Siddharthanagar

"This article is on the Nepalese town. For the district in Uttar Pradesh, see Siddharthnagar District".

Overview

Siddharthanagar is a Nepalese town located near the south western border with India. Siddharthanagar, with it's old name of Bhairahawa, is the second largest town in the Rupandehi district, located about 265km west of Kathmandu. The population of Bhairahawa is around 60,000. Most of the Bhairahawa residents speak the local language Bhojpuri, though Nepali is the national language. As it is the gateway city to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, people are accustomed to foreigners and many speak English. As the city is located near the border with India, it plays an important role in the import and export business, so Bhairahawa is also called the trade centre of Terai (the flat southern region of Nepal). [citebook|title=Nepal Handbook|author=Tom Woodhatch|year= 2000|publisher=Footprint Travel Guides|id=ISBN:190094944X]

Transport

A branch line of Indian Railways reaches the border to the Indian town of Nautanwa. But the train connections from Gorakhpur, are not very good to Nautanwa. Thus, it's much wiser to take a taxi from Gorakhpur to Sunauli border, the taxi ride takes about 2 hours. From Sunauli, Bhairahawa is only 3 kilometers.
Gautam Buddha Airport, located only 2 kilometers from the heart of Bhairahawa, has many daily flights to Kathmandu.

Features

* Climate: Summer and winter temperatures of the city are 35 to 38, and 10 to 27 respectively.
* Health Centres: The Lumbini District Hospital (Bhim hospital) and the UCMS medical college. Lumbini Eye Hospital and Institute is one of the best eye hospitals of the region.
* Tourist Attractions: The nearby temples and shrines around Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini are certainly worth a visit. Many local buses run there as well as private tourist buses and taxis.
* Shopping : Being located near the Indian border Sunauli, Siddharthnagar provides easy shopping experiences to Indian tourists who come here crossing the border located just 3 km away. For many Indian tourists, the town is a final stop over for shopping before leaving Nepal after their pilgrimage tours to many destinations in Nepal. Goods made in China are popular shopping items here.
* Biking : The route from Butwal to Bhairahawa or from Bhairahawa to Butwal provides an excellent biking experience of 22 km, with the unique opportunity to see people and places.
* Great value hotels: The hotel Yeti, Nirvana, Hotel Sambala, Hotel Himalaya, Ashoka and Pawan International Hotels offer international standard facilities in the small city of Bhairahawa.
* Getting to Bhairahawa : Due to its location in the southwest of Nepal to the Indian border, it is very well connected to all the big Indian and Nepalese cities. The small all season airport provides quick and scenic access from Kathmandu, although the less reliable, much longer(8 hrs from kathmandu) but much cheaper bus is an option.

References

* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/NP/0/Bhairahawa.html FallingRain Map - elevation = 87m (Red dots are railways)]