Get a shock or surprise but Kathmandu is ranked third best city in Asia in 2006 by Travel+LeisureMagazine

Florence tops the list of World’s Best Cities for a second time this year and is joined again by some lovely perennials—Rome, New York, and Sydney. But this year, Travel + Leisure readers prove that they’re also intrepid and curious, giving high marks to far-flung cities like Beirut and Kathmandu.



1 Bangkok
2 Chiang Mai, Thailand
3 Kathmandu
4 Kyoto
5 Hong Kong
6 Hanoi
7 Udaipur, India
8 Beijing
9 Jaipur, India
10 Luang Prabang, Laos


To learn about the methodologies adopted for ranking click here

These were the categories and characteristics:

* For hotels: rooms/facilities, location, service, restaurants/food, value. Optional: for business, for families.

* For destination spas: accommodations/ambience, treatments, service, food, value.

* For hotel spas: ambience, treatments, service, value.

* For cities: sights, culture/arts, restaurants/food, people, shopping, value.

* For islands: natural attractions, activities/sights, restaurants/food, people, value.

* For cruise lines: cabins, food, service, itineraries/destinations, activities, value.

* For tour operators and safari outfitters: staff/guides, itineraries/destinations, activities, accommodations, food, value.

* For airlines: cabin comfort, food, in-flight service, customer service, value.



LooTe

loote,
surprised to see no one answered in your post. I thought hami justai jhaare (i mean irregular) manchhe haruko matrai post neglect garchha :)

Never be surprised by any ranking... all of these guys use various "criteria" to select the top 10 or top 100..... I was very surprised one day when someone said that pulchowk was ranked 2nd best engineering institute in asia.

this does not mean i do not like Nepal though.... feir hate reply haru aaula...

i am amazed to see that but its a good sign. congratulation to all of us.
jayamatadi.

well that's great, there are some people i know, they think nepal is good for nothing. somebody tell them that nepalese FM are ranked among the best in asia, especially
among south-east asia.

i looked thro and i was amazed that a guy could not believe pulchowk is ranked 2nd among asia ...
Welll ! but the thing is pulchowk is ranked 2nd by the sudents from pulchowk campus who are in AIT and have perforemd far well ..
so better accept it

what amazed me was that KTM was not even in the list of top ranked cities last year. so what made it come to this far in a year? may be a lot of nepalese living abroad subscribed to the magazine? anyways, it's an honor for us nepalese. with maoists war coming to a halt, we can proudly recommend our non-nepali pals to visit ktm at least once in their lifetime, ki kaso? :P


LooTe

राम्रो कुरोलाई राम्रो भनी स्वीकार गरौं । हामी जहिले पनि नकरात्मक कुरो लाई उछाल्छौं । नेपालको खाने पानी तथा सरसफाई दक्षिण एशियाकै सबै भन्दा राम्रो छ भन्दा हासो आउला, तर वास्तविकता तेही हो, काठ्माडौ मा बसेर नेपाल सोच्ने हाम्रो मनसिकताको उपज हो ।

Thanks to Loote for disseminating this information...let's have party for this good news...And good to have few friends here being so positive...

Be positive

If KTM ranked third in 2006 I hope it will be number one in 2007!! I believe that nothing is impossible and if peace and order is restored I think the rest will fall in place with a little effort. Time to go home loote why just send non Nepalese to have fun there why don't we think about going there ourselves. Cheers and happy New Year!!

Who the heck is going to buy in this ranking?

How can a city where there is daily extortion by the Maoists rank anywhere in the top 10? Once the daily extortion stops then perhaps there's a shot at it. If the inhabitants of the city are not protected enough, forget about any feel good rankings.

It's good to see KTM ranked high for something :)

But, this is by Travel and Leisure magazine, and I'd imagine it's applies mostly for tourists visiting for short stays. Sure it may be the no#3 for visitors but what about for locals? I love my home town, don't get me wrong, but lets not kid ourselves, we might probably find ourselves somewhere at the very bottom if basic things like roads, public amenities, garbage disposal,zoning laws, urban sprawls, public hygiene etc are taken into consideration.

