While the majority of our time was spent in Bhutan, we bracketed our trip with two nights in Kathmandu before Bhutan, and one night after.

For the first two nights we wanted to stay in Thamel, a neighborhood with lots of tourist-friendly services, including laundry, gear rentals, and many bars and restaurants. We ended up choosing the centrally-located Kailash Boutique Hotel, which had great ratings and included an airport pickup. The drive from the airport was our first taste of the bustling streets, which became ever narrower as we approached the hotel.

We arrived quite early, around 9am, and our room wasn’t ready for us. The front desk gave us a QR code for wifi (speedy at >100Mbps download), plus a welcome juice, and held our bags until the room was ready in the early afternoon.

Our room was on the small side but definitely an adequate size, with a comfortable bed and enough storage space for our bags.

The only knock on our stay was noise in the hallways at night, with several people slamming doors and holding phone conversations in the hallways at 2am, boo.

Breakfast was fine, a small assortment of steam table items plus a few eggs to order, then bread and fruit. Lots of staff were available to help. Upon checkout the front desk gave us a scarf and called us a taxi to the airport with a prearranged price (that was better than the price we saw from the closer Hyatt).

For our return night after Bhutan we managed to use points for a club room at the Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, located near the airport and within view of the Buddha Stupa. Once again, we arrived in the early morning and our room wasn’t ready, so the hotel held our bags. When we returned around 10am they escorted us up to wait in the lounge for 15 mins, then staff brought our room key to us. Our room was just around the corner from the lounge with a great view of the pool and stupa.

On entry to the room the AC was on (yeah!) and featured a large, comfortable bed, desk and good size chair. The bathroom was massive, with a large shower and tub.

In the afternoon I spent several hours under an umbrella at the large pool. Loud music from a wedding party was a little annoying, but finished after lunch. The day was warm but not oppressive, and it was a nice relaxing spot after nearly two weeks of travel. Hammocks were available too!

I also used the gym, which had free weights, machines, and cardio equipment. The locker room also had some spa options that were available with our club access – the sauna was too hot after a workout, but the hot tub was nice.

Throughout our stay we had access to the lounge. During the day they had cookies and other snacks plus juice and water. Lounge options for happy hour included four hot menu options, and we tried the chicken popcorn and the Kung Pao mushroom (spicy!). Cold options included cheeses, breads, dried apricots, toasts with spreads, and a small salad station. The dessert station was good, especially the warm brownies. For the wine I preferred the Australian Chardonnay over the Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, and Leandra opted for the Australian Shiraz over the Malbec. Staff could not have been nicer, checking on us multiple times and even bringing over a new chilled white wine glass for my refill.

We were up early before our flight so we had a little time to try out the extensive buffet breakfast – wow! There were several made-to-order stations for omelets and noodles, a large pastry section, fruits, nuts, and just about anything else you’d want for breakfast.

We were really glad we were able to stay here on points as it was an awesome value and experience.