Backyard Hotel

Backyard Hotel is a compact budget property in Lakeside (Baidam), the primary tourist strip of Pokhara, sitting roughly 400 metres from the eastern shore of Phewa Lake and about three kilometres from Pokhara's domestic airport. The immediate neighbourhood is lined with trekking gear shops, travel agencies selling Annapurna Circuit and Poon Hill permits, lakeside restaurants, and the cafes that have made Lakeside a popular rest point before and after Himalayan treks for several decades.

The hotel's defining feature is its garden — a reasonably spacious outdoor area planted with flowering shrubs and shaded by mature trees, providing a calm retreat from the busier Lakeside road that runs past the front entrance. The building itself is a straightforward two-storey concrete structure with a painted exterior, functional rather than architecturally distinctive, and representative of the mid-range budget properties populating the Lakeside strip.

Rooms are divided between budget singles and double or twin options; interiors are clean and simply furnished with tiled floors, en-suite bathrooms with hot showers, ceiling fans, and air conditioning in most units. There is no pool or spa, but Phewa Lake's public ghats are a short walk away where rowing boats can be rented by the hour for trips to the Tal Barahi Temple island in the centre of the lake.

The on-site restaurant serves a standard Lakeside menu — Nepali dal bhat, pasta, pancakes, and local breakfast staples — at prices consistent with the budget category. Staff at the travel desk can book paragliding flights from the Sarangkot launch site above Pokhara (a local speciality), white-water rafting on the Seti or Trisuli rivers, and jeep transfers to trekking trailheads at Nayapul or Kande for the Annapurna Sanctuary and Poon Hill routes. Bike rental is available on-site and puts Phewa Lake's north shore, the World Peace Pagoda viewpoint, and Devi's Falls within comfortable cycling distance.