I don't mean to throw cold water at this ranking and am happy to see it, but honestly, it's really window dressing. But, nonetheless,I do hope someday we will fare better on other more meaningful counts

Just my thoughts.

I think the people are becoming aware of the basics and are trying to improve everything in a slow but progressive mannerfor instance the garbage disposal is seeing a new change where garbage is being picked from houses that pays a nominal fees etc. I think we have seen it all and it is for us who have been abroad to go back home and introduce the modern ways of civilization haina ta Capt. saaab????

Good afternoon, Dimple! Good to see you around :)

Yes, I agree. I believe things in Nepal are getting better and our best days are ahead of us. But at the same time I think we should not shy away from calling a spade a spade even if it means momentarily hurting the feelings of those of us who are more sensitive to criticisms of the country. Unless we can accept who we are, we can never become who we want to be - that was really the thrust of my thoughts.

Hope all else is well.

:)

क्याप्टेनलाई कस्ले भेट्ने तर्क गर्न।क्याप्टेन जस्तो तार्किक अनि सुधारबादि सोचको धेरै खाचो छ देश लाइ।।

Well said again capt. you leave me speechless every time I try to make a point, ofcourse a spade is a spade indeed only recognising the problem does not help we also need to contribute to make "Nepal Sunder Shanta Bishaal". Don't mind Captain but you sound like the lazy friends of the Little Red Hen who planted the seeds and baked some bread, each time she asked her so called friends for help they were not interested and refused but when she asked if anyone wanted to help her eat everyone wanted to and she too refused to share the fruit of her hard work with her useless friends and shut the door behind her. I hope you understand what i am implying. Can we fix the date for Momo's soon??

Hi nanu - Not sure if you were being sarcastic there, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt,and say thanks for the compliment :) I can only hope we *all* find the time, at some stage in our lives, to do our bit for the country.

:)

When you have drained your energy and resources to The United States of America you want to go back to your country to be near Pashupatinath to retire yourself haina ta??? And how may I ask will that help Nepal?? Don't you think you will be going there to fulfill your own selfish needs as living here as you age is not going to be easy right??? Whatever Captain you are the master of your decision and do as you please... Why are you avoiding this momo plan should we abort it???

Ha ha ha Dimple! I just googled up the story - reminds me of this ad where a group of people are gathered around a pile of garbage on the side walk that fell short a foot short of the trash can. People are commenting on how bad it is but no one is picking it up. Then along comes a guy and picks it up and puts it in the trash can. It was an add urging people to take action and not just sit there watching. The theme was similar to the hen story.

Allow me to say this : when I look at myself and the choices I have made in life, I feel I can contribute best to my country in ways other than direct public service. Over the years I have lost interest in public service and feel I can make a bigger impact in other areas. It only feels like yesterday that I started my "grown-up" life after college - been in the job market a few years - and I am finally reaching that point where I feel I am at a major crossroad in my life. Returning to Nepal and contributing in the best possible way is one of the ideas that has crossed my mind.

I can give you the politically correct answer and say that I will go back to Nepal and become some sort of an activist. But I honestly don't know. That's what my life these days is about - finding out what my next big adventure will be. The countless hours I have spent on Sajha talking to strangers who feel like friends is part of the process of discovering myself and finding out what I want to do next.

I imagine you must have done your fair share for the country to make that pointed comment - kudos to you if you have :) I too hope I will be able to do so in a more meaningful way than making small contributions from a faraway place.

:)

Phew - pretty intense stuff there, eh? :P

The editors were high on crack when they decided to publish that article.
Nope the Moist Government Bribed them to write only good things about Nepal. he he

Capt. saab,
Intense, yes, but meaningful...as usual..
It is a nice thing to see our dear ol' City's name as a 3rd best city no matter where it is published...:)