Kathmandu & Beyond
Full-time travellers sharing off-the-beaten-path destinations, architecture, and abandoned places.
About Kathmandu & Beyond
Kathmandu & Beyond is run by Mark and Kirsty Bennetts, a UK couple who became location independent after moving to Kathmandu in 2008. They write from more than a decade of nomadic life and have visited over 100 countries. The site concentrates on off-the-beaten-path travel across Asia, the Far East and the New East, with particular attention to street art, abandoned places, monuments and Soviet-era architecture. The blog has grown substantially, with more than 1,400 posts in its sitemap since 2015, and publishes travel guides, itineraries and image-led photo essays. Most posts are illustrated with their own travel photographs.
What makes this site unmistakeable is its obsession with the odd, the monumental and the slightly neglected: soviet mosaics, Brutalist blocks, abandoned pools and forgotten department stores. The writing is concise and matter-of-fact, often serving as a compact field note or catalogue rather than a long personal memoir, and the sample entries read like a well-organised museum label with location, date and genre. That clarity makes the blog ideal for readers who want fast, reliable pointers to quirky sights and photo subjects, plus image-heavy photo essays and practical stopover ideas. The site feels like wandering with knowledgeable friends who know how to spot the unusual.
Where They Travel
Asia and Eastern Europe
Pros
- Deep, specialist coverage of monuments and brutalist architecture
- Large archive of posts and photo essays
- Practical itineraries and stopover suggestions
- Clear, factual posts ideal for quick reference
Cons
- Many posts are short, factual entries rather than long narratives
- Limited multimedia - few videos or interactive maps
How Popular Is Kathmandu & Beyond?
- Majestic Million rank523,700
- Open PageRank3.2 / 10