Districts
Madhesh Province
Parsa पर्सा
Birgunj-Raxaul border, main India trade gateway
Parsa, in the central Terai, is anchored by Birgunj — the busiest land port between Nepal and India and a major industrial gateway. Parsa National Park on its northern edge extends the Chitwan tiger landscape into sal forest and grassland. The district is trade and transit country, the main overland door from India.
About Parsa
Parsa is built around Birgunj, Nepal's busiest industrial city and the country's principal land gateway to India via the Raxaul border crossing, just 5 km south. The city is a dense, energetic bazaar; the Indo-Nepal Friendship Bridge and the dry port handle the bulk of Nepal's goods trade. North and east of the city, Parsa National Park — upgraded from wildlife reserve to national park in 2017 — covers sal forest and grassland running contiguously with Chitwan National Park and India's Valmiki Tiger Reserve, and its 2022 survey recorded a sharp rise in tiger numbers.
Parsa National Park is the least-visited of Nepal's southern protected areas, which is a genuine advantage for wildlife watching: jeep safaris from the park buffer-zone lodges encounter rhinoceros, wild elephant and sloth bear without Chitwan's volume of visitors. Birgunj itself, though primarily a transit stop, has a competent service economy built around the industrial corridor. The Simara domestic airport, in neighbouring Bara district 14 km north of Birgunj, handles the air connection.
At a glance
- Headquarters
- Birgunj
- Known for
- Birgunj-Raxaul border, main India trade gateway
Getting there
Birgunj is roughly 135 km from Kathmandu by road — about 3–4 hours via the Tribhuvan/Narayanghat highway south. Simara Airport (SIF) in Bara, 14 km north of Birgunj, offers 25-minute domestic flights from Kathmandu. Buses depart from Kathmandu's Kalanki and Gongabu. The Raxaul border crossing just south of Birgunj connects to Patna and the Indian railway network at Raxaul Junction.