Surkhet: Birendranagar, gateway to Karnali

Surkhet is a hub for the remoter districts of Kalikot, Jumla, Mugu, Jajarkot and Salyan¹. Birendranagar, the district headquarters, is the provincial capital¹. This page covers the district and the town; the other far-west districts are in the districts hub, and the road north is on the Karnali Highway page.

Where it is

Surkhet is a district in Karnali Province, about 600 km west of Kathmandu¹. Birendranagar is its district headquarters and the capital of Karnali Province¹. Surkhet is a hub for the remoter districts of Kalikot, Jumla, Mugu, Jajarkot and Salyan¹. Surkhet Valley is one of the Inner Terai Valleys of Nepal¹. Wikipedia’s text gives the district 415,126 people at the 2021 census, while its infobox gives 417,776¹.

Birendranagar municipality stands at about 665 m above sea level, in a valley, and had 153,863 residents in 2021². Its climate is moderate, being neither too cold nor too hot². Wikipedia gives winter lows of about 5 °C and summer highs of 38 °C¹. The city was named after King Birendra in 1972; it was previously called Chauhanchaur². It is one of Nepal’s few cities built under a master plan¹. The valley is bowl-shaped, with the Mahabharat range’s Ranimatta and Ratanangla to the north and the Chure range’s Harre and Deurali to the south, and the Bheri River flanks the city to the east and the Karnali to the west².

The municipality’s guide gives the first settlement as 1966². Before that the district headquarters was at Gadhi, because malaria infected the lowland valley, which was mostly inhabited by Tharu and Raji communities². After malaria was eradicated, people from the hills of Surkhet and Dailekh and other parts of Karnali moved into the valley, and the government offices followed².

Getting there

By air

In October 2026 Surkhet Airport in Birendranagar was listed with regular flights to Kathmandu, Nepalgunj and Jumla and other districts¹. The airport was established in 1965². For the flights into the hills see flights to Jumla.

By road

The Ratna Highway links Surkhet to the rest of Nepal¹; the municipality’s guide dates its completion to 1981 and calls the city a vital gateway to the districts of Karnali since then². The Karnali Highway directly connects Surkhet, Dailekh, Kalikot, Jumla and Mugu³. It is 232 km long⁶. The passage was opened in 2007⁶, and 17 km were blacktopped in 2010⁶. The road was blacktopped using Otta Seal technology in fiscal year 2019-20³. With Rs1 billion from the World Bank, the government blacktopped 126 km from Surkhet to Khidkijhyula and a further 107 km from Khidkijhyula to Jumla³.

In July 2026 around 80 percent of that blacktopping had peeled away, and the 232 km journey that should take about six hours often took up to 24³. The Kathmandu Post called the Karnali Highway the deadliest road in Karnali Province despite years of repairs, and police data attributed nearly 56 percent of all road accidents in the province to it³.

The sections beyond Surkhet are covered in Dailekh, Kalikot and Jumla. The rains are discussed in monsoon road closures.

What to see

The main sites are Kankrebihar, Bulbule, Deuti Bazzai, Ghantaghar, Shahid Park, Patalganga, Gadhi and Jarbuta².

Bulbule Lake

Bulbule Lake covers 31.5 bighas and is one of the main tourist attractions in Karnali Province, at about 657 m above sea level². Its park has picnic areas, boat rides, gardens and a children’s park². The lake is named after bubbling water emerging from the ground, and its main attraction is a set of ten taps built to gather that water². Conservation began in 1972, after King Birendra’s visit to Surkhet². The Surkhet Valley Urban Development Committee manages the park, whose popularity has grown since motorboat services began². It is open every day². It is about 1.6 km from Mangalgadhi Chowk, a 3-minute drive on a paved road².

Kakre Bihar

Kakre Bihar, spelt Kankrebihar in the Birendranagar Municipality guide, is the remains of an old Buddhist monastery and is on the list of national heritage sites in Nepal¹. It takes about 40 minutes on foot from Surkhet Bus Park, or around 13 minutes by vehicle on the paved road². The surrounding forest is the first forest protection area of Nepal². A 2021 butterfly study published in a Surkhet journal on NepJOL found butterfly diversity in the protected forest highest after the monsoon and lowest in winter⁷.

Historians cited in the municipality’s guide say Ashok Challa, then king of Sinja, built the 60-foot Shikhar-style temple in 1325 BS². The Department of Archaeology has rebuilt the steps around it in two phases². The site stands 4 km south of Mangalgadhi Chowk, on Latikoili Hill in Ward 9².

Other sights

Ghantaghar was established in 1988 with the assistance of the Chinese Government, with large clocks imported from Japan on all four sides of the tower². It is a 3-minute drive from Mangalgadhi². Shahid Park, in Ward 4, covers three hectares of Bhairav Community Forest and was built in memory of the martyrs of the Karnali Province Movement². It is about 2.5 km from Mangalgadhi Chowk, around 10 minutes by vehicle². Deuti Bazzai Temple, in Ward 10, is linked with the Raji community and stands about 1 km south of the Ratna Highway². The Province Museum is open every day except Tuesday and public holidays². Bayalkanda Gadhi Fort is about 13 km north on the paved road towards Dailekh, around 30 minutes by vehicle, and the whole Surkhet Valley can be seen from it². There are no records of who built it; local elders and historians believe the Gorkhali army built it during Bahadur Shah’s reign². A Batuk Bhairav temple stands about 50 m west of the fort². The municipality’s guide notes comparisons with Sarangkot in Pokhara because of paragliding landings in the valley².

The Bheri river is a common destination for rafting¹; Ranighat serves as the landing site for rafting that starts from the Bheri Bridge². Paragliding has started in the valley¹.

Where to stay and permits

Wikipedia’s Surkhet page lists thousands of hotels, inns and lodges at Birendranagar¹. Community-operated homestays have contributed to the town’s tourism². The first stop on the road north, in neighbouring Dailekh, is covered under Dailekh.

Restricted-area trekking in Nepal needs a permit from the Department of Immigration in Kathmandu, and the holder must show it to immigration staff or police on request, as set out on the Nepal Tourism Board permit page⁸. Restricted-area fees are in restricted-area permits.