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Shopping in Nepal

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(Bachelor's, Master's & PhD)

RocApply dedicates this guide to students whose itch for shopping needs a tame. Nepal has something perfect meant to satisfy the crave! The old souks and winding lanes of the country with its traditional mosques and inns have particular streets given to spices, gold, silverware, and animal skins.

There're beautiful jewelry and perfume shops, filled with racks of blended oils and fragrances and old warehouses devoted to mineral creations.

The country’s markets and shopping areas are fun and rewarding. Gems, crystals, jewelry, carpets, rugs, high-quality metalwork including amazing gilded Buddhas, hand-woven cotton clothing, pashmina shawls, scroll paintings, fine wood and stone carvings and the famous bronze ‘singing bowls’ used for meditation are all great purchases.

The Terai region’s exquisite woolen bags and woven baskets make great gifts at amazing prices after haggling for a bit.

In the capital, the Thamel area is an interesting place to shop with narrow streets crammed with little stores specializing in fine Nepalese handicrafts. For upscale fashion, the outbuildings of the old Rama palace are the places to go for its designer boutiques and chic clothing.

The Dharmapala Thangka Center just off Durbar Square provides beautiful mandala designs and the chance to witness the artists at work.

Indra Chowk is Kathmandu’s oldest and one of the busiest markets in Nepal, and a fascinating place to do your shopping with college friends and locals. Everything from spices and traditional foods to handicrafts, gifts, clothes, and leather goods are always on sale, haggling is expected and people-watching is at its height.

Antiques-lovers are out of luck as it is forbidden to remove pure antiques from Nepal, but the reproductions are of top standard and made using the same, old lost-wax schemes of casting. For more conventional shopping, Kathmandu also has a selection of shopping malls.

Pokhara is a sleepy town in spite of its fame as a foreigner hub with shopping facilities mostly of the outdoor market variety. Shopping is more laid-back with no aggressive sales pitches from curio deals.

Batiks, wood carvings and a good selection of traditional Tibetan handicrafts are the best purchase with hand-stitched wall hangings a highlight. In the town’s Tibetan enclave you will find beautiful, locally produced wool rugs and carpets in attractive crafts, with the tiger pattern a popular choice.

"I enjoy shopping and I found it affordable but some of the clothes are definitely not of the highest quality." - Hassan from Turkey

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