate and the sound simply stops.

M. L. — Lyon, France

Breakfast in the garden, monks crossing the lawn, and the kora five minutes away. I have stayed nowhere better in Kathmandu.

A. R. — Melbourne, Australia

The staff are kind in an unhurried way, and knowing where the money goes changed how the whole stay felt.

S. T. — Zürich, Switzerland

Practical details

Everything you need, nothing you don't

Check-in: 2:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Wi-Fi: Throughout the house
Laundry: Same-day service
Room service: From the Rabsel Café
Airport pickup: On request

A quiet gardenbeside theGreat Stupa