If you’re searching for the first hotel in Nepal, most modern histories point to the early 1950s, when Nepal began opening up to outside visitors and Kathmandu suddenly needed places that felt familiar to diplomats, mountaineers, and early travellers. One detailed account marks Hotel Snow View in Lazimpat as an early 1950s pioneer, and then names Royal Hotel (Kanti Path) as the first big tourist hotel, opened in 1953 by the famous Boris Lissanevitch.
Older claims are floating online (including a blog that mentions a “Nepal Hotel” in Jawalakhel with confusing dates), but the clearest, most consistent “origin story” for Nepal’s hotel industry begins with Snow View and Royal Hotel in Kathmandu’s early tourism era.
History of Hotels in Nepal
Before 1950, Nepal was largely closed to foreign visitors, so no hotels were catering to tourists in the way we understand them today.
After King Tribhuvan regained power and the country opened up, travellers started arriving quickly, and Kathmandu’s first hotel chapter began in homes and palaces repurposed into welcoming spaces.
By the 1960s, Nepal’s hospitality industry stepped into a new phase: star-rated hotels emerged, built with scale, service standards, and the idea of “luxury” that could host international guests and major events.
And by the 1970s, Kathmandu’s grand heritage hotels began defining a new kind of experience where staying in a hotel also meant staying inside a piece of Nepal’s architectural and cultural story.
5 Ancient of Hotels of Nepal
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Snow View Hotel (Lazimpat, early 1950s)
Back when Kathmandu still felt like a secret to the outside world, and tourism was only just beginning to take shape, Snow View in Lazimpat is often mentioned as one of the city’s earliest proper hotels. It began in the simplest, sweetest way: a wooden home turned into a guesthouse, opened by a newly married couple, Thomas and Elizabeth Mendies, who arrived in Kathmandu in the early 1950s.
And because travellers were starting to trickle in fast, the little place became popular almost overnight. The story goes that when the rooms filled up, guests would even sleep in tents on the lawn. It’s such a perfect picture of early Kathmandu hospitality—warm, personal, and a little adventurous—long before big lobbies and buffet lines became the norm.
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Royal Hotel (Kanti Path, 1953)
In 1953, Boris Lissanevitch leased an old palace on Kanti Path and opened Royal Hotel, which quickly became the beating heart of early tourism in Kathmandu. It was a hotel, yes, but also the meeting point for expats, diplomats, mountaineers (including names like Edmund Hillary in some accounts), and curious travellers who wanted stories as much as comfort.
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Hotel Soaltee (Tahachal, founded 1965; inaugurated 1966)
By the 1960s, starred hotels began to appear, and one major history describes Hotel Soaltee as the first five-star hotel of Nepal, founded in 1965 and inaugurated in 1966 at Tahachal. It was built with scale (large grounds, big-room inventory, and event capacity) and helped define what “luxury hospitality” would look like in Nepal’s modern era.
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Hotel Annapurna (Durbar Marg area, established 1965; later upgraded)
Hotel Annapurna is placed in the same milestone period: a major account says it was established in 1965 near Narayanhiti Palace / Durbar Marg, spread over significant grounds, and later upgraded to a five-star hotel. It represents that moment when Kathmandu’s hospitality shifted from “early traveller lodging” to formal, city-centre luxury built for both high-level guests and day-to-day business comfort.
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Hotel Shankar (Lazimpat, palace built 1894; converted to hotel in 1964)
Hotel Shankar is one of Kathmandu’s most beautiful examples of a palace becoming a hotel. A key historical note that the palace was completed in 1894, and in 1964 it was converted into a luxury hotel while keeping that opulent, neo-classical character.
The hotel’s own factsheet also describes it as founded in 1964 and Kathmandu’s first 4-star hotel, which is why it often appears in conversations about Nepal’s early star-rating milestones.
Which is the first hotel of world?
It is hard to name the first hotel ever. Long before the word “hotel” existed, almost every civilisation had some version of it, inns, guesthouses, roadside lodges, monasteries offering shelter, and homes that hosted travellers for food and rest. Those places did the same job a hotel does: give you a bed, a meal, and a safe pause on the journey.
One of the oldest hotels still operating today is Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan (Japan). It is listed in Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest hotel, operating since 705 AD.
If exploring Nepal’s hotel history has sparked your curiosity about where to stay today, you’ll find that Kathmandu still blends heritage, comfort, and character beautifully. When you’re ready to book hotel in Kathmandu , choose a place that lets you experience the city’s story while enjoying modern hospitality at your own pace.
